Websites are much different now than they’ve been in the past. They are a communication, information, and entertainment tool all encapsulated into one functioning and appealing space. Websites of the past were purely functional, designed by engineers who didn’t put thought into how they would look, feel, and be used by everyday consumers. They were confusing to navigate and unattractive to look at. They’ve come a long way. Today, websites have to be sleek, user friendly, and informational. Having a website is now a necessity for a business. However, companies cannot just slap some pictures and information together. Real thought and care needs to be put into design, functionality, and the possible future of the website.

Torque, a website development firm in Chicago, designs and develops websites that support the strategic business and marketing objectives of our clients. We seek to understand the company’s goal for the website and the role it can play to deliver on those goals. We understand that websites are replacing brick and mortar storefronts, increasingly becoming the main product and interface for an entire company. Websites are also living, breathing business tools that are continually receiving new content, links, and functionality. The design process must allow for unseen future requirements and improvement as the organization becomes more skillful in the digital world.

A website also must convey the brand image and brand experience. We do this through message, design, and rich media content. We keep in mind the brand’s identity when we determine how the site is meant to look, what it should say, and what type of information and interactivity we could and should include as content. Websites also are wonderful tools for integrating social media and digital marketing by posting links to Twitter or Linkedin or blog posts and videos.

Agile Web Process

Developing a website in an agile way allows us to check in with the client on a frequent basis, constantly iterating on design and content strategy over the whole course of the project. We involve the client and stay in continual communication, collecting feedback for every stage of the process. Instead of doing everything in the “Waterfall” approach, where everything is created in a bubble and then released all at once, we release the product incrementally to analyze for changes that might need to be made.

Our process for engineering a website project from start to finish is complex and draws on many capabilities and contributors. We work with our clients to teach and lead them throughout the process.

We view our website design and development process in three phases:

Discovery & Planning

In this phase, we learn about and connect with our clients, identifying business objectives and the marketing strategies necessary to achieve them. Our user experience designers, information architects, and digital search strategists work to develop a clear structure and approach to content, balancing business goals with users’ needs throughout the site. We also start to explore how the brand experience will be best portrayed through colors, type, photography, and overall layout.

Design, Content & Marketing Integration

In our second phase, we get into the meat of the site. We create strong content that will express the brand and connect with the user. We find the right photography and typefaces to express the brand and integrate design themes across the site, optimized for every screen size out there.

Development & Programming

In the final phase, we write code to develop the site’s full functionality, including any third-party integrations. We have the development resources to build sites in open source CMS platforms like Drupal and WordPress. We also install Google Analytics to monitor how users interact with the site and some demographic information about the user base. This gives us information going forward to be able to make well-informed decisions to improve the website.

User Experience Design

Websites and apps can be wonderful marketing tools, but they can also frustrate and deter users from returning if their experience with them is unpleasant or unnecessarily difficult.

Our user experience designers (UX designers) think about what a visitor is trying to accomplish when they move through a site or app, keeping in mind the brand experience. A website/app is going to determine the way visitors will perceive your brand and it’s important to make sure their experience ensures it will be a good perception.

This is why our approach to user experience design is not simply limited to website navigation and function. Websites serve the distinct purpose of providing visitors information about a company and its product. But, they also serve the purpose of brand experience. It’s important to acknowledge this and design with it in mind. At Torque, we see design in general as the process of creating something that someone will use for a specific purpose.

User experience design is an elevated level of that concept and it works to serve technology, business requirements, and visual design. It often depends on a team with expertise in multiple disciplines. It is an emerging practice and is sometimes criticized by skeptics as being too difficult to measure ROI or that it should come as part of the programming and design process.

We disagree.

We believe it is deserving of it’s own process because everyone’s been to a confusing website; one where content is difficult to find and dialog boxes keep popping up, trying to force you down a specific path. Those experiences are frustrating and annoying. Would you go back to a site like that? Us neither.

User experience, by definition, brings attention back to the user; not what we think they should do, but what they actually do when they’re presented with the look, content, and function of a website. This information is extremely useful in that it gives insight into the user and how to make their experiences and, equally as important, their opinions of the business better. It is our job to understand the consumer even better than they understand themselves.

Luckily, the UX design process is concerned with the sociology, psychology, and behavior of the audience stakeholder. This process shares common characteristics with social media marketing in that both look at and consider the behaviors of consumers to find ways to help and provide value along the way.

Visual Design

Visual design is relatively self-explanatory, but no less important as a part of the user experience. First impressions are almost always based on image. If a website/ app isn’t appealing/stimulating/engaging or professional enough, it can create a lasting and detrimental impression of the brand and company.

Information Architecture

The way a website/ app is laid out heavily factors into a user’s experience. Complex or confusing layouts can be frustrating for users and lead to negative brand impressions. When designing a layout it’s important to keep in mind what a visitor will experience when traveling throughout it.

Labeling

Ensuring the right words are chosen when labeling sections is what can make the difference in SEO.

Interaction Design

A website/ app that doesn’t do anything isn’t engaging for a user. Ensuring that your website/ app is interactive and gets users to do something, be it engage in discussion or simply interact with entertaining content, is very important in ensuring their experience is good enough to return.

Functional Requirements

A beautiful website/ app is one thing, but it also has to serve a purpose. It needs to be functional as well. Ensuring that it is both visually stimulating and also serves a purpose to the business and the user is significant.

Content Design

Every page of your web/ app should be as interesting and easy to move through as the last so making sure the content is laid out appealingly and understandably is another key part.