Other Helpful Information¶

Contents:

Process Related Questions ¶

New Business ¶

Context ¶

How did you hear about us?
Why are you wanting to do this design/redesign?
Talk about your available resources (content/design/hosting/staff).
What are we responsible for creating?
Is there anything unusual you, the client, are responsible for (eg. they have a designer or will do their own coding or build the site)?

Discovery ¶

Stakeholders ¶

Who needs to be involved throughout the process?
What kind of involvement? Contact details.
Who provides approvals at sign-off?
Who is our one point of contact?
Who is our accounts/payment contact?

Goals ¶

What do you need?
Are you willing to take a phased approach if necessary?
What are your project goals?
What are your business goals? Now? In the next five years?

Timeline ¶

Do you have a required launch date? If so, is it flexible?

Resources ¶

What kind of people resources do you have? Are you willing to hire more if required?
Do you have an in-house team of anyone involved in the design/marketing/branding process?

Budget ¶

Do you have budget set aside for this project? Is it flexible?
Who finalizes these details and is there anything helpful we should know about the process?
What kind of additional documentation is required, if any?

Kickoff ¶

What is the purpose of this project?
What is the one thing we need to get right to make this a success?
What is the one thing you’re afraid that we won’t get right?
How would you describe the current site or app or product?
Describe the people that use your site/app/product (age, gender, profession, frequency).
Do you have analytics or statistics to measure your current site/app/product?
What kind of information do you have about the way users access and use your site/app/product?
Which tasks are critical to the process? What should users do?
What makes visitors return or keep using your site/app/product?
App: Are you interested in only iPhone? Android? Other platforms?

Definition Phase ¶

General ¶

Can we receive copies of all print, marketing, online assets for analysis?
What are the current mobile/other platform considerations?
What is your current user base like?

Admin ¶

Who will be on the team? Does anyone need to be brought in?
What are the respective roles of these people? Is everyone clear on those roles?
Who do we send invoices to?
How often are we billing?
Are we billing hourly or is this a flat project rate?
Do I have all the contact details for our point of contact?
Who will be creating the contract and proposal?
Who will be editing these documents?

Content ¶

What are your expectations regarding content?
What is the current process for content creation?
Who will be creating, entering, editing, and updating content now and in the future?
Do you have someone who will have the required availability to provide this?
What is the current tone of your content? What does the current voice sound like?
How does this differ from how you’d like it to be perceived?
What types of content will there be? (video, podcasts, etc.)
Do you have or need a blog?
What blog features do you need (commenting, user-generated content, moderating, etc.)?
Do you require translation into multiple languages? Do you have contacts who do this?

UX ¶

Do you have a group of folks who use your site or products available who could take part in user testing?
Have you had any user testing done in the past?
What do you know about the visitors that use your site?
What actions would a typical user take when visiting your site?

IOS ¶

What are the current mobile/other platform considerations?
Is your desired application a native application? Responsive web application? Hybrid application?

Note

Native = iOS; Responsive Web = HTML/CSS/JS (not on Apple App Store); Hybrid = iOS + HTML/CSS/JS (on Apple App Store)

Are you interested in only iPhone? Android? Other platforms?
Is there an existing API the mobile application will interface with? If so, what response types does it support (XML, JSON)?
Will you be utilizing location services (GPS) within your application?
Do you have an Apple Developer account?

Design ¶

What are you, the client, all about (what’s your philosophy)?
What are the attitudes or beliefs that shape your business culture?
How do you, the client define yourself?
What are five adjectives that best describe the company now?
If you, the client, were represented by a character, who would it be?
What makes you, the client, stand out from competitors? What’s your edge?
What’s the intangible element you, the client, sells (emotions not facts)?
How does the company intend or expect to evolve or grow?
Who is the main target audience (including demographic information)?
Who should be the main target audience?
How do people currently perceive the brand? How should people perceive the brand?
Why should the (potential) audience care about the client?
What are the biggest challenges to sharing your message?
What do you, the client, do well?
What do you, the client, NOT do well?
List competitive companies and brands.
List any brands that are effective (local or national, even outside the clients industry).
What current brand standards do we need to maintain (logo/colours etc.)?
Will you require favicons?
What current assets do you have (including images/video/content/typefaces/branding guides etc.)?
What is your current user base like?

Development ¶

What are your current logins for your CMS/hosting/analytics accounts?
What technologies does your current app/site/software use?
Can we receive copies of all print, marketing, online assets for analysis?
Do you require hosting?
What are your current domains? Do you require any others?

Design Phase ¶

General ¶

Do the designs reinforce the project and organization’s goals?
Has the team discussed functionality and specific design elements together?
Is the client aware of how many page types are needed, functionality constraints, and database integrations that might be needed?
Have you updated the client on the scope, timeline, and any other factors that may have changed?

Development Phase ¶

Technology ¶

Is there any existing data that needs to be imported? What kind and where is it currently stored?
What are CMS needs/scope? (such as preview/draft/approval functionality; how many users; differing permission levels)
Will there be integration with existing systems? If so, please provide login info to system(s).
Will existing blog content need to be brought over? Comments as well?
Any specific search needs?
Do you have plans for using any new systems?
Are there any specific browser needs?
If the current site has a login protected area, need a login for team.
Are there any technologies that must be used? (technical/functional requirements)
What kind of forms will you require?
What kind of reporting requirements do you have?
What format will the files you provide be in?
Do you currently have a domain name or do you need a new one?
Are you currently using a content management system? If so, which one?
Are you currently logging web metrics? If so, what metrics are you currently capturing? Do you currently have a search engine? If so, what type of search are you using?
Do you require a unique 404 page?
How will you be backing up any online user data?
Do we have SSL certification set up?
How much focus have you put toward online security? Data encryption?

IOS ¶

Are you familiar with the App Store submission process? (if not, we will need to spend time walking them through it, or getting the metadata we need from them)

Hosting ¶

What are your hosting needs?
Have we created a hosting agreement?

Payment Gateways ¶

Do you require payment functionality?
Do you need an online shop?
Do you have a complete list of all products, descriptions, and specs?
Do you have a particular payment gateway you’re interested in?
How much are you comfortable spending on a payment subscription?
Will you using Paypal, credit cards, email payments, cheques, interac, all of the above?

Testing/Launch ¶

Admin ¶

Have final payment stipulations been communicated?
Have all third-party addons been included into the final invoice?
Has the final invoice been sent?
Have we received final payment prior to launch?
Have we delivered any files or documents to aid the client with styles/guidelines/expectations?

Content ¶

Has a style guide been provided to the client?
Does the client have a plan for maintaining content?

Development ¶

Have we tested in all relevant browsers?
Have purchased and billed for EE licenses purchased (as well as add-on’s, etc.)?
Do we have a list of required staff accounts for Expression Engine?
Have we completed training with the client?
Have all bugs been identified and fixed?
Do we have a server or information backup plan in place?
Has Google analytics or other web metric measurement been installed?

Hosting ¶

Have we sent your annual hosting invoice?

IOS ¶

...

Training ¶

Do participants have the account and login credentials?

UX ¶

Do we need a plan for follow-up testing?
What type of testing will we be conducting (warm body vs specialized)?

Maintenance ¶

What kind of requirements do you have?
Has anything changed with regard to site or project goals, staff, updates, or other requirements?
Is the site functioning as well as in the past?
Are there any timeframe considerations, will there need to be a retainer?