146 WHO: What Is a Web Designer, Anyway?: Can You Handle It?

CAN YOU HANDLE IT?

By this point, the job of a web designer may appear too difficult. How is it possible to reconcile the needs of the user with the demands of the client and the heritage of the brand—not to mention coping with bandwidth limitations, browser incompatibilities, and the unknowable behavior of each individual visitor? Is it really possible to do this job well?

Obviously, we think so. Here are some not-so-obvious reasons why.

For one thing, web work is teamwork. Project managers, developers, web technicians, writers, producers, and other designers on your team will help you keep your eyes on the prize.

Moreover, as a design professional, you already possess most of the skills and talents needed to design great sites, including:

■The ability to research your client’s products and end-users, creating work that promotes the former while speaking to the latter.

■A deep understanding of branding and identity.

■A comfortable familiarity with the processes of learning from and presenting to clients and colleagues. You know how to sell and when not to. You’ve learned how to listen.

■Maintaining schedules and deadlines. You deliver on time.

■A thorough knowledge of design principles.

■Expertise with digital design tools, such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

You can count on your teammates. You can count on yourself. And the process itself also will help you meet the goals you, your clients, and partners set for each project. Virtually every web agency employs methodologies and processes to guide you and your teammates from the initial meeting to the launch (and beyond). By a strange coincidence, you’ll start learning about that very subject as soon as you turn the page.

chapter 7

Riding the Project Life

Cycle

IN HOLLYWOOD, THE DIRECTOR IS KING. No matter how brilliant the work of the actors, producers, screenwriter, cinematographer, composer, editor, set designer, or other professionals, when the lights go down it is the director’s vision that fills our eyes and forces us to respond.

On the Web, compelling sites begin and end with the vision of a lead designer or a small, high-level design team. Other professionals certainly play invaluable roles in defining and executing sites, however. Sites would not work at all without the efforts of information architects, programmers, producers, systems administrators, writers, and quality assurance teams— to say nothing of focus groups, testing groups, marketers, and the occasional consultant. And then there’s the client, who not only foots the bill, but also contributes marketing and product information, existing artwork and promotional materials, and his own ideas.

But sites that transcend mere adequacy depend on the consistent vision of web designers. That means you.

Design at this level is broad and deep. It does not end with the creation of graphic design elements. In fact, it does not even begin there. It starts with the first meeting and continues straight through the launch. Under ideal conditions, it goes on to include training and maintenance. For web designers to stay actively involved in every step of the process, they must thoroughly understand how the process works—hence this chapter.

148 WHO: Riding the Project Life Cycle: What Is the Life Cycle?

Make no mistake: If you skip any part of the process, you pay for it later— with a site that falls short of your vision.

This chapter sketches life in the trenches of web development. It emphasizes the value of a methodology, outlines the life phases of most web projects, and explains the kind of contributions you’ll be expected to make in each phase of the process. Living this life is exciting, rewarding, and sometimes quite stressful. Reading about it is dull as dirt. If you feel like skipping this chapter, we’ll understand. It will be here when you need it. For instance, just before you take your next job.

WHAT IS THE LIFE CYCLE?

Every project, from an ad campaign to the development of a new car, has a life cycle. In most shops, web designers are expected to see a project through from the initial discussion phase to completion and updating. In some shops, this is not required; but in those places, you’ll want to participate anyway.

If you’re not actively involved in the project from conception to “baby’s first steps,” somebody else will be making critical decisions for you. That person may not understand or care about consumer psychology, web usability, or the importance of design. By understanding and involving yourself in the entire project life cycle, you’ll be able to keep the focus on practicalities, aesthetics, the client’s goals, and the needs of the site’s potential audience.

In your design career, you’ve undoubtedly toiled on projects that were misdirected long before you were brought into the loop. Designers can solve many problems, but they cannot undo fatally misguided business decisions. As an advocate for the end user and a spokesperson for the needs of your team, you must be present from the beginning to the end.

Some web shops are designer-driven; others have roots in information technology (IT). All good shops recognize the importance of involving the design group early and often. Many web agencies formalize this role of the design group by incorporating it into their methodology.

Taking Your Talent to the Web

149

WHY HAVE A METHOD?

All websites, from e-commerce projects to abstract multimedia experiences, contain elements of two types of activities:

■Information systems, involving computers and software

■Communication design, including advertising and marketing communications

Because of the size and complexity of today’s sites, web development often resembles information systems projects or enormous advertising and marketing campaigns. It’s not as big a job as coordinating the cast and crew of Gladiator, but it can come surprisingly close.

Though estimates vary, it’s agreed that the majority of information systems projects fail. In case you missed that, we’ll say it again. Most information systems projects fail. Why do they fail? It’s generally because there is too much stuff to manage and keep track of, including the following:

■Scope (the size of the project)

■Budget

■Resources

■Timelines

■Functionality (the stuff the site is supposed to do besides look pretty)

To help manage such complexity, companies have available to them a resource that reduces the amount of unpredictability and surprise in a project. It is called a methodology. Every good company has one; no two are the same.

A methodology outlines steps required for a successful project, making sure no steps are missed and none are undertaken at the wrong time. A methodology also organizes these steps into phases. Phases help team members group activities, recognize progress, and notice red flags. A sound methodology provides documented, consistent, proven, repeatable processes. Projects that follow such methodologies work because they avoid reinventing the wheel.

150 WHO: Riding the Project Life Cycle: Why Have a Method?

With a method in place, the team is freed from having to develop unique support tools and processes for each new project. Without a method, the team is driving off-road, blindfolded, without a map. They may reach their destination safely, but it will be six months too late. They may end up in Timbuktu, trying to convince the client they’re in Kansas.

The following story is true: Once upon a time, a web agency with no methodology agreed to take on a large but fairly simple project. The client delivered the copy 3 months late (they all deliver the copy late). The copy, when delivered, was completely unusable. The agency had to pay a team of freelance writers rush charges out of its own pocket because the client had vetoed a writers budget. The client restructured the entire site as the last graphic elements were being produced, invalidating all development and graphic design work done up to that point and causing everyone to work through Christmas to make up the difference.

Two weeks before launch, the client changed his logo and corporate colors. A week later he changed his business model. The client faxed revised (atrocious) copy from his vacation home, and it had to be manually retyped, edited by those now-deliriously-happy freelancers, and then put into HTML by freelance web technicians.

Just before launch, the client’s boss (the CEO) was brought in to bless the work. Apparently, nobody had apprised him of the project plans. The CEO hated everything. The client halted all work and, fearful of losing his job, refused to send final payment. Attorneys were brought in. Agency staff was laid off to pay the attorneys. Then the freelancers sued the agency for nonpayment. More staff was laid off. War was declared in Bosnia; Pinkerton did not return—all because the agency failed to follow a methodology.

Successful web agencies often fall so in love with their methodology that they broadcast it on their corporate sites. Whether they call it “our method,” “our process,” or “Uncle Joe,” the discussion of corporate methodology is duller than fungus. So why do so many web agencies fill their sites with such wearisome stuff? It’s because clients have been burned when working with web agencies that seemingly had no methodology at all. The trumpeting of methodology carries an implicit promise of performance. (“We won’t be late or over budget. Look! We have a methodology!”)