Zeros and Ones Getting Web Design and Development to Work Together Igor Ilyinsky, Founder - FirmWise Jeff Yerkey, President - Yerkey Design

Designers are from Venus What’s a Client to do? Developers are from Mars

Through effective communication, clearly defined roles and responsibilities, you can build the greatest website on Earth!

Your Team The Designer The Developer Aspires to uniquely visualize client’s brand value proposition—on time and within budget. The Developer Strives to make static designs work in many dimensions, and make site management as simple as possible.

DEVELOPER Make sure the designers define their scope. How many pages designed? Which ones? Delivery of photos, icons, infographics and attorney photos — what’s included?

DESIGNER Make sure the developers define their scope. Which templates by Designer Which templates by Developer Who is responsible for creation of site maps and wireframes? How many Responsive breakpoints? What certain bells and whistles will cost extra to code?

DEVELOPER Make sure the designers define what they need to begin working. (“I’m waiting for the dev to tell me if I can use a 12-column grid”)

DESIGNER Ask the developers to specify what formats are acceptable for deliverables. Photoshop Illustrator Sketch InDesign

DEVELOPER Make sure the designers look at analytics. Most important pages Most viewed bios Mobile views Exit pages Page loads

DESIGNER Make sure the developers provide insight into what features to implement, what to avoid. What’s new Latest practices — (e.g. personas, parallax scrolling)

DEVELOPER Make sure the designers get us involved early in the project. Provide insights Review tech limitations Codify timeline Identify shared responsibility “gaps” Flag potential problems

DESIGNER Make sure the developer doesn’t change approved designs.

DEVELOPER Make sure the designers provide ongoing creative direction. Insure we don’t break the design integrity And don’t take it personally!

DESIGNER Make sure the developers understand your brand positioning. Proper use of logos Selection of correct webfonts Avoid using cliché images (“gavel-free zones”) Select images consistent with themes, quality and brand

DEVELOPER Make sure the designers accommodate for the fringe cases such as: Long titles or emails Short associate bios Mobile Responsive requirements

DESIGNER Make sure the developers understand the fundamentals of good design and ADA-Accessibility. Colors and fonts – ADA visual contrast Grids and layout – design contrast Hierarchical visual scanning

DEVELOPER Make sure the designers deliver organized files. Include Photoshop HTML/CSS notes Layers (specifying if a container is fixed/fluid) WebFont specs Web-optimized images

DESIGNER Make sure the developers get a head start on the most complicated features. CMS integration Mobile-first attention Complex tech features such as Knowledgebases, advanced search and JavaScript

DEVELOPER Make sure the designers don’t overdesign — don’t burn creativity where it’s unwarranted.

DESIGNER Codify site preview and review process. Q/A Number of rounds of revisions Launch sequence Timeline milestones

DESIGNER & DEVELOPER Make sure the client sets a positive collaborative and respectful tone for the project… Because if anything goes wrong, who’s fault is it?

Thank you. Q&A