Happy by Design

Getting Started

Getting Started

What we need and process overview

Here’s an overview of what we need and a process overview to help guide you along before we begin!

1. Before we start

Your logo

PDF, EPS or high res JPEG or PNG if possible.

Hosting credentials

Your hosting account login and/or Cpanel username and password

Wordpress login

An administrator login to your current WordPress site. (if this is a redesign of the WordPress site)

Images & video

Current and/or new images and videos you’d like to use on the new site.

Content

Page content and any updated information for the site.

Style guide

Brand style guide, colours or any specific design requirements.

See our blog post, if you’d like some guidance on writing copy for your website.

We recommend sharing passwords and other information that needs to be kept secure via a free password management tool such as Keeper

To share all other files – logos, images and any other content, we will set up a Google Drive folder. This ensures our emails don’t get overloaded and all the files are easily accessible.

Our Design Process

Creating a new website can seem to be an overwhelming prospect. To give you a better idea of what to expect during the process, see below the 3 main steps:

Layout & Design

A big part of designing a website is in the planning and layout stage of the process. We’ll sketch out where the pages/sub-pages of the website will be first, and then design the Home page for approval. We use a nifty on-screen tool to collate your feedback making lengthy email conversations a thing of the past.

Build & Develop

Once the site layout and initial design is approved, it’s time to move forward with designing all of your website pages and implementing all functionality and plugins. We make sure your site looks great and functions nicely across all devices and web browsers before moving on to the final step.

Edits & Revision

Once the site is ready for a final look through, you’ll be able to review each page, and we can make detailed edits until the site is ready for launch. We ask that you please check through ALL pages to make sure the spelling, grammar, addresses and information are correct before going live.

3. Wrapping up & Going Live

Once the site is ready to go live, all unnecessary plugins, pages, images and backend files will be removed. The new site will be backed up and saved locally, should it ever need restored. Once live, it may take between 24-48 hours for the new site to pull up on some devices. Your browser may need to be refreshed in order to see the new site though most will see the new site fairly quickly after the launch.

Your website logins and all credentials will be sent to you via LastPass ensuring the security of your passwords. Though your logins and passwords will be saved by us locally, please save all logins for your records as well. Upon completion, you’ll receive a link to our Moving Forward page where you’ll receive tips and tricks on what to do with your new website and also information on our Maintenance/Security Plan which we highly recommend for all our clients.