Workflow of a design project
Stage 1
Every graphic and web design project starts with a brief. In the brief, you define your requests and requirements for the end result.
Here are some briefing questions for both graphic design and web design projects, which I usually ask, before I write a quote.
Briefing questions for graphic design projects
- Do you have company colours and fonts which should be used in the design?
- What is the scope of the print materials (pages, format, print run, etc.)?
- Who is your target audience?
- Should the design have a simple or exclusive effect?
- Would you like to have embossing or special printing finishes (e.g. perforations for cut-off cards, UV varnish, special colours etc.)?
- Will it be printed only once or more often?
- Do you want a hard proof to be able to closely inspect especially the colors and if everything else is correct?
- Will the work be published in one language or in various languages?
- Can you deliver the content digitally or does the text have to be captured and images scanned?
- Do you already have a print shop or may I recommend one?
- What is the deadline?
- What budget do you have in mind?
Briefing questions for web design projects
- Should an existing website be used and adapted or should an entirely new one be created?
- When should the website go online?
- Who will primarily visit your website?
- Is there a corporate design that has to be considered?
- What is the scope of the website?
- What special functionalities should your website have?
- Do you have to pay special attention to accessibility for people with impairments?
- Should the web design be responsive, i.e. should it adapt itself to small screen sizes, such as those on tablet PCs and smartphones?
- Are there any special technologies that you would like to use or exclude (e.g. Flash, Javascript, CSS3)?
- Where is your main sales market? Do you have a local business, a national or an international company?
- Who will update the website and how often?
- Will the website be monolingual or multilingual?
- What budget do you have in mind?
Stage two: developing drafts
This stage entails developing drafts and layouts of the website design.
I usually create two to three drafts on the basis of your brief. You then decide the direction.
Stage three: corrections and modifications
Corrections and modifications are carried out on your chosen draft.
Stage four: realisation phase
The draft correction stage is finished. You have given your approval for setting the print materials or programming the website design. Print media will now be prepared for printing and website designs will have functionality added to them i.e. they will be programmed.
While you can often work with dummy texts and images in the design phase in order to assess the effect of the layout of the draft, the original content must now be available at this stage at the latest. Dummy texts and placeholders will now be replaced with your text and images.
Stage five: awaiting your approval
The original content is now incorporated. The draft now awaits your approval for printing. You check the work one last time. If all the content is correct, you give your approval for printing.
For websites, you now have the opportunity to test it all again to check that all functionalities run to your liking and that all your content is correct. Then you give your approval to go online.
Stage six: publishing and deployment
The print materials go to press. The website goes online.
Please note: Because a website is not a static product like a brochure, for example, you should already think about who will maintain your website at the briefing stage. Not only simple text changes to the content are meant here, which you can do yourself with a content management system following some training. Maintenance also involves database back-ups, backing up the files from the FTP server, as well as the repair of errors and bugs that may later arise due to new browsers appearing on the market or new internet technologies becoming available.
If you don't have time to regularly add new online content yourself or to carry out back-ups and updates, then I offer a service for updating, maintaining and backing up your website for a fixed price upon request.