If you’re wondering what goes into the website design process, then you’ve come to the right place.
Has it ever crossed your mind how developers create a website that meets your needs and expectations?
The web design process involves taking your idea and making it user friendly.
From finalising the design so it’s appealing to look at, to optimising it for search engine visibility, to making it easy to navigate, there’s a whole combination of things that need to happen before you can launch your website.
You don’t just want to put any old thing out there and hope it will generate results. Whether the goal of your website is to boost brand awareness, generate leads, or make sales, it needs to be reflective of your business.
You should be proud of your website and you should feel confident that it’s communicating the right message. This is your online shop front, and is probably the first thing a customer will look at when exploring your brand.
With this in mind, you need to get it right, and a big part of this is following a web design process. Let’s look at this in more detail.
What Is A Web Design Process?
The website design process ensures your website is designed and built to your needs. Whether you’re managing this in-house or partnering with an agency, you want to make sure your vision is properly executed.
It can be easy to go off track when designing a website as there’s so many moving parts. From designing elements such as your hero sections and CTA’s, to planning your website copy and imagery, it’s easy to lose sight of what you’re trying to achieve.
Furthermore, when multiple people are working on your website at once, it can be confusing to know which person is responsible for which sections. It can also be confusing to know which phase of your website comes next, for example, moving from wireframing to development or ensuring content creation is completed before finalising the design.
However by following a web design process you can see a clear timeline of your website design and development, helping you feel more prepared and organised!
Who Should Follow A Web Design Process?
Anyone designing their website, whether that’s designing it for the first time or redesigning what you already have, should follow the web design process as it helps keep you on track throughout each stage.
If you work for a larger company, you’ll probably manage this process in-house as you’ll have dedicated web development teams who can focus on getting this right.
However, if you work for a smaller company or you’re a start up business, you might outsource this to an external agency who will have the expertise and resources to manage this on your behalf.
Regardless of whether you’re managing this internally or externally, following a web design process is key to ensuring the finished outcome is what you had envisioned.
There will be multiple people involved in this process, including:
- Business Owners & Founders – They are responsible for setting the overall vision and requirements for the website.
- Marketing Teams – They make sure the website aligns with brand messaging, SEO, and user experience.
- Project Managers – They oversee the project ensuring timelines and budgets are met and they also facilitate communication between different teams.
- Web Developers – They will build and code the website, bringing the web design to life.
- Copywriters – These teams are responsible for creating engaging and SEO-focussed website content.
- SEO Specialists – They will optimise the website structure and content ensuring it ranks in search engines.
- Graphic Designers – They’re responsible for designing visual elements making sure the website is engaging.
As a result, all of these people need to be following the same direction, otherwise your website can easily go off plan!
The Web Design Process
The following steps walk you through the web design process from the moment we onboard a new client at Discovery Design, through to launching the sire and providing support.
Whilst every agency’s approach will differ, you should ask to see a copy of their web design process as this gives you an idea of how they plan to achieve your vision.
1. Project Onboarding
The first step in any web design project is establishing a good base. This involves knowing who you’re working with – something that’s particularly important if you’re working with an external partner.
During our onboarding process, we introduce you to the team members who will be working on your website, ensuring you know exactly who to contact at each stage. This is also where we set clear project goals, key deliverables, and expectations on both sides so we know what we’re all working towards.
To keep everything running smoothly, we outline a detailed timeline with milestones, giving you a clear picture of when to expect each phase to be completed. We also set up communication channels and project management tools so that we can both keep track of progress moving forward.
2. Discovery and Planning
Once we’re all familiar with each other, we move into the discovery phase. This is where we take a deep dive into your business, industry, and target audience to ensure your website is built with the right strategy in mind.
At this stage we’ll also carry out market and competitor research to understand what’s working in your industry and identify opportunities to make your website stand out. This might take the form of:
- User personas
- Competitor analysis reports
- Website audits
From this point, we’ll finalise your website’s sitemap, outlining the key pages and their structure. A design document is prepared to help you visualise the proposed layout and style.
This phase also involves gathering essential content such as written website copy, imagery, and brand assets. Before moving forward, we hold a review meeting to discuss our research, align expectations, and ensure everything is in place for the design phase.
3. Design Development
With a clear direction established, we move into the design phase. This is where your website starts to take shape and you can begin to see how it’s going to look.
Our team of designers create detailed mock ups of key pages ensuring they fulfil various criteria including providing a smooth user experience, being consistent with your branding, and being visually appealing. These designs are then presented in a meeting for your review, allowing you to provide feedback before anything moves into development.
This stage is collaborative, with adjustments made based on your input. It’s important you’re happy with the design before it goes into development as this makes the process much smoother and helps avoid any delays.
Adjustments might include layout tweaks, changes to the colour palette, or image selections to better align with what you had in mind. Once the final design is approved, we prepare everything for the next phase: development.
4. Website Development
Once you’re happy with the design, our development team gets to work bringing your website to life. The development stage is key as this ensures your website is fully functional and provides a good user experience.
It involves coding the site, making sure it’s responsive across all devices, and integrating any required functionality, such as forms, e-commerce features, or booking systems. Different websites will vary in terms of how long the development stage takes, as it depends on how complex the features and functionalities are that need to be built.
Throughout this phase, our developers and designers work closely together to ensure the final build stays true to the approved design.
The project manager oversees progress, testing each component along the way. Once the site is fully built, we present it to you for review and make any adjustments. We also provide training materials and guidance, so that you can navigate and manage your own site once it’s live.
