And then there are all the small questions around the UX, web functionality, the shareholders\u2019 mixed design preferences… This list could go on forever.<\/p>\n
We recently completed a website re-design project with one of my clients, MindTitan<\/a>, an AI and machine learning development company. And to be honest, seeing the website finally live last week was a huge relief.<\/p>\n We. Made. It.<\/p>\n While there\u2019s definitely a lot for me yet to learn, I feel like I\u2019ve acquired the minimum viable knowhow to write this overview I wish someone else had written for me to read a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n So if you\u2019ve ever contemplated about changing your website design or are in the process of doing so, you\u2019re going to find in this article…<\/strong><\/p>\n Let\u2019s kick off from the very beginning (January 2018), from the website version 1.0 and the reasons that lead us to redesign it.<\/p>\n When I first redesigned MindTitan\u2019s website a year ago (ok, this was actually going from web to 2.0 to 3.0), it served as my thesis for my personal amateurish graphic design studies conducted for some past months. I started off with an almost-empty Squarespace page, creating everything from scratch \u2013 from website copy to illustrations and other graphics.<\/p>\n Basically, my friends needed a website and I was fascinated by web design, so I did the best I could.<\/p>\n The website served as a minimum viable product to represent the company online. However, it was far from professional, not to speak of impressing enterprise-level clients looking to buy in artificial intelligence development services.<\/p>\n It seemed that many of the ad campaigns we did attract people to the website, but up from there, we couldn\u2019t often pique their interest. Most of the deals came from other channels. (Clearly a sign I should focus on Facebook advertising<\/a> and copywriting, not do end-to-end web design.) \ud83d\ude44<\/p>\n As MindTitan had grown from 3 to 6 people in the past six months and was looking to expand further, it seemed like the right time to take our website to the next level. Finally, I got all the three co-founders on board and I started thinking about the best ways to conduct the project.<\/p>\n I\u2019d say that one of the foundations of a successful website redesign project is having a reasonable answer to the question \u201cWhy do we want to redesign our website?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n It always serves you well to have a set of clear goals, especially when working with multiple stakeholders. In the case of MindTitan\u2019s website redesign project, our goals were to:<\/p>\n Ok, so these are the kind of goals a website redesign project should derive from \u2013 you\u2019ve got to have a specific list of items you\u2019d like to improve.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s another list of arbitrary (and regrettably, popular) goals that should not be<\/i> among your reasons for redoing website design:<\/p>\n \ud83d\ude2bJust don\u2019t update your website if you don\u2019t know why you\u2019re doing it.<\/strong><\/p>\n But\u2026 Anyway\u2026 Enough of ranting.<\/p>\n With a clear plan in hand, we set out to look for a designer\/agency to take on the project \u2013 the trickiest part in website development in my personal opinion.<\/p>\n At first, still loving to mess around with Sketch and Illustrator, I had a plan to do design mockups for the new website on my own and then send these to an agency for development. (Probably<\/u> definitely a good thing we ended up hiring an agency.)<\/p>\n The reasons I first planned to do the designs on my own:<\/p>\n Now, looking back, here\u2019s a list of the reasons why I am more than glad we hired an agency:<\/strong><\/p>\n And to tell the truth, while creative agencies aren\u2019t cheap to work with, the best ones are worth every penny.<\/p>\n What about in-house designers?<\/strong><\/p>\n If you have in-house designers with enough free time to take on a web re-design project as their #1 priority, let them do it. Things get sketchy if the in-house designer has other priorities and your website project extends to eight months instead of two. In this case, I would say that hiring an agency or hiring an additional in-house designer would make more sense.<\/p>\n It\u2019s always best to work with a local creative agency so that you can have in-person meetings. <\/b><\/p>\n And to be fair, we\u2019ve got some world-class web designers here in Estonia.<\/p>\n I started by making a list of about 10 agencies that I reached out to via email. The outreach email included:<\/p>\n Out of 10 agencies I reached out to, around 5 sent over their work examples and 3 mentioned an estimated price for the project. There was also an agency that refused to share anything before we had a meeting. (Maybe it works for some people, I personally found this attitude arrogant.)<\/p>\n Out of the three agencies that sent over impressive work examples and an estimated price range for the project, we decided to go with Velvet<\/a>. We liked the style of the designer who\u2019d be working on our project and the fact that they\u2019re a well-functioning agency with a long history. Our first meeting was pleasantly constructive and we set off on the right foot.<\/p>\n PS if you\u2019re interested in what\u2019s the average price range for web design projects (with no too complex features), the price quotes we receiver went from \u20ac5k to \u20ac15k.<\/p>\n If you start looking for a creative agency to work on your website re-design project, here\u2019s what I recommend:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Asking those questions before shaking hands with an agency will help you avoid a handful of potential misunderstandings.<\/p>\n Usually, the collaboration with a creative agency kicks off with a meeting where you get to know each other and discuss the goals for your project.<\/p>\n Somewhere between the first and second meeting, I find it a good practice to write a brief <\/b>for the agency where you include\u2026<\/p>\n An overview of the project:<\/strong><\/p>\n An intro about your company:<\/strong><\/p>\n Your preferences and ideas for the new website design:<\/strong><\/p>\n Well\u2026 At least that\u2019s what I included in the brief of MindTitan\u2019s web re-design.<\/p>\n Actually, there\u2019s one more HIGHLY IMPORTANT thing to give to the creative agency before they begin to work on your new web design.<\/b><\/p>\n The revised website copy.<\/b><\/p>\n Your web design should be based on your brand\u2019s key messages and UVP (Unique Value Proposition)<\/a>. Each element on your website should have a clear message and goal. You have to know what you want your website to say.<\/p>\n This is SO important, seriously.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve seen a website design project end up with average outcome as the company didn\u2019t know what they wanted the website to say to its visitors. This unawareness also made it really difficult for the creative agency to deliver any design proposals and stretched the design process across several months.<\/p>\n If you plan to fill in the copy after your new website is ready, you\u2019re on a slippery road.<\/p>\n TL;DR: Write your website copy and hand it over to the designer before the design process begins.<\/b><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve never done a website design project before, you\u2019re likely to underestimate the scope of work it requires on behalf of the client \u2013 your company.<\/p>\n Hate to break this to you, but you can\u2019t just hire an agency and leave them to independently design, develop, and publish your website.<\/b><\/p>\n That\u2019s not how the cookie crumbles.<\/p>\n In reality, the faster and comprehensive your replies to the agency, the quicker and desirable the end result.<\/p>\n Oh, and coming up with good website copy\u2026 It\u2019s harder (and more time-consuming) than you\u2019d think. Just brace yourself.<\/p>\n There were several milestones where we needed to give constructive feedback. I will list these within a timeframe to give you a better overview of how it all went.<\/p>\n 1 day after the first meeting with the agency \u2013<\/b> A brief for the website re-design (the one I mentioned earlier in the article)<\/p>\n About 2 weeks after the first meeting \u2013 <\/b>Feedback for the first web design examples<\/p>\n In my experience, the first design proposals by the agency serve as a great starting point for a discussion around the future design language of the website. I\u2019ve never seen the first round of design proposals get approved. Usually, a couple of rounds of changes and tweaks are made.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a good chance that you don\u2019t like the proposed designs at all. It\u2019s also ok to ask for the agency to do a complete re-design.<\/p>\n Look at it this way: It\u2019s best to get things right from the start, rather than to move on with a design you don\u2019t quite like.<\/strong><\/p>\n I think we bounced the design mockups back and forth for around 2 months.<\/p>\n About 8 weeks after the first meeting \u2013 <\/b>Feedback for all final website page designs<\/p>\n As the web designer\u2019s completed all new website views, the ball\u2019s back in your court. You\u2019ll have to review all the landing pages, functionalities, etc. with a super critical eye.<\/p>\n After my first website re-design project, I learned the importance of getting everything right before the final development part begins.<\/strong><\/p>\n Here\u2019s what to check before approving the final web design for development:<\/p>\n![\"website](\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/null.png\")
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Why did we decide to redesign our website?<\/h2>\n
![\"website](\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/null-1.png\")
Setting the right goals for the redesign project<\/h2>\n
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Whom to hire on your web design project?<\/h2>\n
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![\"bad](\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/giphy-1.gif\")
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How did we select the creative agency?<\/h2>\n
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![\"velvet](\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/null-2.png\")
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![\"Do](\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/null-3.png\")
What input to give to your creative agency?<\/h2>\n
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![\"know](\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/null-4.png\")
<\/p>\nMarketer\u2019s view to the website re-design process<\/h2>\n
![\"copywriting](\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/giphy-2.gif\")
Design and feedback process<\/h2>\n
![\"website](\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/null-5.png\")
![\"celebrations\"](\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/giphy-3.gif\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/null-6.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/null-7.png\" "\\"\\"")
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