It’s as easy as A, B, C. (not forgetting D & E)

Once upon a time in a decade known as the seventies, a band by the name of The Jackson 5 eloquently sang:

A, B, C
easy as
1, 2, 3
or simple as
do re mi
abc, 123, baby, you and me girl

I beg to differ. I think they missed a couple. ‘D’ and ‘E’ to be precise.

I’m a big fan of taking things out of context. It’s fun. And on the odd occasion it can get people all of a tizzy. (What the hell is a ‘tizzy’ by the way?) I also like relating ‘real world’ things to web design.

I’ve wanted to write about my ‘method’ for a while. Not that it’s anything special or outlandishly different to other people’s, but it has served me well for the past few years and is something which I know to work. And perhaps more for my own benefit than everyone else’s, here’s the way I do things around here.

Analysis

A personal fault of mine is that I over-analyse everything. However, in the business world it’s not necessarily a bad thing. I analyse whether the client is someone who I want to work with. (Note ‘with’ not ‘for’) Then I analyse whether their project is something I can fully get behind – i.e. if I can actually see what their goals are and what it is they’re trying to achieve. If I can’t, then I need to either get more info from them, have more meetings or, failing that politely decline the work.

Further analysis happens all the way through a project, once I’ve decided to work with the client. I once made the mistake of not fully analysing a project before I began and it turned into a horrible mess with me ‘firing the client’. The only time that’s ever happened. Never again.

Build

‘Build’ already? You say. I very much practice the method of ‘designing in the browser’ (read as: can’t use Photoshop for toffee) and as such, I’m building as I go. I start with wireframes – they have their positive and negative points, I just prefer them. They allow me to get my head around a project more easily.

I’m also ‘building a relationship’ with the client all the way through the project. A bit cheesy, but absolutely true and also very important in my books. (and for my {accounting} books)

Content

Relly would probably want this as the first point in my list (but I’d like to think she’d be happy that it comes before ‘design’). “Content is king” as they say rather ungrammatically. How can I come up with any sort of design if I don’t know what is to be put in that design? I can’t. Therefore I need content. Many clients don’t actually understand this and try to say ‘I’ll write the content when the site is ready’ and you can often find yourself in the ‘chicken and the egg’ scenario. However, I tend to push my clients for some content as early as possible. It works. Trust me. Lorem Ipsum will only confuse your client. “It’s all in a foreign language”. *sigh*

Design

So, once I’ve got a good idea of what the client wants to put on the site and also have some wireframes set up I move onto the design. “Colouring in” as my Mum calls it. She’s an accountant. Enough said.

Design isn’t just about what colours to use (which are often dictated by your client’s logo or other predetermined material) it’s about how you want the end user to ‘feel’ on the site. Don’t forget, you’re (probably) not designing for your client, you’re designing for their clients. (Almost always, anyway)

This post isn’t about ‘how to design’ so I’ll leave it there.

Energy

How very American of me. It’s true though, I’m a very energetic person and passionate about what I do. I bring this energy into my work and for the most part my clients love it. Chances are your client is going to be really enthused by their idea (if they aren’t, go to ‘A’) so who am I to meet their enthusiasm with lethargy? I love what I do, I learn every day, I strive to be better.