Web Design Process

The web design process is a mufti-faceted endeavor involving numerous steps, roles, players, and methods of assessing the success of the project. The first step in designing a web site is setting goals as without goals the web site project will quickly become adrift. The goals should include a mission and objectives especially when working with a development team.

Planning a website is a process where you first gather the development team, analyze needs and goals, and work through the development process. Next is creating a project charter document that contains the details of the website project as it is the blueprint the development team will follow. Finally, analyzing the website is critical to the ongoing importance of the website.

A step in the process is organizing a development team. The development team will contain the players of client/sponsor, project manager, usability lead, information architect, art director, web technology lead, site production head, site editor, and users. Some of these team member's roles will overlap which will occur during the design process.

The client/sponsor is the party desiring the website project and should be involved in the development of the website from beginning to end. They will be responsible for providing content and possibly maintaining the web site after development is completed.

The project manager is the go-to person who oversees the communication with the client/sponsor and development team. Roles of the project manager are based off of the project charter document to keep the development team focused on the strategic objectives and agreed deliverables. In smaller in-house projects the project manager may also serve as the sponsor, design lead, or technical lead. The project manager maintains project planning documentation such as the project planning and strategy documents, budget spreadsheets, project schedules, and Gantt charts, meeting notes, billing records, and other team activities documentation.

The usability lead shapes the overall user experience. The primary role is to serve as the advocate to the development team on behalf of the user through testing, research, and usability standards. The usability lead for evaluating the web site on success in meeting the goals, user satisfaction, and measuring outcomes in terms of site visits by users. The usability lead is involved throughout the development process.

The site information architect organizes and categories web site structure and content. The architect uses wireframes containing site content to link web pages to each other. This communicates site structure and user experience to sponsors and other development team members. The architect is usually involved at the beginning of the process.

The art director handles the overall look and feel for website. This includes deciding on typography, visual interface design, color palette standards, page layout details, graphics, photography, illustration, and audiovisual media elements. In smaller projects the art director can also assume the roles of information architecture and usability because of the specialty of their roles as art director. Branding is often a key role of the art director making sure the site is consistent with established corporate identity. The art director usually begins and ends with the development process.

The web technology lead is responsible for web publishing environments, development languages and web development framework, and database options and network technology. The web technology lead is the go between for the technologists and creative and project management roles of the team. An important task is content management involving extensive web technology skills.

The site production lead role is to create web pages. The site production lead utilizes the wireframes and mock ups of web pages to fill the web pages with content gathered from the client/sponsor. Typical web page creation utilizes web page software such as Adobe Dreamweaver to create templates and Cascading Style Sheets. The side production lead would assemble the work of the web technology lead and art director into the web pages. The site production lead might also manage the work of the site editor and copywriters. The roles of the site production lead would generally fall toward the near end of the web site development process.

The site editor oversees the content of the website. The tasks involve delivering content from the client/sponsor and creating new content. The site editor may also be versed in the technological aspects of web design as well. This also includes making the website search engine friendly by both internal and external engines. The site editor is involved from the beginning of the project and beyond as they may become the party responsible for maintaining the web pages.

The last step or more so an ongoing step occurs once the development team has been organized and individual members complete their roles and reached agreement in the project. This process step is assessing the success of the project usually through tracking, evaluation, and maintenance. Tracking can be done using web server software that provides information about the users of the website. This is critical in determining pages that are or are not being viewed, how many users are visiting the website, and more. An example of this type of analytical software is Google Analytics or the web hosting service can provide reports of log server data. Analytical software is critical to evaluating a website because it provides numbers that can be used to evaluate content.

Maintaining a website is just as important as developing a website so that it does not become abandoned becoming no more useful than not having a website at all. The site editor can be the owner of the website whereby maintaining on their own or coordinating a group of people to keep the website fresh and relevant to users. The purpose of maintaining a website is to keep users coming back to the website.

Overall, the process should cover what the goals and strategies are, who the users are and what do they want in a website, and finally what is the essential content structures, navigation, and interactive features needed. This information is critical to the development team in order to design the best website possible. Analyzing the web pages will help ensure the best website possible continues into the future.