Our Project Process

We believe that the most challenging and important element of every project is not the programming and implementation, but rather the strategy, planning and system design that come beforehand. As such, we devote a lot of attention to this primary phase of the project.

What's most important is that we listen to you - your requirements, your needs, and the needs of your customers, clients and varied audiences - and we make sure we never lose sight of these throughout the process. Because website design and development is not about our tools or our process - it's about creating the best online experience for you and your users. We do that through creating a relationship with you.

Planning

We begin every project with kick-off and exploratory meetings that are attended by all the key players to discuss the goals and objectives of the project, in very specific detail. By the completion of these meetings, Modern Signal should have an understanding for the strategy of this project, and will create the first round of planning documents. These include:

• Information Architecture - Outlines all of the content for the web site and categorizes them into a logical tree structure. The information architecture will begin to designate important content that should be highlighted or featured on the homepage. It will also inform the user interface for the site, such as the main menu navigation and the linkages across different sections of the site.
  
• Functional Requirements - This is a textual description of the functionality for each of the administrative tools and the front-end screens for general users. This document builds upon the initial proposal and fleshes out the functionality for each area.
  
• Wireframes and Mock-Ups - To illustrate how the functionality will be presented on the screen, Modern Signal will create Visio or HTML mock-ups of representative site pages. Wireframes will be created for various devices including laptop, tablet and mobile phone in preparation for responsive design.
  
• Creative Brief - This is fairly short but focused document that acts as a framework for the upcoming creative development. This document is the product of the Design Profiler, a detailed questionnaire and worksheet that we will complete with you and will help define target audiences, outline value propositions for each audience, review comparable and "competitive" sites for reference, and identify design elements that your team finds favorable and unfavorable.
  

Design

Once the planning documents have been approved, the design process can begin. This includes both the crafting of visual designs that will determine the look and feel of the site or application and determining the layout. Site designs focus on responsive design for multi-device support. This phase also encompasses the technical design, which includes the database schema and plans for shared libraries and functions - crucial information for our programmers.

Programming & Testing

The planning documents then provide a blueprint for development to ensure that completed application will fulfill the goals and objectives set forth originally. With these documents in place, the actual technical implementation will begin.

All Modern Signal applications will undergo a comprehensive quality assurance process to test that each screen functions as scoped and without errors or complications. In addition, the web site or custom web application will go through a code review and benchmarking process to ensure that all code is clean, documented and optimized for maximum speed, performance and scalability across different browsers, versions and devices including iPads, iPhones, and other mobile devices.

Review, Feedback & Reporting

Through each phase of this project, we will be in close communication with our client to keep you abreast of the progress of the project and to obtain feedback at key milestones to ensure that your vision remains throughout the implementation.

To facilitate this process, the Project Manager will act as the day-to-day contact and will be responsible for all communications and reporting. This individual will function as the point of contact and will ensure that the project is developing according to specifications, budget and schedule.