Understanding the problem before designing anything.
Most of the risk in a website project sits in the first two weeks, when everyone agrees on a brief that turns out to describe the wrong problem. The process below front-loads that, and nothing is designed until the thinking is signed off.
- Working system
- Four connected decision points
Counted, not claimed.
Every figure here is counted from the published archive when the page loads, so it cannot drift from the work. Open any line to see how it breaks down, and follow it through to the projects themselves.
The work above was produced by Brainstorm, a studio established in Limerick in 2010. Vancouver Website Design is its Vancouver practice, led by Dave Curtin, who directed the projects listed here.
How the work runs.
Five stages, in this order. Here is what happens in each one and where you come into it.
Discovery
Interviews with you and with the people who sell or deliver day to day. This is also where we look at whatever analytics and enquiry data exists.
YouInterviewed, along with the people who sell or deliver day to day.
Structure and strategy
You get a written view of who the site is for, what it needs to say and how it is organised. Nothing gets designed until that is agreed.
YouAgree the structure before anything is designed.
Design and writing
Pages are designed and written at the same time. You review real pages with real copy rather than mood boards, which makes the feedback far more useful.
YouReview real pages with real copy, not mood boards.
Build and launch
Development, testing across devices and assistive technology, content migration and launch. Your team gets training before handover, not a PDF afterwards.
YouTrained before handover.
After launch
A few weeks of monitoring once real traffic arrives, then a short written view of what is worth changing next. Some clients stop here and some carry on monthly.
YouSent a written view of what is worth changing next.
Where this starts
Bring the decision you are stuck on.
The most useful first conversations cover what has changed in the business, what it is costing you, and where the internal disagreement is.