Part 2: Discovery Phase

Will the agency you are working with send someone over in a chapeau?  Probably not, but that doesn’t mean the discovery phase is any less harrowing than that of the travels of Lewis and Clark…  (I suppose the likelihood of being attacked by a mountain lion is slim so you win there.)  The discovery phase of a web design and development project will help the agency you are working with create a high functioning piece of art that your users will love.

A website should be considered a living, breathing entity that your organization uses to not help you survive, but to thrive.  With that in mind there are realities that are important to consider.  Most important is that there is no such thing as a cookie-cutter website that is good for every organization.  A website needs proper consideration as it relates to your brand and your target market.  If you fail understanding this point, you run a very high risk of losing your customer base and stunting the growth of your organization.  The discovery phase is designed to help answer the question, “Who are you?”

1.  Internal Meetings.  Your agency should now be setting up meetings with you and key stakeholders within your organization to round out the picture of who you are as an organization.  You will be answering questions on your history, clients, competition, applicable internal business strategies and of course marketing strategies.

2.  External Meetings.  To create a successful website will require some time spent with your customer base and other potential user groups.  It might also be important to spend time with the community in which your business exists and works from depending on the communities and customers you serve.

3.  Brand Research.  Researching current and past collateral is going to be important along with your organizations brand book and any style guides you have.  If you don’t have any of these documents we would highly recommend spending some time having them made as they are documents that will help create unity in everything that is created moving forward in your organizations future.

Now that the research has been completed you can begin working on how the information will be displayed on your new site.

 Next up: Information Architecture Phase.