Hello everyone! Im a fairly new programmer and flash MX user. I have a question though, if someone wants you to build them a website or in any web building situation how do you begin the design process? Do you draw out a web page or what? Sometimes I just get stuck. Thanks a Lot!
Fidelity!
well yeh…i personally do layouts or just concepts in photoshop, like my post above… the criteria you judge the site by differ tho…
in my post above im trying to gauge an overall style, (colour, emotion)… the usability side…layout, typography, menu all come later for me…
i think your approach differs slightly dependant on the client’s requirements. some sites are purely text information based, so you have to have a slightly different cap on
hope this helps 
You should ask them if there are any sites out there that they already like. Then you can have a starting point (organic vs. tech, water vs. metal, red vs. blue, flat vs. rendered, etc). Especially if it’s for money (don’t want to keep re-doing it).
I have a questionaire I have clients fillout. Always ask for their preferences color, size…blah. Alo ask them to send you any sites they enjoyed or like. Always be inquisitive.
lol…/\ /\
the best way to begin with any client is to ask a lot of questions… as said: color choices, goal, what the client feels is the overall image portrayed by the company, logos, typo in use on products, always ask for as many brochures/flyers/advertisements as possible it really helps you to get a sense of the style that has been portrayed in the past. Oh, and always ask about budget - dont want to spend a month on a killer design and realize the guy only has a few hundrend to spend.
In a nut shell: the more questions you ask and the more dialogue you have with a new client at the begining of the project the smoother everything will go!
peace
Hey thanks everyone for the hints and stuff. Do you guys usually look at a lot of good websites for ideas also? And are most of you artist ( as in pencil and paper stuff or paint) ?
Thanks a Lot
Fidelity
All that really depends on your style and how you get inspiration.
Honestly I try not to look at to many sites when designing a site, as I want to try and always bring something new and original to the table… w/o the possibility of rippin someone off unintentionally. If you ask them for sites that’s always good cause you need to know what feel they want, but even so I always get the idea down but after that I don’t really reference them afterwards… that way I can let my creative juices bring it all together.
and after you have spoken with the client and agreed on how it should look, you should always make sketches of possible layouts and even explain possible animations you think would look good, a client should alwasy listen to a designer since it’s the designers profession, unfortunatly a lot of clients know 100% want they want even tho it might look awfull…
oh and if a client isnt sure about what colors he wnat make a dozen or what possible color schemes too and it’s alwasy good to give your sketches soem color with soem good markers.
I try not to be a “1 trick Pony” as well. I can do traditional art, 2d/3d animation, Modelling, Programming (server/client). Photoshop, vector, Some flash. It always pays to wear more than one hat.
I just use the creativity plugin
What if the creativity plugin is in demo mode? Where can I get a real serial number without paying the high cost of creativity?
Serial and warez talk like that isn’t allowed here. I might have to ban you.
hey can i take a peek at your questionare ?
I like this forum, but that is a little far. It took me quite sometime of trial and error to formulate most of these questions. So unfortunately this is one request I must say no to. This is something that is better off learned anyway, because it ties into my work flow and my creativity.
No Issues.
I just wanted to see if my own questionaire is upto the mark.
Thanks anyway
You might like to take a look at the Design Process by Burnkit Studio @ www.burnkit.com . Go down to design lab and have a look at the video.
