The Power of a Process

As web developers at a creative agency, we find ourselves completing the same tasks for each of our web design projects. Creating a detailed website design and development process can help make you complete your projects faster and make you more efficient. Not only can it keep you as the web designer on track for the project, but you can also include your client into project making decisions and help them understand their role in the project. All web developers and designers work at their own speed and truly have their own work style. The best way to become successful is to create your own process that fits your style as a web designer.

A web development process is an outline of steps that need to be taken from start to finish to complete a web design project. The process divides and categorizes all of the work that needs to be completed step by step. As web designers in Chicago we like using web development processes in order to track the progression of each project.

Planning

As web developers in Chicago we believe that the planning stage in any design project is the most important. Whatever is decided and mapped out during the planning stage sets the stage for the rest of the project. The planning stage involves the web designer and client having contact on what needs to be done and when it should be done. When in the planning stage, be very conscious of your client’s goals and target audience in order to create a powerful tool for their business. While planning your project, document it all! Gather all of your information into one consolidated document. Also be sure to include a site map. Before making any move on a CMS or website, always create a rough site map of what you plan on having on your website.

Design

The design portion is probably the most fun part of the entire process. The main purpose of the design stage is to create a visual representation of what the completion of your project will look like. Creating mockup based designs can give you a great idea on what your website will look like before even entering the development stage. Mockups are also a great way to share information with your clients and gather their input as well.

Development

The development stage involves the bulk of the work in a web design project. When in the development stage be sure to keep all of your code organized and refer frequently to the original plans made in the first step. When beginning the development stage, take a strategic approach and take it one step at a time. If you are using a CMS like Wordpress, Joomla or Ruby on Rails now is the time to implement the CMS and make customizations. The final step in the development stage is filling your web design with content. Even the simplest pages require tight typography and careful attention to detail. Ultimately your web design should be a clear representation of the quality of your work, so be sure to test all of the links and pages that are attached to the website before launching.

Launch

Once you believe the project is completed and the client has approved of the site, it is now time to launch your website. The purpose of the launch phase is to prepare your website for public viewing. It is time to transfer your site and all files that go along with it to a live server. Once it’s moved over, check it out on your computer, mobile device and make sure it looks perfect.

As web designers in Chicago, we have a certain web design process that we use on every single project. When creating your own process, keep in mind your own personal work habits and set goals for yourself to help keep the project on time. The process will be different for each designer and will vary based on each client and project. Develop a process that fits you, only then will the process be truly useful. 

Comment or questions on developing a creative process?  Feel free to comment below or contact us.

Choosing a CMS

Have you ever wondered what is lurking behind all of your favorite websites? Web designers in Chicago have many different options when they are first presented with a web design project. There are many different Content Management Systems available for web designers such as Wordpress, Joomla and Krypton. With so many options how to you choose the one that is right for your website?

There are many different types of CMS available for editing and managing.  When considering a content management software there are many things that may come into play with your decision. Some CMS platforms are more based around blogging than a pure CMS website. Other CMS platforms are more compatible Search Engine Optimization. Before the design comes into play, you always need to consider what your main target is with your web design. Things to consider when choosing a CMS:

1- Cost: Cost is always an important aspect when making a business decision. There are many different types of CMS available for free and commercial.

2- Security: There is nothing worse than experiencing spam on your beautiful web page. Commercial CMS are licensed version platforms. They may be expensive, but they will be worth the money when it comes to security.

3- Flexibility: Open source CMS provides the flexibility that most designers in Chicago strive for. With flexibility you will be able to create exactly what you are envisioning on your computer screen.

We have collaborated a list of different Open Source CMS to highlight the differences.

­Wordpress:

Wordpress was released in May of 2003. Wordpress is a free content management system based on PHP and MySQL.  It was first introduced and geared towards bloggers and is now used by over 65 million users and not just for blogs, but for websites as well.  As mentioned in the previous blog Awesome Wordpress Plugins, Wordpress allows for many different customizations.  Plugins allow Wordpress users to extend their abilities with web development in a multitude of ways.  There are over 18 million Wordpress plugins available.  Wordpress is very well-organized and very easily learned by new users.  It is a favorite CMS among SEO companies due to its ability to implement and track Search Engine Optimization results.

Joomla:

Joomla is also a free content management software and is written in PHP.  There are over 30 million Joomla users and it is still rapidly growing.  Joomla was introduced in 2005 and just recently released their newest version, 3.0.2, which was produced last month.  There are over 10,000 free and commercial extensions available for Joomla users.  The Joomla extensions include plugins, templates, modules, components and languages.

Drupal:

Drupal is another content management system that has a very large amount of users.  Instead of focusing on blogging like Wordpress, Drupal is purely CMS for websites.  There are a wide variety of optional modules that can add forums, user blogs, profiles and more to your website.  The Drupal CMS is used by 2.1% of websites worldwide.  Although Drupal is seems quite difficult to use, it has very basic website administration and installation.

Awesome Wordpress Plugins

As a marketing company in Chicago we like to use different types of websites with different features depending on our clients' needs and goals. We truly enjoy working with Wordpress for the simplicity and versatility it provides.  Wordpress offers a wide range of options and downloadable plugins for your convenience.  Plugins are available for download on the Wordpress website and can range in price.  Below are some of our favorite plugins:

User Spam Remover:

If your planning on having viewers become users on your webpage, the User Spam Remover plugin is a must for your Wordpress website.  Not only does the plugin serve as a protection plan, but it’s also conveniently free of charge.  The plugin was designed to automatically delete spam accounts that have never been used.  There are customizable settings that allow you to set a threshold for inactivity to easily separate spam users from real users.

Social Metrics:

If you’re a fan of social media, the plugin Social Metrics would be a great find for you. Social Metrics is an additional dashboard on your WordPress admin panel that allows you to easily track your posts on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.  It’s an easily designed plugin that gives you important results seconds after being downloaded.

W3 Total Cache:

One of the most important things you need to keep in mind with your website is the speed in which it takes to load and its overall performance.  Web surfers are very impatient and will not waste their time on a website that is moving slow.  By downloading the W3 Total Cache plugin your website will load 10x faster. The plugin will easily cache every page on your website giving viewers the user-friendly site they will love and want to visit again.

SEO Rank Reporter:

As a Search Engine Optimization Company, it is very important for us to check our SEO status on a daily basis.  Wordpress now has a plugin called SEO Rank Reporter that can be viewed directly on your admin panel on your website.  You can now easily check the your SEO rankings through Wordpress without having to use a third party software.

WPTouch:

Web design is at a technology peak especially with all types of smartphones and tablets at nearly everyone's disposal.  As Chicago graphic designers, when we design a website, we always consider the mobile version aspect and ask ourselves, “What will this website look like on a smart phone or tablet?”  Fear not because after installing the WPtouch plugin your website will automatically generate into a mobile or tablet version if someone were to view it on a smart phone or tablet.  The plugin has detection abilities and scales down according to the device your viewing the website from.  This is an easy way to create an efficient website that will be perfectly viewable on any device.   

ThreeWP Activity Monitor:

For the security of your website, installing this free plugin will definitely be worth your time.  The ThreeWP Activity Monitor allows you to track all of the activity on your website.  Any time anything is added or updated it will be recorded on this plugin.  It will show exactly what has occurred including logins to help ensure that your website is completely secure. 

Have your own favorite Wordpress plugin you’d like to share with us?  Feel free to comment below or contact us.  

Fonts and Web Design: Make Your Website Viewer-Friendly

As vain as it may seem, font can greatly affect the way people feel about your website.  Believe it or not, website design is not all about aesthetics.  Website design is also about functionality.  The font size, style and color can alter the decisions people make when they view your website. 

As Web Designers in Chicago, we scrutinize every part of the website design process down to the smallest detail.  Font choice can make or break whether your content gets read or discarded.  Consider our tips when adding text to your website:

(1) Easy to read: Readers should not have to squint or struggle to read your website’s text.  While that cursive font may look decorative and unique, it may be hard for the vast majority to read.  If you feel a creative font is necessary, then the best bet is to search for one that is still decorative and unique, but is still legible. 

(2) Attention grabbing: You can use font on your website to grab your readers’ attention.  Indenting, spacing or even colors used appropriately are all great ways to use font to grab readers’ attention.

(3) Size:  Sizing is important to website text.  Website font for the main content shouldn’t be too small or too large.  Large fonts should be used for titles, headlines, or headings to set them apart from other content and to show importance.  Size up your fonts accordingly. 

(4) Identify keywords:  Give your readers a dose of the main point by highlighting keywords.  This will draw their eyes to the right words.  This way, even if they are only skim reading your articles or blogs, they will still be able to grasp the main point.

(5) Standard style: Say what you want about standard style text (that it’s blah, boring, over-used, etc.), but it’s the most widely used for a reason.  And that reason is that everyone has those fonts and most people find it easy to read.  You may love using an obscure font on your website, but if the viewer doesn’t have that font, they won’t be able to read your content.  Now your super cool font isn’t so super cool anymore.  Think twice about standard fonts.

If you have any questions or comments about website design, feel free to drop by our contact page.  We love talking about Chicago Web Design.

The Best Website Designs: A Review

We recently stumbled across a website called 'The Best Designs' and it has an enormous collection of some of the best experimental and trending website design in the world. It's a great collection, but how useful is it to the small business owner and to marketing professionals like ourselves? Most of the websites on Best Designs are creative professionals like us, and are extremely image heavy. There's not a lot of content information and some of them are 'Scrolling' websites, which means they're one page and you're taken around the website via javascript. Not very SEO friendly.

If you didn't know, Integraphix not only builds websites, but we also are a Chicago marketing company that assists with Brand messaging, Identity, Logo Design and Graphic Design, and Internet Marketing. We have a unique perspective on how websites should be built. Let's take a look at some of the contenders.

The Importance of the Web-Page Lead Capture

Web Developers in Chicago

Personal Trainer's Website Design

If you're a business owner and are putting together your website, you've probably come across the term 'Lead Capture' or 'Lead Capture Page' and wondered what it is and why it's important.

A Lead Capture plays a vital role in generating leads and customers for your business. This form, or page, grabs attention and provides a quick way to contact your business or join an email list for your business. This will provide a list of potential customers and contacts to which you can market your business. This page needs to appeal to your target market in terms of design and language used. And you have seconds to capture that attention, or those readers/visitors typically won't return.

As a web and graphic designer, you know your job entails helping your client sell their service or product. Your ultimate goal is to help viewers understand a message and, in turn, reap benefits for your client. Developing a process to follow each time you take on a new project can help tremendously in achieving results you and your client are happy with. Whether you’re a graphic designer, web designer, programmer or otherwise, having a system set up will help you get the work done faster in addition to keeping things organized and the designer/client relationship a positive one.

Project Initiation

One of the most important steps in the design process is accumulating the information you’ll need. This is usually achieved by either a face-to-face meeting with the client, a questionnaire, or even a Skype meeting if you really wish to establish a personal relationship with your client. In gathering this information, you now know your client’s objectives and can focus on the details for inclusion in your brief.

The Brief: Although it may seem like more work than necessary, a design brief has a couple of key benefits, no matter how big or small the project seems to you:
It ensures the client knows what he or she wants from the project
It acts as your point of reference during the project

The more information the client provides initially, the better the result for the both of you (especially the client). Topics for inclusion in the design brief may vary but a few good starting points may be:
Corporate Profile – A summary of the business
Market Position – An evaluation of the company’s service/product in relation to the competition.
Communication Task – What’s the message trying to be conveyed and through what means (e.g. taglines, body copy, photography, etc.)
Target Market – Demographics — the age, gender, income, employment, geography, lifestyle of those the client wants to reach.
Objectives – What quantifiable result does the client want to achieve?
Schedule/Deadline – A realistic schedule of how the project should proceed.

At this stage it’s also a good idea to accept a deposit for the first half of the project...read more!

Web Design Changes Due to the iPad

The iPad has recently gained tremendous fame worldwide. A huge mass of people are getting attracted to this newly emerging device. We can already see people using an iPad whether they are in a bus or a coffee shop. Why it has become so popular in such a short time?

The answer is, it’s such a computer that you can simply hold in your hand and read like a book. It’s a more intimate way to interact as now you can lounge with the computer rather than having the difficulty to sit with it at a desk. This technology change has turned the world of website designers upside down. It has led the web designers rethinking about their design tactics and even the way they code. The designers have started designing specifically for the iPad because it seems undeniable that the device will hold strong position in the future. To give a more positive user experience web designs and layouts must be more compatible to the iPad.

Web Design Layouts: A (or F) to Z

There are specific ways to layout a website that work with no problem. F and Z. It has to do with the way our eyes track the screen (or a book) and how we digest information on that website. Let's pre-empt this conversation with one thing: Not everybody uses these layouts, or even cares to consult them when designing websites - this is typically why some websites fail in terms of conversions and sales. Here's why:

The F Layout
This layout has to do with Search Engines, Blogs and informational pages like your 'About Page' or 'Services Page'. Take a look at this handy image provided by WebTuts. If you notice, the 'hot spots' are in the general shape of an 'F'. This is where our eyes are looking the most - in the upper left hand corner, down the sides, and somewhat floating into the middle of the page.

HTML 5 Cheat Sheets (for download!)

HTML5 is changing and adding new techniques almost on a weekly basis, and it can become hard to remember all the new features, much like any new software or coding language can be. Fortunately, Web Design Ledger is on top of things, and InMotion Hosting designed these lovely cheat-sheets that developers can download. See them below!

The cheat sheets are broken up into three graphics:

• Tags
• Event Handler Content Attributes
• Browser Support

Each differentiates between the new, existing, and unsupported features of HTML5. The clean visual grid is easy to run through, lending itself to be a very practical tool for a busy designer/developer. The most useful aspect of it all – it is print-ready for you to pin up on your wall for quick and easy referencing.

HTML5 Cheat Sheet By InMotion Hosting - A Virtual Private Servers Provider

See more below the cut!