Proposal and Project Definition

A project's final outcome is largely dependent on how well that project is first defined. At Process 39, we feel that a detailed proposal lays the groundwork for a healthy working relationship and successful project. Exceptionally detailed proposals allow us to offer our clients three advantages: project control, a flat fee on estimate, and a clear view of how we add value to the project.

 

Research and Analysis

As an Architect surveys the site for a new building, we research the landscape when we start a new project. Each project has it's own idiosyncrasies and "personality." Sometimes constraints are inherited from previous versions of websites or software. Sometimes the playing field is wide open, and we need to narrow the focus. Process 39's extensive project and strategy experience helps keep our clients from getting bogged down, or making fundamental errors, in these ambiguous early stages of a project.

 

Interaction and Information Design

Clear priorities and underlying information relationships point the way to the right features, appropriate functionality, and intuitive process flow of a successful product.

This phase usually takes place on paper, with a multitude of wire frame "schematics" representing different aspects and interfaces of the project. Presentation of this material usually culminates in an intensive series of working meetings.

Visual Design and Refinement

If you consider the interaction and information design phase of the process to be the writing of the symphony, the visual design phase is the performance. With the foundation set, our creative energy shifts to developing the actual images that will present the underlying structure. We consistently succeed in this phase by capitalizing on our precise understanding of priorities and structures. We see our expertise in visual development as the way we articulate underlying strategies and bring life into the project.

 

Production and Delivery

Production starts when design, both technical and visual, has resolved the necessary open issues. How do we know when design is done and production should begin? Experience! In production, the previous two phases of design are allowed to continue their momentum to bring into existence the end product. This is the phase where the product experience changes from a theoretical vision to a reality that everyone can participate in.

 

Guidelines and Assessment

When production finishes the project is winding down, but the process is not over. Follow-up phases for most of our projects include published guidelines for continued maintenance and development, implementation audits to review the released product, and an assessment meeting to close the project and point to new directions.

 

Process Overview

We believe that process is supremely important in bringing about a successful client collaboration, and a stellar project. Our company name reflects how clearly we understand process.

Lately, every Internet consulting firm promotes their "proprietary," "custom," or "patented" process. We think that's misleading. Among design professionals, the process is the process. Good explanations of the process can be found in any beginning design text. Long-winded "proprietary" versions may justify a higher hourly rate, but they rarely improve on the disciplined process itself. We use the process of design because it works. And while it may appear deceptively simple, the key is in how closely you follow it and what experience you bring to applying it. That is where Process 39 excels.