My Web Design Process

Minimize Planning

It sounds sensible to plan everything first but I've learned it isn't the most efficient. No matter how much you plan, things still change. It's more efficient to get stuck in and make changes as needed.

I don't create buyer journey maps first because, with 20+ years experience, I already know what the buyer journey will be. People need to 1) trust your brand, 2) find products that interest them, 3) be reassured they're making the right choice. I don't create wireframes or design mockups because it's actually faster to just build real web pages.

Work In Reverse

Most web designers work top-down, starting with the homepage and then product pages last. I work bottom-up starting with product pages because in ecommerce those are the most important. At the outset clients generally know what products they plan to sell, but need more time to figure out brand messaging; so it makes sense to start with what's available. By the time we get to the homepage we'll have a clearer idea of what should be on it to lead people to purchase.

Avoid Downtime

The traditional approach is sequential, with frequent pauses while waiting on content or sign-off before continuing. While waiting for the answers to FAQs why not just start adding products?

I call it the Rapid-Reverse Process. It reduces the timeline significantly because work doesn't stop while waiting on things. Reviews, changes and fixes get done in small chunks at each stage, rather than becoming a big task at the end.