Most project problems start before any design work. A vague scope turns into extra rounds, missed dates and awkward conversations about money. So I spend the first call on scope and nothing else.
The eight questions
- What should a visitor do after reading the site?
- Who updates the content after launch?
- Which pages exist today and which are new?
- What is the real deadline, and why that date?
- Who signs off on design?
- Which tools must it connect to?
- What did the last website get wrong?
- What budget range have you set aside?
From answers to a proposal
Within two days the client gets a one page proposal: pages, features, what is out of scope, three milestones and one price. If something new comes up later, it becomes a small change request with its own price, never a surprise.
