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Discovery and Research — Designing with intent means understanding the people behind each decision.

Your site deserves the best intentions.

At Blend, there’s one simple truth about websites: the better you plan for a site, the more efficient and cost-effective that site build will end up. Measure twice, cut once.

Which is why we are fully committed to the discovery process.

The research and discovery process.

Building a website is like building a house — each decision is built upon the decisions that came before. Just as an architect doesn’t just throw a number at you and begin working on blueprints, we don’t begin working on a project until we fully understand:

  • The audiences and potential visitors of the site.
  • The content and functionality the site will require.
  • The editorial needs of your team.

The goal is to answer three basic questions:

  • Who will be visiting your site?
  • What content and functionality will help make their visit successful?
  • How simple or complex do you want your design and build to be?

What does discovery and research include?

Discovery is the opening movement for better design, and in this sense it comes in two parts: knowing your site and your users, and strategic definition of the site itself.

Research

  • Site inventory
  • Site audit, including SEO and accessibility preparedness
  • Competitive and contemporary analysis
  • Other industry research as needed

Understanding Users

  • Definition of audiences and outcomes
  • Site archetypes and personas
  • Interviews with stakeholders and/or potential site users
  • User testing and research, such as card sorting or prototype testing

Defining the Project

  • Site map and navigation UI
  • Content and template modeling
  • Taxonomic needs
  • Wireframes or non-functional prototypes

Related work.

We’ve done a lot of great things for a lot of great clients — including projects that help the larger projects themselves. Check out more projects similar to this one.

Related articles.

We’ve been writing and creating things for — and about! — the web for over 20 years, including our thoughts about discovery and scoping. Check out more articles similar to this one.