Our approach

The first phase of our process is all about crafting the ideal user experience. Who uses your site, and what do they need to do? We go through several steps of content analysis, planning, and prototyping to get it right.

 

Web Design

Audience Research

We kick things off with an exploration of your market position, audience, competitors, and goals.

Content Strategy

We thoroughly audit your content to decide what you have, what you need, and what can go.

Sitemapping

We combine the research and content audit into a logical new information architecture.

UX Prototyping

The sitemap is built out into a complete working prototype, to test your site’s structure and flow.

User experience design done right

Parts of this stage can feel technical and overwhelming, but we promise we’ll guide you through it! We take care to explain each piece of homework and each deliverable, and we’re here for your questions. All of them. We’re experts in UX design, but you know your users best.

Custom Strategy

Every business is unique. We’ll develop the best strategy for your audience, content, and goals.

SEO Advice

We’ll make sure you’re making the best choices for your content, and your position in search results.

No Reveals

We’re not designing behind a curtain. You’ll collaborate on every step – and fully test the prototype.

Straight Talk

You hired us for our expertise. If something’s a bad idea, we’ll tell you why – and provide a solution.

See the results

Visit these case studies to see the custom websites we’ve crafted.

+22 %

Engaged Sessions
Retail & Products

Blenz

Blenz needed a fresh new website to reflect their updated branding, and to help customers more easily find their way to online orders, app downloads, and perks.

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Non-Profit

BC Dairy

A new web design with vastly improved structure and navigation help BC Dairy’s different audiences discover their array of tasty content.

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Retail & Products

Sisu

Our website redesign helped SISU’s visitors quickly and easily find where to buy their products, while showcasing their wellness blog as a resource.

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Travel & Tourism

Tourism Cowichan

Tourism Cowichan needed a new website to get visitors excited about all this earthy, welcoming region has to offer. This project required a strong architecture with emphasis on featured and related content, for easy browsing and content discovery.

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+107 %

Organic Search Traffic
Professional Services

MISIM

MISIM needed a brand new website to showcase their complex offering and vast experience – and they also needed cohesive brand strategy to make their digital presence stand out.

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+73 %

Organic Search Traffic
Retail & Products

CRAFT Beer Market

Our tantalizing website redesign helped CRAFT Beer Market achieve huge increases in their search traffic, impressions, and page speeds.

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“The team at Forge and Smith were amazing to work with through the rebuild of our website. Everyone was friendly, accessible and most importantly… patient with our revisions and changes. We are so happy with the end result of our website and their continued support.”

“Our website was very old and stagnant. Forge and Smith helped us to completely re-envision our web presence and bring the functionality up to date. They were supportive and helpful throughout the entire project, offering advice and assistance when needed. Now our website is not only very attractive it is easy to maintain and navigate.”

“I requested a quote from five separate vendors. Forge and Smith were not the cheapest but had the most thorough and well laid out quote and plan of action. From the time of commitment we had a pretty tight timeline to complete the project. Forge and Smith did everything they could to get the job done in time. They were prompt answered questions in a timely fashion and have the process well laid out.”

“I’ve had a wonderful experience working with Forge and Smith. The team is very responsive and really helps guide you though the entire process. The team is very creative and helps you bring all your ideas to fruition. They were patient with our revisions and they did not hesitate to provide feedback based on past experience. I highly recommend using Forge and Smith if you’re looking for world-class results.”