For a small business, the stakeholders might be the owners of the business and their customers. For a local business alliance, the stakeholders might be the board of directors and people interested in supporting the businesses in the alliance. For a local non-profit, the stakeholders might be the board of directors and the organizations supporters, including potential donors. The owners or board of directors are the project sponsors. The customers or supporters are the potential users for the website.
Once we understand the stakeholders’ needs and expectations, we can begin to design the site. But before design begins, there is a step that iwe consider to be part of AvMar’s “secret sauce”. We look at the information we collected from the stakeholders and determine if what they think they want is what they actually need. We like to use the following analogy. Most of the time it’s sufficient to make the trains run on time (what the stakeholders think they need), but sometimes you have to design a revolutionary new transportation system (what the stakeholders actually need).
AvMar’s design process is progressive. Throughout the process, we validate designs with the stakeholders. We begin with sketching — rapid, almost stream of thought design ideas. From there, we move to paper prototypes. With paper prototypes we begin to flesh out the design. We use these to compare different design approaches for the website. We then move to wireframes. Wireframes are the skeleton of the web site. They represent where everything will go, but they are generally not interactive. Finally, we begin building out the actual website.
So far, I’ve discussed the steps we take to make a website work from a functional standpoint. But esthetiques are also important. If your customers or supporters do not have a favorable first impression when they visit your website, they won’t stay long and that will affect your success — however you define success. We can deliver the esthetique experience you need to keep your visitors engaged.