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This article is an excerpt from a recent speech “Designing Themes – Clients vs. Marketplaces” at the WordCamp Athens 2016 WordPress meet-up.
On our last part of Designing Themes – Clients vs. Marketplaces, we talked about our history, the job overall, the main tools and a development process for creating WordPress themes consisting of 6 parts. In the second part of this article series we will go over first 3 phases.
Click here to read the first part of this series.
1. RESEARCH PHASE
The first step in designing a successful web site is to gather information.
Many things need to be taken into consideration when the look and feel of your site is being created.
This first step is actually the most important one, as it involves a solid understanding of the company it is created for. It involves a good understanding of you – what your business goals and dreams are, and how the web can be utilized to help you achieve those goals.
Clients
- Client defines the purpose.
- Focus on real competition.
- Focus on client’s wishes and expectations.
- Smaller target audience.
- Research client’s current business process.
- Analyse the client’s current online presence (if any).
Marketplaces
- We need to define the theme’s purpose.
- Focus on real site competition.
- Focus on other theme’s competition.
- Wider target audience
2. PLANNING PHASE
Using the information gathered from phase one, it is time to put together a plan for your web site.
In this phase we need to take serious decisions based on factors like the deadline, the budget the features support, the browser target range and the technologies to be used.
During the planning phase a storyline might be useful to help us focus on the design phase.
Clients
- Client sets the budget
- Client sets the deadline
- Sitemap based on client’s needs
- Features defined by user specific needs
Marketplaces
- No set budget
- No set deadline
- Sitemap should cover average buyers needs
- Features based on competition
3. DESIGNING PHASE
Using the information gathered from phase one, it is time to put together a plan for your web site.
In this phase we need to take serious decisions based on factors like the deadline, the budget the features support, the browser target range and the technologies to be used.
During the planning phase a storyline might be useful to help us focus on the design phase.
Clients
- Client gives the basic feedback
- Main design variables (logo, colors, typeface) are depended on the client
- Design choices can be altered by client
Marketplaces
- Source of feedback could be design community sites
(dribbble, behance etc.) - Depending on planning variables should be able to be defined by end users
- Design choices should stick on planning phase
On our ending part of Designing Themes – Clients vs. Marketplaces, we will discuss further about the next 3 phases of our process. Stay tuned!
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