At Crossbow International we will need to know about your company
in order to get a feel for how we should design your website. When first
meeting a new client we like to discuss and develop a design plan from
the information gained at the first stage of the design process.

At the Design stage we like to meet you face-to-face and visit you at your
business to get a feel for who you are, what you do and to discuss your
ideas and requirements for a website.

During this process we ask a number of relevant questions:

• Your Company Information - Relevant background information of your company.
  
• Product Service Information - Information on your products, why people choose your products.
  
• Target Market - A description of your target audience.
  
• Broader Audience - Other market area's used to promote your products or services.
  
• Single Proposition/Key Message - The key message for communication to your customers.
  
• Objective of the website - What do you wasn't your website to achieve.
  
• Competitor research - A listing of your broader competition. What can you do better.
  
• Current marketing material - A listing of your marketing campaigns you are actively pursuing.

Conceptualization

This stage allows us to think about your ideas and requirements as we create "Web Comps", which are mock-ups of web page layouts, concepts, colour combinations, styles and functionality for you to consider.

At this stage we consider the following:

• What Image/Style - Fresh, Modern, Elegant, Artistic, Professional, Conservative etc.
  
• What colours are specific - Colour combinations, CMYK values or web safe colours.
  
• Specific Imagery - Do you have any specific images in mind for your website.
  
• Corporate style guide - Is there an official corporate style guide we should follow.
  
• Fonts - The selection of a web safe font you would prefer for the body of your website.
  
• Key search terms - What words or phrases would people use to find you in Goggle or Yahoo.
  
• Email addresses - The email addresses you would like to use on your contact page.
  
• Navigation location - Would you prefer top level or side level navigation?

Implementation

At this stage we consider the following:

With the "Web Comps" designs approved, technology chosen, layout and initial functionality now complete, the Implementation phase now allows us to makes sure that your vision comes to life by creating functioning web pages.

During this phase we will:

• Create appropriate search phrases for Goggle, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines.
  
• Construct the navigational architecture with usability best practices.
  
• Create additional graphics.
  
• Research and author web copy and content.
  
• Incorporate any technical requirements - including Commerce and database functionality.
  
• Create and develop the Flash animations, dynamic menus, and multimedia components.

Also, during this phase, we test everything for accessibility, usability and cross-browser compatibility to meet the W3C standards. Once all of this is completed, we will again walk you through the site and show you how it works and where necessary provide you with training.

Deployment

The final stage puts your site live for the whole world to view.
We double-check our work and thoroughly test, test, test before getting final approval from you. We make sure that the mechanics of what we’ve produced are ready for the Internet.