We are all aware of the sayings “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” “Different strokes for different folks” and “There is no accounting for taste.” Unfortunately, although these sayings are universal, the associated insights don’t seem to be. This is nowhere more apparent when designing something for someone else. What looks “professional” to one person, can easily be boring, ugly, or even unprofessional to a different person.

As a web designer you learn that almost all descriptive terms are useless in completing the nuts-and-bolts task of creating a design the pleases the client. You need them to show you what they like, and you need to show them how you interpret that, and there the actual dialog begins.

Over and above pleasing the client, the designer’s task is to make the client realize that their taste is not universal, and their target audience may not respond positively to what they think looks good, or cool, or whatever. More important than pleasing themselves  (or their partners, employees, spouse,  friends or mother) is creating a design that communicates the desired message to the target audience.

What can be even more of a challenge is the tendency for inexperienced website buyers to be fixated on look-and-feel, or the visual design, to the neglect and expense of useability. The desire to speed through, or skip the boring task of information design and content creation to get to the visual mockups is extremely common and uniformly disastrous. Then, when the website flops, of course it is the visual design that is the problem and needs to be fixed.

As a web designer, the best thing you can do to save the client from themselves in such cases is to try to explain with examples, and if that doesn’t work, stick to your process regardless of the pressure to do otherwise.

Whether you are a Web designer, or the buyer of Web design
services, the planning phase of the Web design process is
the most important phase. Planning requires a significant
amount of effort before there is a visable product, so it
is sometimes a hard-sell to business people, especially those
who are used to “flying by the seat of their pants.”
I often find, however, that once involved in the process,
the client gains valuable insights into their business, their
market, their clients, and their competitors. Taking time
to really plan a Website project, which requires stepping
back and thinking, in a systematic way, about how they are
approaching their business, gives the Website buyer an unexpected
added value, especially if they are in start-up mode.

The first step in planning a Website is define the project.
You want to make sure that you, as Web designer, and the client
are on the same page, and remain on the same page throughout
the project. The following are questions that need answers:

• Project Scope - What will be included in the
  project and what will not be included?

• Audience – Who are the main types of people who
  will be visiting the Website, what are their characteristics,
  and why will they be visiting the Website. What will the
  want to do?
• Competition – Who are the competitors and what
  do their Websites do and look like?
• Niche – Specifically what market niche does the
  business occupy or want to occupy?
• Positioning – What is the company’s positioning
  strategy for their niche? Why buy their product or service
  over the competition?

• Overall goals - What does the business want
  to acheive through the Website? Sell products? Provide online
  resources? Present a professional image?
• Business processes - How will the Website fit
  into the company’s business processes? How will it integrate
  into those off-line processes?
• Marketing and branding strategies – What existing
  marketing or branding stategies can be leveraged for use
  on the Website?
• Workflows - What processes will need to be completed
  on the Website, described in a step by step fashion?

• Goals for Web site – What specific, numerically
  defined goals exist for the Website. What are the expectations?
• Keywords/Search Terms – What words will people
  searching for products/services/information use to find
  the client’s Website, using the major search engines?
• Message - What message should the Website communicate
  to the user, either explicitly or implicitly?
• Perception – How should the user percieve the
  business, based on visiting the Website?
• Action - What action or actions should the visitor
  take while on the Website?
• Technology – What technology should be used in
  designing and building the Website?
• Marketing – How will the Website be marketed?
  How will the business get visitors there?
• Administrative – How will the Website be administered
  and maintained after it is launched?
• Schedule – When does the Website need to be complete?
  When will decision makers be available or unavailable to
  approve deliverables throught the process?
• Budget - What is the budget for the project?
  What is the ongoing budget for maintenance and updates?
  What is the budget for promotion?

The answers to these questions should be put into a “creative
brief” or “project definition” document that
will be used as a touchstone throughout the design process.
The information in the planning documents should be as detailed
as possible, and based on as much empiricle evidence as possible.
Having someone fill the a questionnaire off the top of their
head will be useful, but to the extent it rely’s on guesses
or false assumptions, it will provide flaws in the planning
and therefore flaws in the finished Website.

Find out more
about TP Designs’ Web design process.

Find out more
about TP Designs’ Web design services.

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