Web design and development is a process that starts with the initial idea of what you want your product to be. This idea is then shaped into a concept, which will serve as a wireframe (you can learn more about the basics of web design on our website) to be passed down to the designers who visualize it. Finally, it reaches the hands of developers who implement it into code and turn it into reality.
What are the four stages of web design and development?
The web design and development process often goes through the following four stages:
- Research & planning
- Designing and wireframing
- UX design
- Development and testing
Web design is a complex process that requires professionals from different areas to work together. It’s important to note that each of these roles are essential for a well-executed product, and a lack of one results in problems that can be propagated throughout the entire development cycle.
Web design and development is, therefore, not a linear procedure as many people tend to think. For example, wireframing and prototyping are part of both designing and developing (more on this later), while research & planning commonly happens before starting any project.
Research and Planning
The first step of the process is research & planning. The goal of this stage is to understand what we are trying to achieve with our website, what the market looks like and how much time, money and resources we have at our disposal.
For example, if we wanted to create a website for an online store that sells computer parts and accessories, we would first have to study the market and see which are the products that sell better than others. That way we can make sure our website is not lost among similar ones and those potential customers will find what they’re looking for as soon as possible, without having to bounce randomly from page to page.
Following this research phase, we also need to plan how many pages our website will have. Here we can determine what kind of information the client has to provide at each step, including things like specifications, descriptions, images or prices.
After that comes the planning part – this is where wireframing and prototyping happens.
Designing and Wireframing
Before asking for money or starting any amount of work, the designer should first present us with a visualized idea of how we want our website to look like. This is, at least in theory, where wireframing and prototyping happen.
In practice, however, many designers skip this part and just create websites using what’s called WYSIWYG – What You See Is What You Get. This is actually a design process, where the designer will start with designing each page, which only includes decoration and aesthetics of how it should look like, without any content at all. Then, they’ll go back to coding – adding the basic structure and placeholder for all content that will be used on the website.
What this means is that wireframing, which is the process of determining what information will be displayed on each page and how it should look like, in essence, has already been done.
This often leads to an underoptimized website, with too many unnecessary elements or even incomplete content – things you wouldn’t see if a proper wireframe and prototyping were performed in the first place.
UX design (User Experience)
UX design is very closely related to wireframing and prototyping, but separates itself by having a broader focus. While wireframing and prototyping focuses mainly on how things look like and what kind of information can be displayed, UX design serves as a guide for the user experience – how users interact with your website.
User experience is important because it’s what influences people to stay on a certain page or click on a specific element more than others, and helps in determining the overall feel of a website. It’s commonly thought that UX design should be performed before designing pages, but in reality, this happens simultaneously.
The process of UX design is very meticulous and requires a lot from the designer, who has to study extensively how certain elements on the page will be used in order to help improve the user experience. This often includes things like minimizing the amount of clicking required to reach a specific point on your website or removing steps altogether if they aren’t necessary (i.e. clicking “Buy” to go from viewing product information to buying it).
A web design company that specializes in UX design can be a wise investment when putting together your website, as they’ll have the skills and dedication required to perform these tasks properly.
Development and Testing
Once the wireframing, prototyping and UX design phases have been completed, it’s time for development – the phase where all of the elements that make up our website will be created.
When this is done, developers are ready to test the website and ensure its stability before launching it to the public. Sites undergo rigorous testing in order to find any bugs and fix them before launch, which can often take a significant amount of time.
Once the development phase is complete, it’s time for results to be shown. The website is now launched to the public after a period of testing, where we see if users enjoy our site and how efficient it really is at providing us with the required information.
At this point, it’s up to us to determine if we need any changes and what those changes will be. This is something that requires a lot of planning and time dedicated towards the analysis of user preferences in order to ensure that you’re satisfied with your investment. A web design agency Woodbridge, NJ will go through this process to ensure that all of their clients are satisfied with the final result and continue using their service.