How It Works
Design without strategy is just that. It’s like a nice car on the open road with an empty tank. To develop a great and lasting brand, you need not only strategy but also a vision. You need consistency…consistency in style, tone, and brand application. You need to know your own brand intimately as well as the brands of your competitors. Most importantly, you need to know your audience.
Over the past 20 years of professional practice, I have developed a system that works for my clients and their brands. With my 5 Steps to Success Plan, no matter how big or how small the project, how simple or complex the deliverables, I trust this roadmap to get us cruising down the information highway at the speed of light in today’s hyperfast world.
Arriving at the ideal destination for your creative project will not happen by accident. Together, we can take the steps you need to take to reach your goals in style, on time, and on budget.
Learn more about working with Web Print Wow and explore my 5 Steps to Success Plan below.
Please Note: Deliverables and details may vary from project to project. The below expanded description of the Success Plan is an example only. While the details may vary from project to project based on individual client and project needs, the Phases themselves and their order do not change. The expanded description gives you an overall idea of the process. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Before We Begin
All projects have a 2 hour project minimum. Either the 2 hour minimum or 50% of the total project cost is due upon project Booking. You will also receive my contract via email during this time. Once payment is received and my contract is signed, your project will be booked. Once your Booking is secured, your project will begin.
For Websites: During this time, please also provide me with your site host’s access credentials. I will review your host’s web server platform, and ensure that it is optimized for your site’s performance before we begin any new development.
If your project start date is in the future, you can use this time to reflect on who your Dream Client is. I will contact you the week before your project is scheduled to begin.
Final payment is due upon project completion and/or the set project milestone (usually the same date).
The 5 Steps to Success Plan
Discover
It’s time to research your own brand, your competitors, and your target audience.
Design
Explore your options. Create clean layouts. Iterate in stages. Check your Brief.
Develop
This is the phase in which coding, print, or product layout occurs. Check all specs/reqs.
Launch
Now is the time to shine! Launch your site, brand, or creative project with ease.
Test
Interact with your live project however you can. Watch your audience react.
The Discovery Phase
The first step we must take before any creative journey begins is Discovery. Discovery is the process by which we learn everything about your brand, website, print materials, your market, your competitors, and your goals. We must establish these key elements through research before we begin. Only after Discovery is complete are we ready to build a brand that will connect with your audience.
During this time I will review your Client Interview, study your web site, and research your target market. Also at this time, you will provide your prepared content and images to me via email.
For web projects, your existing site content will also be imported into your site. Please make a note of any content from the site that you plan to change, delete, or replace at this time. The best way to do this is to upload a list of your notes in the Dropbox folder. Once I have all of this information, I will prepare a 1 page Creative Brief providing a specific creative plan for your site.
If your project is large or complex, a written Project Specification may also be prepared. This document ranges in length from 5 to 50 pages and includes any Information Architecture planning as well as more specific technical expressions of the project’s vision and planning.
Once these documents have been reviewed and agreed upon, it’s time to move to the next phase in the project planning cycle.
The Design Phase
After you have reviewed and approved of the Creative Brief, I will create your initial artwork concepts based on our project plan. Once you have selected your preferred artwork style and provided initial feedback, I will refine the chosen concept in up to 2 rounds to finalize everything from font family size, and color to navigation. This is not a time to redesign, but rather to crystallize the design into perfection.
IF this is a website design, once you provide approval on the final version of the chosen artwork, I will create 3-5 top level sample site page layouts for your review. We can tweak each concept up to 2 times in order to get each element in sync with the overall theme and your vision.
Once the design has been finalized, upon approval by you, the Client, I will then proceed to the next phase of the Project Plan, Development.
The Development Phase
Physical production of your print product or development of your new WordPress theme begins. The Design Phase is closed. If any additional changes are required by you at this time, I must be notified immediately to ensure timely publication, to prevent technology conflicts, and to help prevent budget creep.
If this is for a web project, this is when you would gather and provide all final project materials including any last copy, legal documents and any other pertinent materials to be included in the site and provide them to me via email.
The Launch Phase
For print projects, all layouts are checked carefully 10 times for typos and any other graphic errors before going to print.
For websites, once I have completed development and testing of your new site, your approval will be needed in order to launch the site. The final Milestone payment will be due at this time as well. Once approval has been provided and payment has been received, I will begin preparing your database and site for live publication.
Please note that Milestone payment dates are not changeable once they are set, though site publication itself can be deferred to a specific date within 30 days if you have a PR event to coordinate with your project launch. All payments are final and non-refundable.
The Testing Phase
This is the part where we high five with pizza! The hard work is done and it’s time to see how your audience is receiving your vision. It’s time to try on that new t-shirt, test drive your new web property, or show off your new brand. It’s also the time for you to identify any unforeseen issues with final deliverables as well as to ask any questions regarding the care and maintenance of your new creative asseets (if applicable). I can then provide answers using your preferred training method (Skype screenshare, Zoom call, or email) during our scheduled training time.
All responsive sites are thoroughly tested by me in Safari, Firefox, IE8+, Chrome; iPhone/Android; and tablet/iPad.