Building websites at speed using comprehensive design systems
Business
My Role
Tools
Project Time
Building websites as a service
Web designer
WordPress, Elementor
Average 48 hours
Context and company structure
Weblify’s business model hinges on cold selling website redesign and optimisation to small companies who need a better web presence.
Using Elementor to build design systems
Creating a library of modular page sections in Elementor meant that when we on-boarded a new client, we could quickly and easily build them a website using the prebuilt sections based on the content need. If it is a client based in a service, we focus on static sections that highlight different services, if it is a product based company we create a format for iterating the design when products change.
As a web designer
My job is to evaluate the business, identify significant content, create a cohesive brand identity to follow (most small businesses don’t have much beyond a logo), build a sitemap, and organise content into sections. Sometimes this process can be quicker or longer depending if they already have an existing website or existing branding identities.
Complications
The most time consuming part of this job is evaluating what is important to the stakeholders. Actively minimising involvement with the client speeds up time the time between the sales pitch and the first design, but this is assuming there will be no iterations, which in most cases is not realistic to hope for.
Building solutions
We worked with a ‘kanban’ style system of project delivery, so this gave me time to go outside of my role and break down the time for building the least complicated site with no iterations, to the most complicated site with one or two iterations. Following every step in the businesses process for building a new site while timing every action, I devised a scale from a couple of hours to a couple of days. I established that in order to keep the current system but also minimise the chance for iteration we needed to build a collection base websites that showed provable statistical response from the user in order to justify to the clients why this design doesn’t need iteration.
Completed sites
There is upwards of ten new websites to build over a combined fifty junior and senior designers every one to two days. Here is a small selection of some of the sites I was a majority party in building.
Saljdirekt
A predominantly product based business providing materials for school children to on-sell for fundraising. The hardest part of this build was to find a solution for an iterative product display that was simple to teach the customer for future updates.
Visit SiteExir
Primarily a service focused company, Exir provides suplly solutions to various global outlets. The challenge in this case was to build the website in a way that was clear in different languages and cultures.
Visit SiteEBP Entreprenad
This is a company that provides building services to commercial clients. This is a good example of a low maintenance, no iteration, single page website solution that Weblify favours.
Visit SiteGolvslipnings Bolaget
This is a floor polishing and maintenance service. Similar in complexity to EBP Entreprenad, however this website has a more complex sitemap.
Visit SiteAbove and beyond
On-boarding new staff was a clunky process with no real structure for this growing company. The main problem I identified was forming a routine for how to build a website in this environment. I built a structure for myself which I took to the lead designer which then prompted the breakdown of every stage of the site building process which we approved with implemented.
