Website design : The challenges of the design phase for your project

The main questions addressed in the design phase

The design phase of a website consists of answering several essential questions to guarantee the success of the project. First of all, it is important to determine the objectives to be reached. What are the needs and expectations of the client? What are the budgetary and technical constraints to respect? It is also important to define the tree structure of the site and the different expected functionalities. Finally, the visual aspect of the site must be determined to guarantee an optimal user experience.

The actors of the design phase

The design phase of a website is animated by several actors, each with a specific role to play.

The client

The client is the main actor of this phase because he must express his needs in a precise and reliable way.

The functional specifications

The functional specifications are an essential document in the design phase of a website. It will allow to formalize in a precise way the needs, the expectations and the constraints of the customer. It will contain in particular the functional diagrams of the various pages of the website (zonings), as well as the graphic models. The functional specifications thus make it possible to ensure that the Internet site which will be developed will correspond perfectly to the expectations of the customer.

The people who intervene in the design phase

The people involved in the design phase are multiple and complementary. First of all, there is the customer, who will express his needs and his expectations in a precise way, in collaboration with the consultant. Then, the consultant, whose mission will be to propose solutions adapted to the client's objectives and budgetary constraints. The project manager will be in charge of formalizing the functional specifications and will be the client's main contact throughout the design phase. The art director will be in charge of translating the strategic choices made by the consultant and the project manager into visual terms. Finally, depending on the needs of the project, it may be necessary to involve a technical project manager, who will be responsible for the technical part of the website.

In short, the design phase is essential to guarantee the success of a website project. It allows to formalize in a precise way the needs and the expectations of the customer, in collaboration with the various actors of the project. The functional specifications are a key document in this phase, which ensures that the website that will be developed will perfectly meet the customer's expectations.