Web Site Planning CITA 330 Fall 2010 Prof Mills 1

Planning Issues What will the site do? What will the site look like? How will the user experience the site? Navigation – Structures the site – What links are most important? Research client needs, similar sites, sites the client likes Requires communication with the client 2

Planning Issues Purpose – Why build the site? – Use a short written statement to define What is the Image or Visual Message of the Site? – Driven by site purpose Content – Quantity the number of pages, images – Client must provide the content Audience – Define a user personality – simulate user’s goals and behaviors (Hunt) What is Success for this site? – How will you know your is successful? – Sketch scenarios (Hunt), use a short written statement 3

Outline the Planning Issues Develop a set of notes addressing the planning issues Used by the team, an internal document Plan before you build the site, obvious but overlooked Use a design brief (see Stocks) to put your ideas in a format for the client to review 4

The Design Brief * The design brief defines what the client expects of the design you will build The brief is an understanding between the client and the designer Use the brief to confirm your approach with the client before you build Have your client “sign-off” on the plan * see Stocks, Chapter 2 Research 5

Design Brief: Basic Questions Stocks outlines a set of basic questions on p. 26 Include the related planning issues listed above you feel are important 6

Questions 1 How will you communicate your design brief to your client? (see plan_student_website.docx) 2 What will you include in your design brief? 3 How will you know your client and you are in agreement about the design decisions you will make? 7

Sources Elliot Stocks Sexy Web Design Ben Hunt The Complete No Nonsense, Step- by-Step Guide to Designing Web Sites n-process/web-design-process/ 8