Many people dread the whole confusing process of creating a website.
- What if you hire someone expensive and hate what they do? 🤨
- Design demands subjective decisions based on colour and emotion. Not your thing.
- You don’t have the energy to clean up old blogs, or write something more exciting.
- What can you give a designer – you don’t have pictures or exciting videos? 😥
- Finally – learning a lot of new tech. Logins, training, uurgh. 😨
No wonder people delay their website upgrade!
I believe that creating a website should be a exciting, educational adventure as we work together to create a marketing and support hub that reflects your vision. I make things easy and fun by building working prototypes!
So, what is a prototype?
A working prototype is a minimalist, fully operational version of your new website. It has key elements of the design, plus all the critical functionality so you can explore features and layouts before making design decisions.
Prototypes make it easy to visualize designs
I don’t expect clients to waste time reading complicated UX/UI specifications, reports and structure maps. Assessing a design is qualitative, not quantititive.
Prototypes help clients see not just what it looks like, but how it works in real life. Clients have questions, and prototypes give them answers, not just promises.
- What if blogs are in more than one category? How does that work?
- Does the design work on mobile?
- Could I automatically pull in my YouTube channel? How would that look?
- Can my keywords be clickable #hashtags rather?
- What if that pink was more red… throughout the site.
- Is the search process “type > click > new page”, or can I see results as I type the first word?
- How friendly are the filters? What if I have 20 options?
- Is the photo going to end up big enough to see detail?
- Does each page NEED a featured image or are they optional?
Prototypes maximize quality
When I design, I change my mind dozens of times based on how elements work together. With prototyping, I can experiment with different combinations. I use your actual keywords, and actual content not Lorum ipsum.
Most web developers use tools like Figma. It’s great, but it still only shows an “artists impression” of visuals with fake interactions. Prototypes are real websites.
Prototypes encourage fast feedback
You experience your website as a new visitor, and immediately give me feedback. This ensures that the final website meets both the business needs and audience expectations. If the design doesn’t meet your expectations, we discuss if we want to try again.
Prototypes are cost-effective in the long run
Changes during development have a cascading impact on design. You end up with a design that isn’t consistent, and a website that sends mixed messages. But making changes to my prototype is fast and safe.
Prototypes reduce risk
I test out ideas, features, and functionalities before committing to a fixed quote and deadlines. That protects me so I sleep at night.
You can decide if you like my design style, my approach and my skills. I can decide if you are my kind of client that appreciates a qualitative, collaborative approach. Are our working styles compatible?
Prototypes clarify fuzzy requirements
Clients know the end result they want, but there are many ways to get there. Prototypes refine your ideas, and I will warn you if something is going to be expensive to maintain.
Even if a section must be moved to “Phase 2” due to budget, you have a sense of what is possible. Given time, I might find a solution that is more practical.
Better communication with your team
Traditional web projects involve long meetings with multiple teams. That creates communication gaps. With a prototype, everyone sees the same thing, and each gives input based on their experience and field of interest.
Investing time and effort creating a prototype website works for me.
I believe actions speak louder than words. I’d rather show one, keen VIP client what I can do for them, than go to endless networking events to tell random strangers how awesome I am.
The fact is, once I build a prototype, I almost always get the work. I am selective about my clients, because I want a long-term relationship that leads to referrals or repeat projects.