Starting a new project can be a daunting task. That is why having a proven strategic process not only helps you to be more considerate of your user experience and more thoughtful in your execution, but it also ensures a more effective finished product.
What is user experience? It is the experience, positive or negative, that a person has while using a website or application. Making sure your users have a positive experience will not only ensure they can effectively use your site, but also help build strong brand loyalty.
Wendt recently turned the tables on ourselves and underwent a website redesign. It gave us a chance to experience our own strategic website process from the side we don’t often see – the client side! Here are just a few of the many things we considered during the process and what we guide our clients through when they hire us to build a website.
- DEFINE YOUR GOALS ✔️
In order to stay focused, set big-picture goals. It’s easy to get bogged down by intricate details without a clear vision of your desires for the finished site. For example, a few of high-level goals that we defined for our site included making user interactivity a priority and matching the design to our updated brand.
- SHOW DON’T TELL 👀
Visual storytelling is incredibly important. Share your story in elements beyond text. Imagery, different approaches to content, and graphical elements are all ways to convey your brand. A good user experience will inform your users of your brand and organization in a way words can’t. In addition to a rehaul on our copy, we created new branded elements that are shared visually in all our outreach, including social, newsletter, proposals, and more.
- ANALYZE YOUR COMPETITION 🤔
Looking at competitors is an important step to ensure your brand stands apart. Make a list of what you like and do not like on other sites. Test their user experience so you can avoid the mistakes they made, improve your experiences, and create something new and unique.
- CREATE CONTENT FOR YOUR DESIGN, NOT DESIGN FOR YOUR CONTENT ❌
Maximize your user experience by designing your website free of constraints. This includes your content. We designed our site with the idea that our user experience, design, and interactivity would come first. Once we were happy with that, we created custom content to fill those spaces. This resulted in unique experiences. A fitting example is our featured case studies which you can see here.
- LAUNCH PLAN 🚀
One of the most important parts of a strategic process is your plan to launch, and the testing that goes into it. We had multiple employees rigorously test the site on various browsers, devices, and operating systems. These tests strengthen your site with each bug fix, and that will result in a better experience for your end user.
These are just a few of the important steps that should be taken when redesigning or launching a new website. Of course, at Wendt we pride ourselves in producing effective and award-winning websites – so if you need help along the way, just let us know!
Happy designing! 🎨
