From Brief to Launch: A Step-by-Step Guide to Working with a Freelance WordPress Designer
Randall Carter
From Brief to Launch: A Step-by-Step Guide to Working with a Freelance WordPress Designer
Phase 1: The Foundation - Discovery and Planning
Creating the Project Brief
The Kickoff Meeting
Content and Asset Collection
Phase 2: The Vision - Design and Prototyping
Wireframing
Mockups and Visual Design
Prototyping (Optional)
Phase 3: The Build - Development and Implementation
WordPress Implementation
Content Integration
Testing and Quality Assurance
Phase 4: The Refinement - Revisions and Launch
Client Review and Feedback
Final Revisions
Pre-Launch Checklist and Go-Live
Post-Launch Support and Handover
References
From Brief to Launch: A Step-by-Step Guide to Working with a Freelance WordPress Designer
Hiring a freelance WordPress designer is the first step towards getting a beautiful, functional website. But what happens next? A successful project depends on a smooth and structured collaboration process. Understanding the typical workflow will help you set expectations, provide timely feedback, and keep the project on track from start to finish.
This guide breaks down the entire process into manageable phases, from the initial brief to the final launch. By understanding this process, you can avoid the common mistakes that derail projects. An important decision you'll face during this process is whether to use a custom theme or a template, which can significantly impact the project's direction.
Phase 1: The Foundation - Discovery and Planning
This initial phase is the most critical for setting the project's direction and ensuring everyone is aligned.
Think of this phase like building a house. You wouldn't start construction without blueprints, right? The discovery and planning phase creates those blueprints for your website project. It's where you and your designer get on the same page about what you're building and why.
During this phase, you'll spend time defining goals, gathering materials, and setting expectations. While it might feel like you're not making "real" progress yet, this foundation work determines whether your project succeeds or struggles later on.
Creating the Project Brief
Your project brief is the North Star for the entire project. It's the document everyone refers back to when questions arise or decisions need to be made. A comprehensive brief saves time, prevents misunderstandings, and keeps the project focused.
Start with your project goals. What do you want this website to achieve? Maybe you need to generate more leads, sell products online, or establish credibility in your industry. Be specific. Instead of "increase sales," write "convert 5% of website visitors into email subscribers within three months."
Next, define your target audience. Who will visit your site? A website for busy executives looks different than one for college students. Include demographics, pain points, and what they're looking for when they land on your site. If you have existing customer data or personas, share them.
Include a competitor analysis section. List 3-5 websites in your industry that you admire (or want to differentiate from). What works well on these sites? What doesn't? This gives your designer context about your market and helps them understand your vision.
The scope of work section prevents scope creep later. List exactly what you need: number of pages, specific features (contact forms, galleries, e-commerce), and any integrations with other tools. If you're unsure about something, mark it as "nice to have" versus "must have."
Finally, outline your desired features in detail. Do you need a blog? Member login area? Event calendar? The more specific you are now, the more accurate your designer's timeline and quote will be.
The Kickoff Meeting
The kickoff meeting transforms your project from an idea into action. It's typically a video call lasting 60-90 minutes where you and your designer align on everything before work begins.
Your designer will walk through the brief with you, asking clarifying questions. They might ask about your brand personality, preferred communication style, or technical requirements you hadn't considered. Come prepared with examples of websites you love (and hate) to help illustrate your preferences.
During this meeting, you'll establish communication channels. Will you use Slack for quick questions? Email for formal approvals? Some designers use project management tools like Asana or Trello to track progress. Whatever you choose, stick to it. Scattered communication across multiple channels creates confusion.
You'll also agree on project milestones and timelines. A typical WordPress project might include milestones like "wireframes complete," "design approved," and "development finished." Each milestone should have a deadline and clear deliverables. Ask what happens if either party misses a deadline.
Don't forget to discuss the feedback process. How many rounds of revisions are included? What's the turnaround time for feedback? Setting these expectations now prevents frustration later.
Content and Asset Collection
Here's a truth many clients learn the hard way: content delays kill more web projects than any other factor. Your designer can't create pages without knowing what goes on them. They need your content before they can make real progress.
Start gathering content immediately after your kickoff meeting. This includes all written content (headlines, body text, calls-to-action), images (product photos, team pictures, stock photography), and brand assets (logos, color codes, fonts).
For written content, don't aim for perfection. Your designer needs to know the general length and structure of each page. You can refine the exact wording later. If you're struggling with writing, consider hiring a copywriter or asking your designer if they offer content services.
Image requirements vary by project, but plan for multiple images per page. Your designer will specify dimensions and file formats. If you don't have professional photos, budget for stock photography or a photoshoot. Placeholder images work temporarily, but final images affect the design.
Create a shared folder (Google Drive, Dropbox) for all assets. Organize files clearly: "Homepage Images," "About Page Content," etc. Include any existing materials like brochures or presentations that showcase your brand voice.
Phase 2: The Vision - Design and Prototyping
In this phase, the designer translates the plan into a visual concept for your review and feedback.
This is where your website starts taking shape visually. You'll move from abstract ideas to concrete designs you can see and evaluate. It's an exciting phase, but also one that requires clear communication and constructive feedback.
The design phase typically progresses from simple to complex. You'll start with basic layouts, then add visual styling, and possibly create interactive prototypes. Each step builds on the previous one, so early feedback is crucial.
Wireframing
Wireframes are like the skeleton of your website. They show where elements go without getting distracted by colors or fonts. Think of them as rough sketches that focus on functionality over beauty.
A homepage wireframe might show boxes labeled "hero image," "main headline," "three feature boxes," and "footer." There's no actual content yet—just placeholders showing the structure. This lets you evaluate whether the layout makes sense before investing time in visual design.
When reviewing wireframes, focus on user flow. Can visitors easily find what they're looking for? Is important information prominently placed? Does the structure support your business goals? This is the time to request major layout changes.
Don't worry if wireframes look "boring." They're supposed to be simple. Asking for color or font changes at this stage misses the point. Instead, consider questions like: "Should the contact form be more prominent?" or "Do we need testimonials on every page?"
Most designers create wireframes for key page templates: homepage, about page, service/product pages, and contact page. Once you approve these templates, they'll apply the same structure to similar pages.
Mockups and Visual Design
Mockups transform those boring wireframes into beautiful designs. This is where your brand comes to life through colors, typography, imagery, and visual style. You'll finally see what your website will actually look like.
Your designer will typically start with 2-3 key pages, usually the homepage and one interior page. This establishes the visual direction before designing every page. They'll incorporate your brand colors, choose fonts that match your personality, and select imagery that resonates with your audience.
When reviewing mockups, look at the overall feeling first. Does it match your brand personality? Would your target audience connect with this design? Sometimes a design can be technically good but wrong for your specific needs.
Then examine specific elements. Are the fonts readable? Do the colors create enough contrast? Are buttons obvious and clickable? Is there enough white space, or does it feel cramped? Your designer wants this feedback to refine the design.
Provide feedback in one consolidated document rather than scattered emails. Be specific: instead of "I don't like the header," say "The header feels too heavy. Can we try a lighter background color or reduce its height?" Reference examples when possible.
Remember that mockups are static images. Features like dropdown menus or hover effects won't work yet. Your designer should explain how interactive elements will behave in the final site.
Prototyping (Optional)
For complex projects, designers might create interactive prototypes. These let you click through the design like a real website, even though it's not built in WordPress yet. You can test navigation, see hover effects, and experience transitions between pages.
Prototypes are especially valuable for e-commerce sites or web applications where user interaction is critical. They help identify usability issues before development begins. It's much easier to fix a confusing checkout process in a prototype than after it's fully built.
Not every project needs prototyping. Simple brochure sites often skip this step. But if your site has complex forms, multi-step processes, or unique interactions, prototyping can save time and frustration later.
When reviewing prototypes, act like a real user. Try to complete tasks like finding specific information or submitting a form. Note any confusion or friction points. Can you intuitively navigate the site, or do you get lost?
Share the prototype with others on your team or even potential users. Fresh eyes often catch issues you've become blind to. Their feedback during this phase is invaluable for creating a user-friendly final product.
Phase 3: The Build - Development and Implementation
The approved design is now brought to life in WordPress. This is where the visual mockups become a functional website.
Development might feel like a black box—your designer disappears for a while, then emerges with a working website. But understanding what happens during this phase helps you provide better support and set realistic expectations.
This phase is typically the longest, especially for custom designs. Your designer is writing code, configuring WordPress, and ensuring everything works properly across different devices and browsers. It's detail-oriented work that requires focus and time.
WordPress Implementation
Your designer (or a developer they collaborate with) now transforms static mockups into a living, breathing WordPress site. This involves multiple technical steps that happen behind the scenes.
First, they'll set up the WordPress foundation. This includes choosing and configuring a theme (or building a custom one), installing essential plugins, and creating the basic site structure. They'll set up your pages, menus, and any custom post types you need.
Next comes the visual implementation. Using CSS and possibly JavaScript, they'll style every element to match the approved mockups. This includes responsive design—ensuring your site looks great on phones, tablets, and desktops. A single button might need different styles for its normal state, hover state, and mobile appearance.
They'll also configure functionality features. Contact forms need to actually send emails. Galleries need to display images properly. If you're selling products, e-commerce functionality must work flawlessly. Each feature requires setup, testing, and often customization.
During this phase, your designer might send occasional updates or questions. They might need clarification on how a feature should work or discover a technical limitation requiring a workaround. Quick responses keep the project moving.
Content Integration
Remember all that content you gathered in Phase 1? Now it goes live. Content integration is more than just copying and pasting—it's about making your content shine within the design.
Your designer will format text for readability, ensuring proper heading hierarchy and paragraph spacing. They'll optimize images for web performance while maintaining quality. Large images slow down your site, but overly compressed images look unprofessional. Your designer finds the sweet spot.
SEO considerations come into play here. Your designer should use proper heading tags, add alt text to images, and ensure your content structure supports search engine visibility. While they're not typically SEO experts, good designers understand the basics.
If you're still finalizing content, your designer might use placeholder text temporarily. But the sooner you provide final content, the better. Real content sometimes reveals design issues—maybe headlines are longer than expected, or you need more imagery than planned.
This is also when dynamic content gets configured. Blog posts, team member profiles, or product listings need templates that automatically format new content you add later. Your designer ensures these templates work with various content lengths and types.
Testing and Quality Assurance
Before you see the site, your designer should put it through rigorous testing. This catches issues early when they're easier to fix. Professional designers have a systematic testing process.
Browser testing ensures your site works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. Each browser interprets code slightly differently. What looks perfect in Chrome might have spacing issues in Safari. Your designer checks and fixes these inconsistencies.
Device testing goes beyond just checking phone and desktop views. They'll test various screen sizes, from small phones to large monitors. They'll verify that touch interactions work properly on mobile devices and that hover effects make sense on touchscreens.
Functionality testing confirms every feature works correctly. Forms submit properly and send emails to the right address. Links go where they should. Videos play. Shopping carts calculate correctly. Nothing's more frustrating than launching a site with broken features.
Performance testing ensures your site loads quickly. Your designer will optimize images, minify code, and configure caching. They might use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify and fix performance bottlenecks.
Finally, they'll do user testing—clicking through the site like a real visitor. They'll try to break things, submit forms with invalid data, and generally ensure the site handles edge cases gracefully.
Phase 4: The Refinement - Revisions and Launch
The project is nearing completion. This phase is about making final adjustments and preparing for the public launch.
You're in the home stretch now. The site is built and functional, but it needs your review and final polish before going live. This phase requires careful attention to detail and clear communication about what needs to change.
Many clients feel overwhelmed when reviewing their nearly-complete site. There's so much to look at! Take it systematically, and remember that minor adjustments are normal at this stage.
Client Review and Feedback
You'll receive a link to the staging site—a private version of your website where you can explore everything without the public seeing it. This is your chance to thoroughly test and review the designer's work.
Start by experiencing the site as a visitor would. Don't jump straight to your admin panel. Visit the homepage, navigate to different sections, and try to complete common tasks. Does the flow feel natural? Can you find information easily?
When providing feedback, be specific and constructive. Instead of "The about page feels off," try "The about page headline seems too small compared to other pages. Can we increase it to match?" Specific feedback helps your designer make precise adjustments.
Consolidate your feedback into one document organized by page. Number each item for easy reference. Include screenshots when helpful—tools like CloudApp or Loom let you capture and annotate specific issues. Avoid sending multiple emails with scattered thoughts.
Prioritize your feedback by importance. Mark items as "must fix" versus "nice to have." This helps if you're approaching your revision limit or timeline constraints. Focus on issues that affect functionality or significantly impact user experience.
Reference the original brief when evaluating the site. Does it meet the goals you outlined? Sometimes we get distracted by minor details and forget the big picture. Your brief helps maintain perspective on what really matters.
Final Revisions
Most contracts include a set number of revision rounds—typically 2-3. Understanding this limitation helps you provide thorough feedback each round rather than trickling in changes over time.
Your designer will work through your feedback list systematically. Simple changes like text updates, color adjustments, or spacing tweaks happen quickly. Complex changes like restructuring navigation or adding new functionality take longer and might affect your timeline or budget.
During revisions, your designer might push back on certain requests. They're not being difficult—they're protecting the design integrity and user experience. If you insist on changes they disagree with, they should explain the potential consequences.
Test each revision thoroughly before approving. Sometimes fixing one issue creates another. Check that previous problems stay fixed and that new changes don't break existing functionality. It's much easier to catch issues now than after launch.
As you approach final approval, do one last comprehensive review. Click every link, submit every form, and view every page on multiple devices. Get others on your team to review too—fresh eyes catch things you might miss.
Pre-Launch Checklist and Go-Live
Launching a website involves more than just making it public. Your designer should guide you through a pre-launch checklist ensuring everything's properly configured for success.
SEO basics must be in place before launch. This includes page titles, meta descriptions, and a properly configured sitemap. Your designer should install an SEO plugin like Yoast and configure basic settings. While ongoing SEO is usually your responsibility, the foundation should be solid.
Analytics installation lets you track visitor behavior from day one. Your designer will add Google Analytics or similar tools, ensuring they're properly configured to track goals and conversions. They should also set up Google Search Console for monitoring search performance.
Security measures protect your investment. This includes SSL certificates (for that crucial "https"), security plugins, and proper user permissions. Your designer should explain what security measures they've implemented and what ongoing maintenance you'll need.
Backup systems save you from disasters. Your designer should set up automated backups and explain how to restore them if needed. Ask where backups are stored and how often they run. Daily backups are ideal for frequently updated sites.
The actual migration process moves your site from the staging server to your live domain. Your designer handles the technical details, but you might need to update DNS settings with your domain registrar. Plan the migration for a low-traffic time to minimize disruption.
Post-Launch Support and Handover
Your site is live—congratulations! But the project isn't quite over. A smooth handover ensures you can maintain and update your site confidently.
Your designer should provide a training session covering basics like adding blog posts, updating content, and managing media. This might be a video call where they share their screen, or they might create video tutorials you can reference later. Take notes and ask questions during this session.
You'll need documentation for future reference. This should include login credentials, plugin licenses, and any custom functionality explanations. Good designers create a simple manual showing how to perform common tasks specific to your site.
Discuss the maintenance plan going forward. WordPress requires regular updates for security and functionality. Will you handle these yourself, or does your designer offer maintenance packages? Understand what's involved and the risks of neglecting updates.
Clarify ongoing support expectations. Most designers include a brief support period (often 30 days) for fixing any bugs that surface after launch. After that, what's the process for getting help? Do they offer hourly support or retainer packages?
Finally, ensure you have ownership and access to everything. You should have admin access to WordPress, hosting, and any premium plugins or themes. If your designer purchased licenses on your behalf, transfer them to your accounts.
Working with a freelance WordPress designer doesn't have to be mysterious or stressful. By understanding each phase of the process, you can be a better client and get better results. Clear communication, timely feedback, and mutual respect create the foundation for a successful project.
Remember that your designer wants your project to succeed as much as you do. They're not just building a website—they're helping you achieve your business goals. When you work together as partners rather than adversaries, you'll end up with a website you're proud to launch.
References
Like this project
Posted Jun 15, 2025
New to working with freelancers? Follow our step-by-step guide on the process of building a website with a freelance WordPress designer for a smooth collaboration.
