The Design Process - Designing

There is no right or wrong way to go about designing a website. Each person has a different way of doing so through skills they have developed over many projects. My process is drastically different from what is was even one year ago because I have learned many techniques that have helped me become more efficient and obtain better results. This articles will speak of the 3 essential steps in efficiently designing a site.

Concepts

The conceptual stage can mean many different things depending on what way of designing you are more comfortable with. When I first started designing I went straight into Photoshop and got to work. It felt right but I found myself constantly scrapping design after design and wasting a ton of time. There are two main methods I would recommend before jumping into Photoshop.

• Sketching: grab a pencil, open up your sketch pad, and get to work! Quickly sketching your ideas for a site will give you a general idea of whether or not it will work. From this point it is easy to load up Photoshop and implement the ideas you like best. You can sketch a few quick ideas for various parts of a site in mere minutes. Take a look at some sketches I did below. They aren’t pretty but they allowed me to see what they site would look like without spending 20 minutes designing a banner only to find it isn’t as effective for the site as I first thought.
• Wire-framing: as seen below, wire-framing shows you exactly what needs to go on the different pages you will be designing. You get the layout of the site out of the way first and from there are able to design each piece. This ensures you won’t miss anything  vital to the site and will avoid trying to squeeze it in there later. It’s one of the best ways to start out and easy to build off!

Design Mock-Ups

When you have your ideas in full swing, it’s time to open up Photoshop and get designing! Take your sketches or wireframe and make them pretty. Be sure to take into consideration the different key points that the client gave you including the colors, logo, style and so on. This is the fun part! If you’re having trouble making it look good, look up some other sites for Web Design Inspiration.

Review and Finalize

After finishing up the design mock-ups, it’s time to review them with the client. Either show them in person, or email over the mock-ups images for the their approval. More often than not they are going to want some changes, hopefully nothing too drastic overall. After a few reviews and changes you should be on your way to the next step, Developing!