Our Process
How a project runs
Five stages, and what each one owes you.
Every agency has a process diagram. The useful columns are the two most of them leave out: what you actually receive at the end of a stage, and what we need from you to start the next one.
What makes projects late
It’s Almost
Never the Code.
It is the copy for six pages that has not arrived, or feedback from three people over two weeks. So the second column, what we need from you, is on the page.
The five stages
01
Scope
About a week
02
Structure
One to two weeks
03
Design
Two to three weeks
04
Build
Two to four weeks
05
Launch and after
A day, then ongoing
Durations are typical for a small business site. A store or an application is longer, and we say so at scope rather than discovering it in week six.
The stages
What happens, in order
01About a week
Scope
We work out what the thing has to do and who for. Not a wishlist — a short document naming the outcome, the constraints, and what is explicitly out of scope.
You receive
- A written scope with the outcome defined
- A fixed price, or a range with what moves it
- A date
We need from you
- Access to whoever makes the decision
- Your existing site, analytics and anything already written
- An honest answer about the deadline behind the deadline
02One to two weeks
Structure
Before anything is designed, we agree what pages exist, what each one is for, and what a visitor is supposed to do on it. This is where projects are won or lost, and it is the stage people want to skip.
You receive
- A page map with the purpose of each page
- The content each page needs, listed
- Wireframes for anything unusual
We need from you
- One round of feedback, consolidated
- Content decisions — what you will supply and what we write
03Two to three weeks
Design
Real design on real content, at desktop and mobile. Not a template with your logo dropped in, and not a beautiful mockup that only works with the words we invented for it.
You receive
- Designed pages at two breakpoints
- The component set the rest of the site is built from
- Everything reviewed against contrast and target-size rules
We need from you
- Logo files, brand colours and typefaces if you have them
- Photography, or a decision to commission it
- A consolidated round of feedback
04Two to four weeks
Build
Built on the design system, tested across the range of screen sizes people actually use, and checked for keyboard and screen-reader access as it goes rather than at the end.
You receive
- A staging site you can use
- Forms wired to somewhere real
- Metadata, structured data, sitemap and redirects
We need from you
- Final content
- Any third-party accounts we need to connect
- Time to actually look at staging
05A day, then ongoing
Launch and after
DNS moves when you approve it, with the old site kept as the rollback. Then we watch the error log rather than the homepage, because that is where launch problems appear.
You receive
- The site live, with redirects from old URLs
- Search Console and analytics connected
- A handover you can act on
We need from you
- A decision on who maintains it afterwards
How we work
Four ThingsThat Cost UsMoney.
- We say no to workIf a template would serve you better than a custom build, we will tell you and lose the project.
- We quote changes before doing themSlower conversations, no surprise invoices.
- We build accessibility inIt takes longer than adding it at the end, and adding it at the end does not work.
- We hand over properlyYou get what you need to leave. That is what makes staying a choice.
Where this process gets used
The same five stages run every project we take on.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
Why is there a scope stage before you quote?
Because a price given before anyone knows what the thing does is a guess, and guesses get corrected in one direction. A short paid scope produces a fixed price you can rely on, and if you take that document elsewhere afterwards it is still yours.
What makes a project run late?
Content, almost every time. Design and build have a schedule; waiting for the copy for six pages does not. The second most common is feedback arriving in pieces from different people over two weeks rather than consolidated once.
Can you work with our existing designer or developer?
Yes, and it works best when the boundary is written down at scope: who owns which files, who deploys, and who is accountable when something breaks at 6pm. Ambiguity there is the problem, not the collaboration.
What happens if we change our minds halfway?
You tell us, and we tell you what it costs in time and money before we do it. Changes are normal. Changes absorbed silently and then discovered at the end as a delay are not.
Start with a scope
Tell us what it has to do. You get a written scope, a fixed price or an honest range, and a date.