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