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Williams Creative breaks down the website development process into three phases. These are the discovery, design, and development phases:

Discovery Phase

No two website development projects are alike, which is why the discovery phase is vital to a successful website. During the discovery phase, Williams Creative works with the client to define the objectives for the website. Based on this understanding, Williams Creative determines what web technologies are best suited to achieve these objectives. Williams Creative also makes a preliminary evaluation of the content that is going to be used in the website to determine what implications this will have on the design and structure of the site. For instance, if the client desires to frequently update content on their own then an administrative feature that utilizes a server application and database will likely be needed. Also in this phase, Williams Creative establishes a timeline to complete the project and sets benchmarks to complete the design and development phases of the project.

Design Phase

The objective of the design phase is to conceptualize a website that will present the products and/or services the client provides in a concise, visually appealing and user-friendly manner. At the outset of this phase, Williams Creative familiarizes itself with the client’s existing business image. The company logo, color scheme, and any existing marketing material is studied so that the website design is consistent with these materials. To facilitate the design process, Williams Creative encourages the client to provide a list of websites that they find appealing and, if applicable, those of its direct competitors.

Williams Creative then provides two unique website designs. These are renditions of the website’s home page, in JPG format, that show the proposed navigation menu, font styles, imagery, primary and secondary content regions, and overall look. Subsequent to the client’s review of these designs, Williams Creative determines which elements of each design are appealing. Using this information, Williams Creative provides a single updated design. From this design, another round of changes is made toward developing an approved design.

Development Phase

To assist in the development process, a temporary password-protected website is created to allow the client to view the development of the website as work progresses. This website houses the design compositions, wireframes, and production version of the client’s website.

The ‘wireframes’ website does not incorporate any design elements, but has a functional navigation and page structure. The wireframes are used to show how the content of the website will be distributed over various pages and what menu items will be needed to navigate across these pages. Additionally, these wireframes will assist in tracking what content needs to be provided for use in the finished website.

During development, the approved design is converted to a functional website and applied to the structure of the wireframes. The code, framework, and content of the website is produced using industry standard methods to ensure compliancy with modern web browsers and efficient indexing by search engines. Once completed, tested and approved, the website will be launched and made available for public viewing.

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