Magick Media: Getting Started With Your Website and Beyond
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Congratulations, you have a vision of your new website and chose Magick Media to bring it to life. This document will explain the Magick Media approach to making your new site a resounding success and something you are proud of.
To ensure mutual commitment and understanding, you will receive a web development contract outlining project details including the scope, delivery deadlines and payment schedule. In terms of the payment schedule, 50% of the quoted price is due when you sign and return the contract. The 50% balance (plus any add-on fees you may have requested that were outside the scope of the original quotation) is due upon project completion. Any requests made for work outside of the defined project scope will be brought to your immediate attention along with an additional quote for your approval. Please note that other payment schedules are negotiable as needed.
Your Wish List
1. 1. Once the project is underway (signed contract returned with deposit), the first thing you should do (if you haven’t already) is spend some time compiling a list of websites that impress you in terms of look and feel (navigation). These can be sites presenting similar content to yours or entirely different. Keep in mind the functional requirements of your site and don’t concern yourself too much with colours at this point. Instead focus on layouts that are appealing. If you see a colour scheme that is absolutely perfect, that is certainly a bonus and do make note of it. When you have exhausted this exercise, examine your list and trim it down to one or two of the most appealing.
2. The next step is to spend some time considering a colour scheme for the site. Visit a site like Colour Lovers (http://www.colourlovers.com/web/palettes) and browse through the colour palettes. Keep in mind when you are browsing the palettes the “Loves” voting system on the site. This can be helpful in gauging how other people will respond to your colour selections. Choose a palette most appealing to you and note the name and URL (copy and paste the address from the navigation bar) to add to your wish list.
3. Now that you have chosen a colour scheme, it is time to consider images for your site. Many people will already have a collection of images related to their site ready for use. Should any of your images require processing such as cropping, colour correction, resizing, etc., that will be handled in the design/development process. You may email the images over or a better solution is to use a service like DropBox (dropbox.com). Setting up a free DropBox account is a simple process. Once you are setup, you can upload your images to a folder there and share the contents. If you decide to use DropBox or a similar site, please use drake@magickmedia.com for content sharing. If you don’t have any images on hand for your site, spend some time looking through stock photography sites such as iStockPhoto (istockphoto.com) and compile a URL list of ideas. The purchase of stock photography is not included in website quotations and is an additional expense left to each client to cover.
4. The final item on your wish list has to do with the fonts used. As a general rule, you should choose two to three fonts for your site: one for headings (sans serif), one for body or paragraph text (serif) and possibly another for your site title/logo. Browse through the Google Web Fonts directory (google.com/webfonts) and note the names of some fonts that are most appealing. If you have a preferred font that isn’t listed in the directory and have an appropriate license for use, it will easily convert to web font format. Simply email it over or place it into a shared DropBox folder.
The Design
Using your wish list, a mockup of the website is put together for you using Photoshop and delivered in PDF format for your feedback and approval. There may be a few iterations of back and forth communication and accompanying design revisions before the design is mutually agreeable. When we are in agreement on the design, site development begins.
Note: While the design is worked out, this is a good time to prepare the content for each of your website’s pages. It is ideal that the content is ready as an input to the next phase which is the actual site construction. If you require assistance with content or proof reading, this is typically out of scope and can be accommodated at the set hourly rate.
Construction/Development
A staging environment for your new website is setup on the Magick Media servers for development. The development phase duration will vary from project to project and will be outlined more clearly in the web development contract. Once the construction has reached the point where it accurately reflects the agreed design, you will receive the staging environment URL to try out and provide feedback. When the development of your fully functional site is complete and free from errors and final payment is received, it is time to port the site to your production server or host where it will become “live”.
A Few Final Words
Clients of Magick Media are happy people. You are encouraged to spend some time compiling your wish list to maximize your satisfaction and ensure a successful website launch. Client input is a key ingredient in the Magick Media formula. Together we will manifest something to be proud of.
Sincerely,
Drake Moore