The Headspace Process III: Development

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The Headspace Process III: Development

Welcome to part three of a series we're calling The Headspace Process, a collection of blog posts created to shed some insight into our stages of development, and to whet your appetite without sharing any spoilers or giving away too much of the magic. We think we've struck the balance just right. Check out Part Two to get caught up, or read on!

Part Two of The Headspace Process was all about the structure and design of your website. We've determined the layout of each page type through the wireframes, you've chosen a moodboard that emanates your brand and we've brought them to life in the full website design. You've gone through each sample page, envisioning how your users will move through the site to make sure we haven't missed anything, and have given your valuable final 'go-ahead'. This phase meant we worked together a lot - all part of our collaborative process to bring your vision to life; we couldn't have done it without you! You are the experts of your business and we have the expertise to bring it to life, online. Go team!

As the design moved along we also started discussing content with you. Although design communicates a lot about your brand, "design in the absence of content is not design, it's decoration." Working with our copywriter, you'll develop all of the content for your new website. Some bits will simply be copy edits of existing pieces, but a lot will be written from scratch. Things like home page copy (to really pull your users into the site and illustrate your utility), callouts for new navigation, content to bring new pages to life, and more. It's this content creation working in concert with the design phase that really makes the website yours.

With design being finalized and copy being crafted, we've started laying the groundwork for your site's structure (based on the approved wireframes) into the Content Management System (CMS). In short, this means that basic pages are being completed so that your content has somewhere to live when you're ready to publish it. It's likely that, if you have any, your current content will simply need to be transferred over rather than rewritten. Even still, never underestimate the value of a fresh direction and some professionally produced copy. It can make the bulk of your site that much more engaging.

This next part's interesting, because it's where our developers break off and disappear into code land for a time. Once design is signed off we're still going to need to create the actual website. We'll translate designs into HTML and CSS for things like text, fonts, structure, and filters. Javascript is where the fun happens, building the interactive elements of your website that really bring it to life and gamify the user experience.

Of course, we're always steadfast in our use of best practices and the modern web standards that engineer your site to be viewable across devices and in various browsers (with the exception of some Internet Explorer iterations!) The entire package will be responsive by design and will look great on any screen in any resolution. Your mobile traffic will thank you as they browse from their smartphones and other devices.

OK, so I've explained the process in a way that's easy to understand and navigate - that doesn't make it any easier to execute! The scope of this portion of your project is somewhere between two to four weeks depending on complexity and the availability of local caffeine sources. When we're done, it's time for the big reveal. We'll wow you with a beta of your website that you can navigate and pour all of your pent up excitement into. Is it everything you had ever dreamed? We'll work our butts off to ensure that it is.

We're so close, but we're not done yet. Stay tuned for our fourth and final installment of The Headspace Process for our dramatic launch finale. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll have a killer website courtesy of Headspace.