Hi all,

 

I have had a few experiences in the last 6 months (mainly with smaller clients) who will hear of you from a friend or someone you have done some work for, and they will simply say: "Well, I want a website for my business..."

 

What is the first set of steps you take with these people.

 

Usually you will arrange a meeting, then flesh out exactly what they want...? Content, number of pages required, complexity of the site etc...

 

Then you start with wireframes and then designs etc...

 

But what are you first first first steps, how do you know what a client wants when all they know is 'a website for my business'?

 

Do you have a pre-determined list of questions? Do you do it on the fly...? What are your methods?

 

Discuss

Well, I have the much harder job of focusing entirely on those first steps!

 

Actually figuring out what the site should do, who it targets, what it says and what the whole point of it is! I need to know all that before I can create the right structure, architecture, message and 'sales pitch'.

 

The fundamental first step is cutting through the vague "I need a website" and any flouncy marketing spiel to get to the "what must the website do, how does it fit into your business' strategy and what are it's objectives". Most important is getting a clear understanding of who the best potential customers are, what turns them on, what are they looking for and how the business in question will make them happy bunnies.

 

You need to know what will attract, engage and convert punters given what the client offers.

 

That means understanding the client's business, it's products/ services, competitors, the marketplace, the brand... as well as how the site will fit in with marketing and promotion.

 

I get the ball rolling with a questionnaire that I tailor to the individual client - it's designed as much to get a feel for the right tone of voice, expectations and understanding of their own business as it is to get specific facts.

 

From there I'll go off and do some research to be able to come up with a proposed plan of attack. The research will uncover new questions to ask and, most of the time, it's a key point where I will help shape (or entirely define if the client doesn't have a good one) the site/ marketing/ branding strategy.

 

The plan lays out a blueprint of the 'whats, hows and whys' of achieving what's needed. It's not a wireframe, there's no details of the copy or the site structure etc. - just the key objectives. From that things like tone-of-voice/ branding, structure and core messages evolve "on the fly" in the drafting stage.

 

Too often this stage is skipped in a rush to create the answer before folks have nailed the question. That's not so critical in the design phase, but it's vital in creating the content. Much in the same way I guess it is for developers - until you've nailed the requirements and got a clear vision of what's needed it's no good starting programming?

 

(Handy that I used to be a business analyst eh?!)

That's really easy, this article http://www.webdesignermag.co.uk/blog/site-storyboarding-and-design/ completely covers everything you've just asked.

That's really easy, this article http://www.webdesignermag.co.uk/blog/site-storyboarding-and-design/ completely covers everything you've just asked.

 

I was after more personal stories; having been a web designer for over ten years, I have my own methods lol - it was more about how individuals approach things, not so much about how a blog post tells you to do it

 

Good link though

I am still learning about this but my experience to date has I think been harder because everything I have done to date has been for friends or family and of course distraction from the task at hand is very easy.

 

Generally either a long telephone conversation to them talking through what they want or face to face if possible doing the same. I have some questions I put together early on to try and help but lol generally they seem to want to tell me what they think is important.

 

I make short notes where possible identifying the keypoints.

 

I have found with a couple of jobs recently this has needed doing again to re-evaluate needs and expectations as they realise they want more features etc added and the process begins to feel disorganised.

 

Project Bubble has helped me out massively for the last project as you can list projects, tasks, collaborators, contacts, add comments and to do's - and share it all with either your client or your 'collaborators'. It helps to make sure you are on the same page and adds structure to the process when your client is a little bit erratic and doesn't know where to go first!

 

It does definitely depend on the client though; my first two really had very little involvement (their choice) - I just showed them design / layout ideas etc and they said yes or no.

Oh right, you were looking at it from more of a discussion, personal point of view.

 

I usually can suss peeps out from the start, so no pre-determined questions can take care of that, those questions happen as you find out more. I think my first first steps are tuning into that person's vibe and falling into it. And if they are trying to create something that is different from the way they are, then both of you together can make that vibe happen and sync .. you can just feel it.

 

Hope i got your topic right this time! It is a very interesting topic.

lol - elfnity, you are bang on my dear +1

 

Your first post with the link was brilliant and informative, but yes, you are right, it was more of a discussion thread than an answers thread

I'm still new to all this, so I'm learning with every new client; though I guess we all are really...

 

I start off with an initial "template" questionnaire, that can pull in general information about what the client is after; how many pages, is there a current logo/brand, any websites they have seen that they like etc. This allows me to deduce how large a workload will be involved, and if its actually within my capabilities.

 

From here I will have a chat with the client and gather in information about what the business does, and what they want to achieve via the website etc.

 

Then I will knock together a couple of designs (2 or 3) in photoshop to show the client. I will then either go with thier favourite one, or create a hybrid if they like parts of each.

 

I will then proceed to knock together a working template for them to try out.

 

 

Kyle

I am new to web design, and would be interested in people's experiences.

 

I had my first first-client meeting a few weeks ago. I read lots of articles beforehand and I liked this article espectially the end where he says

 

'I like to first talk about their users as it gets them thinking about their customers and how they interact with the site.

 

Boagworld article

 

at my first client meeting (well it's a volutary site for a charity group) they said they would be happy for me to do whatever! But hopefully the next site I am doing for a different group will want to have more input.