What to expect during a large design project
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You probably have a vague idea of what type of design services you need, and maybe you even know who you want to work with. But maybe you have no idea how much (if any) work you’ll need to put in or how much it’d cost to hire the help.
That goes for pretty much anything in the service industry, right? But there’s Angie’s List & HomeAdvisor for those kinds of professionals.
So where do you go to find out more about design services? …Please don’t say Fiverr or Upwork. 😄
That being the case, whether you have/haven’t worked with a graphic or web designer before, I’d be willing to bet you’re not sure what to expect, especially in remote work or freelance situations.
It can be scary to hand over your trust & money to a stranger you’ve never met in person & don’t know. Right? I totally get that!
Because I know that there are a lot of you out there who have no idea what to expect, I’m gonna share my process since basically, it’s industry standard.
Read through my standard process below, or find out for yourself and fill out an inquiry form here to learn firsthand.
When you work with me, I tell you what to expect at every step and turn along the way, because when you’re doing something unfamiliar, –no one likes to be left alone in the dark.
Let’s dive in, below!
5 things you can expect during a web design project
When we have the initial consult call (which is always free and requires no obligation), I’ll let you know if my skillset is/isn’t a good fit. If we ARE a good fit, I’ll suggest one of my packages that would work best for your business and design situation.
If you say ‘yes to the dress,’ –you’ll forgive my TLC pun there– I’ll get the ball rolling after our call within 1 business day wherever possible.
Here’s what the process looks like:
1. Documents & Content Submissions
Boring stuff first, I’m afraid! I’ll send a link to a page with access to your proposal, contract & invoice.
☑️ PROPOSAL
This will have details about your package & in some cases additional options that you may want but haven’t thought about. You’ll be able to select what you want, so you'll know how the pricing changes as you select your options and figure out what’s in your budget.
☑️ AGREEMENT
After you’ve submitted your proposal, you’ll need to digitally sign the design agreement. It will outline what’s expected of both of us for the duration of our time working together! Convenient, right? Everything is all upfront, right from the get-go.
(The project won’t begin until after the contract is signed & first payment has been made.)
☑️ INVOICE
After you’ve signed the contract, you’ll need to make a payment. Depending on the complexity of your project and the service package you chose, you may be on a payment plan where you’d only be required to pay the first installment, or you may have a one-time payment in full as your deposit which holds your spot in my schedule.
For website packages, I typically break it up into 3 payments of 33-34% or 4 payments of 25%.
The initial installment is required when you book your spot because I hold that spot for YOU and you only. I do not work on multiple large projects at once. So if you want to reserve a spot on my calendar, I have to know you’re all in, because I say no to other inquiries for that timeslot after I’ve assigned it to you.
Payments can be made easily online with a card or via ACH from your bank account. Mailed checks are also accepted, but I don’t send the receipt or apply the payment to your account until it has cleared my account.
NOW you’re officially a new client!
☑️ HOMEWORK
Soon after you get the receipt and copy of your signed agreement, you’ll get a personality questionnaire that helps me pick your brain and find out what your individual and brand personality is.
After that, I send you onboarding instructions and guide you through how to create your free guest account & access/use our project portal area where the rest of your homework lives.
Because my projects tend to include a lot of coaching, mentoring, strategy & brainstorming –there is a lot of homework! I encourage everyone to make sure they have at least 2 full weeks to work through it alongside your normal day-to-day workload, so you can fit this into your normal routine. You will need it, –and no, no one ever believes me when I say that. 😂
Many people have no idea what they want in their new design, –or they think they know and have a loose idea, but no details.
It’s MY job to pull the design out of YOU, read between the lines, and get so far into your head that I can deliver the exact design you never knew you could dream of.
Your homework is designed to help me pull specific information from you to help me piece that together because no one knows your business needs better than YOU do.
Long-winded answers are always welcome! I’ll read every word. Twice. 😆
Here are some examples of the types of questions I’d be asking:
what service(s) you provide
details for each, if there is more than one
the pricing for your service(s) packages to list on your site
how do you want the website to make money?
who is your ideal customer?
what’s your business bio / about story?
how do you want your customers to contact you & when?
what happens after they reach out?
how to submit photos/videos to use on the website
or if you don’t have any, whether you’d prefer free or paid stock photos
professional photos of you
do you have a branded email address?
do you want to connect any social media platforms?
what you want your domain to be (if you don’t already own one)?
do you want to have an online booking system?
do you have a portfolio, team, or product photos (if applicable)?
how are you planning to market this website?
☑️ YOUR CLIENT PORTAL
Because all of that can be a lot to take in, all of these onboarding documents will live in a Portal hub that is for you and you alone.
I use ClickUp for my project management (PM) system to keep track of the 1,001 tasks required to run and manage my business, so it goes without saying that I also use it for your Portal hub.
After the Proposal has been approved, I create your Portal and send you an access link with onboarding instructions. This area is where we stay for the duration of the project: for communication, progress updates, task assigning, important links to your design feedback area, questions & comments, content gathering, and a lot more.
Don’t worry, ClickUp is free to use with me and I’ll be there to guide you & answer questions every step of the way!
2. Project Management
I realize it can be a big ask for you to learn a new app just for this project, but it is imperative for both our sanities. #Isolemnlyswear 😂 It helps so much to have all of the information in one organized place, accessible to both of us (& your team if need be), including the status of each phase of the project, who is assigned what & when it’s due.
No more fishing through our inboxes or text messages with fingers crossed, hoping you can find that one thread where s/he said that really important thing... 😳
I use ClickUp to share due dates for work submission and manage our overall progress through the project, so we can stay on schedule.
ClickUp is available on a web browser, desktop app, and mobile app; the data stays in sync across all devices. Since it reminds you of task due dates and can be marked as complete, we can stay on task as we move through the project, even with all its moving parts.
You'll always know what's going on and what comes next. #nosurprises
3. Rough Draft & Revisions
Now for the fun part! I’ll use the questionnaires you submitted to create your website using a free trial with Squarespace.
After the home page draft design is done, depending on your availability, I’ll present it on a call or send a pre-recorded link to present the design and talk through it with you.
If I’m on the right track, then I’ll move on to create the rest of the pages and we’ll hop on a call to walk through it all together.
After that final design draft call, you’ll get a link to Markup where you can use the draft site yourself, and interact with it.
You’ll have 3 (three) days to provide feedback over there and request any changes throughout the design by annotating directly on the screen where you want the changes made with pinned comments.
No back-and-forth email attachment downloads for proofing, or long email threads where you have to explain where you want each change. Markup makes the process very simple & easy!
4. Launch Prep
Once the final design is approved, I’ll begin going through to double-check for technical things like finalizing your basic SEO implementation, checking connected accounts, that form submissions go to the right email address, and that any add-ons you asked for are working properly (online scheduler, newsletter/email marketing setup), etc.
5. Good Communication
The most important part of having a great experience is communication. I can’t stress that enough, especially when working with someone remotely.
I can’t possibly know what you don’t tell me, because I can’t read your mind.
☑️ HOW WE’LL COMMUNICATE:
Video calls:
by appointment onlyIn-person meetings:
Most of my clients aren’t in my city or state, so these are not possible in most cases. Though I’m definitely open to them if you’re truly nearby.Video call training session:
I send the recordings of our meetings after the final payment is made & right before we launch, to literally walk you through how to use, maintain & edit the website yourself.
Email is okay, as long as it’s not information I’ll need to hunt down for the project (such as content or images for the website, etc.). We all forget things though, so if you slip up on that one, I’ll remind you to put that info into ClickUp next time.
Keeping as much info as possible in ClickUp helps us both find & keep track of it easily! And when the project is done & the support period is over, it makes it easy for me to archive or delete all of that (sometimes sensitive) information, protecting your privacy as much as possible!
And on that note, I use 1Password to store logins temporarily for the duration of the project, because it can be deleted easily when the project’s support period is over. This ensures I am able to protect your privacy & keep your sensitive information secure while we work together.
Support
Family and personal life is a priority for me, but I also tend to work weird hours because my husband’s work schedule isn’t a standard 9-5 and sometimes I have to, but also because I absolutely love what I do!
That being the case, please know that if you were to message me at 11pm, I will not be replying before 8am the next business day.
I choose the platforms I specialize in specifically for their stability, among other things, so most clients don’t need heavy support after their projects are over.
That said, I do provide 30 days of email support after our project is over, and make it super easy for you to tell me when you need help!
Want to see what the website design process actually looks like? Sneak a peek!
Or watch one of my favorite client’s reactions during the final design presentation!
