The Design Worksheet

Feel free to use this worksheet to prepare for the Design Process. After you've read and absorbed some of the information on this site, the worksheet will assist you in pulling together the materials you will need to create a successful website in a cost-effective way. I kept this on one long page in case you want to print the worksheet for your reference or if you want to fill it out by hand and fax it to me when completed. Email me if you'd like my fax number.

Enjoy!

Defining Your Project

The primary purpose or focus of your site determines if its style is informal or more businesslike, more visuals- or text-driven. An artist will be best served by one kind of site, a retailer, another. A nonprofit or educational organization needs something else entirely. Please briefly describe your business, service, or organization.



This is an entirely new site
This is for a site redesign
If for a redesign, what is the current site's URL?


What do you hope to accomplish with your website?
(Please check any that apply)
information sharing
community building
marketing exposure
online education
e-commerce sales
other: (please explain)

Targeting Your Audience
If you haven't done so already, articulating your target audience is an essential step. Here are some examples: "high-tech industry professionals," "wedding services and caterers," "children 10-14." The more specific you are now, the better results your website will deliver. It's well worth the effort!


Discovering & Specifying Your Preferences
Like most of my clients, you may have several websites in mind you particularly admire. You may have particular qualities or features from them you'd like to emulate in your own design. If you are one of those rare individuals who have not yet spent much time surfing the web, this is an essential prerequisite to developing a site of your own. Visiting friends' and colleagues' websites is a great way to begin, then progress to searching via Google.com or another major search engine for sites developed by others engaged in pursuits similar to yours. While you surf the vast array of sites on the web, pay attention to site organization and navigation, design styles, color schemes, the tone of a site's narrative content, ease of use, interactive features, and so on. I will need a URL list of four or five sites you especially like, along with brief explanations of what you particularly like about each one. Simple statements work fine. Here are a few examples: "like the tone of this content," "like this color scheme but with gold instead of blue," "like the way this one navigates," "like this one's simplicity."
URLs you especially like and why you like them:















Questions to Answer
Have you already registered a domain name?
If so, please enter it here:

If not, have you settled on one and checked to see if it is available?


Will you need help checking the availability of your preferred domain name(s)?

Will you need help registering your domain name?

Do you have a web hosting service already?
If yes, what is the URL of your web hosting company?

If you already have a logo, can it be used or modified for the web? If you have no logo yet and want one, would you like my help choosing a graphic artist? Graphic art is not my strongest talent, however, I will be happy to advise you on selecting a logo artist or to recommend some I've worked with on other projects.

Have you already prepared text content (i.e., your bio, philosophy or mission statement, product descriptions) for your website? Lots of text is not necessary for the web, but there needs to be some on every site.

Bearing in mind that page counts usually go up and down somewhat during the design process, do you have a rough idea of how many pages your website will need?

Is your text content spell-checked, well-edited and organized (even roughly) into sections? Will you need assistance composing or refining text content? I can help with this and I'm happy to do so if you need help. Just bear in mind editorial time is an additional cost and is best for your bottom line if it's factored into the original design estimate for your site.

If you want lots of visuals (graphics and/or photo images) for your site, will you need my assistance to prep them for the web? Please note that providing web-ready graphics and pre-scanned photos and making sure they are clearly labeled will keep your costs lower than if I need to scan them and figure out where you want them.

Will you need help preparing key words and a site description for submitting your site to the major search engines?

Will you want some interactivity on your site? The cost of interactive features is not very high, considering the value they can add to the site. Be sure to check all the features you might want added below:
Contact Form
Invite A Friend
Subscription Form/Emailer
Event Calendar
Other:

Do you have an absolute deadline for launching your site? If so, be sure to let me know right from the beginning when you need your site online and functioning 100% so I can schedule appropriately.

Please feel free to print this worksheet and use it when planning your site.