reflections of being a client

In addition to being a project coordinator in a marketing department, I have had the opportunity to be both a client, and a designer over the years. The things that I have learned are:


Internal processes will ease some stress and impress your client:

• Meeting Notes--as the designer, take notes and write them up afterwards to document what the client's wishes/expectations/needs are.
• Project Information Sheet--a quick overview of the client contact information, the business, general description of the project. I like to add ad specs, and corporate colours/fonts so that they're handy. Check out these resources from Smashing Magazine:
  http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/11/26/web-design-questionnaires-project-sheets-and-work-sheets/
• Detailed Project Questionnaire--ask questions... lots of questions. Start a document of questions that you ask. Here's a link to a list which is a great stepping stone for developing your questions if you're designing a logo for a client: http://www.thedesigncubicle.com/2009/07/20-questions-to-ask-clients-prior-to-designing-a-logo/
• Develop a Project Outline/Project Contract. In this, you can outline the scope of the project, functionality, cost, deadlines, when client-supplied materials are due, payment schedules and terms, and copyright details. http://speckyboy.com/2010/08/12/5-free-to-use-freelance-design-contract-templates/

Photoshop and Fireworks: workflow

During the past two weeks, I finished up my Photoshop course, and started learning about Adobe Fireworks.

What is Adobe Fireworks, you ask? Simply put--it's a tool for getting client approval on website design. I have found that it's challenging for clients to visualize a finished project and it's important to get buy-in from the client at an early stage to make sure the work is headed in the right direction. Even with a creative brief, a creative department can interpret the direction in a way that the client was not intending. It's also important to keep the project on schedule, and on budget while avoiding project creep.

For my own work flow for web design, I see Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Fireworks fitting in as follows:

1. Receive project direction or creative brief (http://elise.com/web/tools/creativebrief.html) from the client or project manager
2. Plan project schedule
3. Research
4. Develop mood board http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2008/12/why-mood-boards-matter/z
5. Rough out ideas and concepts 
6. Map-out site architecture diagram
7. Wireframe in Adobe Fireworks--ensures that all the elements and behaviours are in place
8. Receive client approval on the mood board, the site architecture diagram, and the wireframe
9. Build a prototype in Adobe Fireworks to develop concepts that a client can see/approve, using Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator to develop graphics and images
10. Receive client approval before development begins 
11. Begin to build and code the website

Six awesome portfolio websites

I've been looking around for inspirations this week for what I could do for a portfolio website. I'm finding that I've been drawn to some black and white designs which use a hint of colour, or allow the work to set the colour palette of the site.

Here are my fav's:

1-My Favourite thing


I find that the paper/shadow effect in this design is nice and clean with a touch of flair.

http://www.myfavoritething.it/portfolio/

2-Siminki


I really like how when you hover over a portfolio piece, it turns to full colour... so that the overall design isn't a riot of colour. Not that there's anything wrong with a riot of colour. I love colour... but I think this is clever.

http://www.siminki.co.uk/

3-formtroopers

I like the idea of one feature, and a few more pieces underneath. Overall, the use of a black and white palette allows the work to shine.

http://www.formtroopers.com/

4-Davroc Interiors

I see this site more as a product portfolio. If the eye isn't distracted by the use of colour, the form and shape of the products stand out. When you hover over the images, they turn to full colour. I like the tone-on-tone of the cool grey and the use of white space. Oh, and the bathtubs and faucets would look nice in my bathroom!

http://www.interiors.davroc.co.uk/

5-Visualbox


With this site, everything is muted but as you scroll down, the centre of your screen becomes full colour.

http://www.visualboxsite.com/

6-Design Me

This site has a hit of colour, but it is not overpowering the work; it's still simple and clean.

http://designme.sk/

I'm off to explore new horizons

As a designer who has lived in the world of print, web design has always felt like a foreign world to me. Sure, talk to me of PMS, cmyk, picas, points, die cuts, direct to plate, Macs, and the days of QuarkXpress... and I'll have some stories to share.

I've always wanted to get into web design but I was so unsure of how. I took a Dreamweaver, and a Flash course but I found that it wasn't what I was looking for. What was I looking for? Hard to say. I think that's what I found overwhelming. Print and web are SO different--at least in my mind, they are. There are so many different ways to design web pages and every company might have different programs and hardware that they use. Everybody I talked to had a different opinion--I didn't know what would be best to learn; I didn't know where to start.

So, I'm taking the plunge and I've enrolled in Web Design and Development program from Conestoga College.

http://www.conestogac.on.ca/fulltime/program.jsp?SchoolID=2&ProgramCode=1251&v=1201&p=c

I'm hoping it will be a bit like learning to drive a standard transmission car. It might feel awkward at first, but with time, and practice, it becomes second nature.

I'm expecting that someday soon, that URL that I bought ages ago will have more than just a holding page on it!

Hello world

This is a test post. Nothing fancy. Honest.

This is a link.

this is an image: