What happens after you reach out.
If you've never hired a creative studio, here's exactly what to expect.
What this asks of you
Your part is a short list: a call at the start, one set of notes for each round of feedback, a training session at the end, and the content only you can supply.
How much time that takes depends on the project, and mostly on the content. The feedback rounds are the parts worth putting in a calendar. Everything else is short.
At the start
A call
Twice, mid-project
Feedback, one set of notes a round
At the end
A training session
Planned on day one
The content only you can supply
Discovery
Thirty minutes of questions about who has to use this and what they come to it for. We ask first about the things that are expensive to discover late: a members area, an events calendar, a second language.
Your part: One call, with whoever knows the answers in the room. You don't need a brief written first.
Strategy and sitemap
A page-by-page map of the whole site, and what goes on each page, agreed in writing before anyone draws anything.
Your part: Read the sitemap and tell us what's missing. This is the cheapest moment to change your mind, and the last easy one.
Design
Sheila draws it, starting with the pages that carry the most traffic. You see full layouts with your own words in them, not a mood board.
Your part: Two rounds of feedback, gathered into one voice. If an approval or a vote has to happen before you can sign off, say so early and we'll build the wait into the schedule.
Development
Thomas builds it, and you get a link to the staging site while it's still rough. We design for the phone first, and we test on phones.
Your part: Mostly content: photos, bios, service times, whatever we listed back in step two. Plus a look at the staging site when we send the link.
Launch and handoff
We put it live, then sit down with whoever updates the site and leave instructions they can follow without us. Handover is a step in the project here. It has a date on it.
Your part: A training session, and one person named as the one who holds the login. Pick them before launch day.
Ongoing support (optional)
Monthly maintenance and small updates if you want them. Optional because the site doesn't need us to keep running, and we'd rather you chose it than needed it.
Your part: Deciding whether you want it. Turn it down and you still leave with a site your own staff can run.
What you leave with.
The finished thing, working, in your name, and the people who run it trained.
- A live site, or a mark, or the print pieces, finished.
- An editor your own staff can run.
- A training session for whoever holds the login, and written instructions for whoever holds it next.
- The design, the code, the domain, and every file, in your name.
- A site built and tested against WCAG 2.2 AA, with what we tested written down if you need it.