From brief to launch: How a Nine3 project runs

Most clients arrive having never commissioned design before, which is fair...you should not need a manual. Here is exactly how a Nine3 project runs, what happens at each stage and what I need from you along the way.

1. Discover

Everything starts with questions, not visuals. A short questionnaire and a call cover your goals, your audience, what is working, what is not and what you want people to feel. By the end I can usually write your brief back to you in a paragraph... if I cannot, we are notready to design yet.

2. Define

Next we agree the shape of the thing: the sitemap, the words, and a creative direction; moodboards and references that lock the look and feel before anything gets drawn. Just as important is the “not doing” list: the trends and features we are deliberately leaving out.

3. Design

Concepts are presented in full and explained, never just dumped in your inbox. You get structured rounds of feedback, and I get three things from you: honest reactions, one consolidated voice per round, and content on time. Do those and the design moves quickly.

Vague feedback is the only real enemy of a design timeline. “I will know it when I see it” costs weeks; “the headline feels shouty” costs minutes.

4. Build, test, launch

The approved design gets built, tested on real phones and browsers, checked for accessibility and speed, and launched with a checklist rather than crossed fingers. Afterwards you are not handed a black box... you get the files, the logins and a studio that answers emails.

Where the magic actually happens

Honestly? The unglamorous middle. The third refinement of a heading size, the sentence rewritten four times, the spacing nobody will consciously notice but everybody feels. A typical project runs four to eight weeks depending on scope... most of that time is craftsmanship, not waiting.

Sound like the process you want? The first step is a conversation, not a contract.