How I Work With You : An Overview

Cococello's design process is based in collaboration; meaning: we work with you to tailor, create and build the right solution(s) for you, your business.

The following is a general outline that has worked for many of our projects (both web and print). It may be slightly skewed for web based projects. Because all projects are unique, tailoring this process for you is inevitable so not all of the following steps will apply.

Consultations & Concept

We start with a free ½-hour consultation to get a high level view of your project. We want to establish a solid foundation for the whole project before we begin.

Our goal? Begin with a plan. You know a great city can't be built without a plan. We'll put our city planner hats on. Here, we get to know you and make recommendations for both print and interactive so we can work together to build a great city without extraneous effort or resources.

This foundation is also defined by the Creative Brief (website planner, proposal, agreement) which we often refer back to for the duration of the project. By clearly defining the scope we are able to map out the goals, requirements, and perhaps some "wish lists" before moving to the next phase.

If after our initial phone call, you feel you need more help determining your needs; have questions about marketing; questions about what CMS to use, consider booking a Person of Influence design consultation.

Discovery and Strategy

Once we’re agreed and clear on a concept for the project, we move into research and strategy. Depending on the size and scope of the project, this may involve bringing in a few of my trusted team players to help the details (illustration, photography, copywriting, seo, development)

Together, we continue the exploration. It's research to make sure we are all on the same page: your goals, your audience. All the information we gather about your business, your users, your target audience helps us to create a plan that helps to determine such things like:

• What CMS to use (if any)
• What monitor sizes to target
• If purple really is the best color for your brand
• What the voice of the website/brand should be
• What's missing and how can we make it better?

This is our time to refine all the questions you answered in the website planner and during our design consultation. Before we get to the fun part (design — hello!) we answer some tough questions and make sure we agree on where we are headed. After all, planning for a big mega city is different from planning a small city.

Design & Build

(for website projects) Design is a multi-step process. The first involves creating what is called a wireframe. They are essentially "sketches" that represent the layout of your content and the contents' relationship to each other. I use Mockingbird so the wireframes are interactive (translation: you can click through pages).

Wireframes are "low-fidelity". What that means is that there are no details such as colors, fine typography or photos. Mostly you'll see shapes, "dummy text" and lots of notes. But the point of this is to give you a strategic view of how all the elements (the assets) of your website are positioned and relate to each other. It also shows user flow.

This is probably the most time-consuming part of the design process and a very important one. It helps determine content relationships, function and navigation. I use it to make sure we are on the same page; to iron on any problems or missing content.

The wireframe is essentially a blueprint for the city we are building.

Once the wireframes are approved, we start to "design"; add the unique visual combinations that make up and help extend/communicate your brand. The wireframes are given polish and transformed into a "high-fidelity" mockup.

(for print projects) — More Details Coming Soon.

Execute & Implement

(for website projects) After the final designs are approved, we send the mockup to development. During development, the designs are "sliced and diced" into optimized images and/or SEO-friendly code using CSS, HTML. Then, if part of scope, the design and code are integrated into the Content Management System (CMS). Touches of javascript or other code languages are added (if part of the scope) to give your website that extra "pow".

Each stage of development involves testing, testing and more testing. We check for browser compatibility (Yahoo Grade A browsers) and make sure the appearance on multiple devices is readable and usable (unique mobile device design & compatibility is additional).

(for print projects) — More Details Coming Soon.

Print & Publish

It's time to bring out the champagne! Whether we launch your new website or announce your new logo or book design, be prepared with a marketing strategy.

(for websites) Once your site launches, we'll continue to monitor your site for a period of 5-7 days to make sure there are no bugs. And if so, we'll be ready to squash them.

Once the time period for monitoring is over, you'll have some some maintenance options available.(yes, websites need a lot of care and feeding like a house! It's your own city after all :)

Still have questions? Head over to the FAQs.