The First Step in the Design Process
27 November, 2007 - Web Design - 4 Comments
Over the last week, Paul has progressed really well with my new blog design. I want to share with you a review of what has happened so far.
The very first step in the process of creating the new design was to send Paul a spec. There doesn’t appear to be a clear idea of what a design spec should include, but mine described to Paul what my design should ultimately achieve. It did this in three parts:
Historic and Recent Background
The first thing I did was introduce the Web site to the designer. What is it? Why did I start it? When did I start it? Who reads it? What topics does it cover? I also gave Paul some traffic stats, both historical (since I launched) and for the last month. Things change, so you need to tell your designer where the blog stands at this very moment.
Style & Format
After the background and introductions, I noted some key points.
- Colour Scheme
- Layout
- Should it be Fluid (fill the whole screen) or Fixed Width?
- General Thoughts
Colour Scheme
This one is obvious. I didn’t want to give Paul specific colours to use, but I did want to tell him whether it should be light or dark. A lot of the previous comments from my readers said they preferred a light design, so I made sure Paul knew this was what I wanted.
Layout
This section gave some very basic requirements about the layout. Should the menu be horizontal or vertical? How many columns should the design employ?
Fluid or Fixed?
This was my Web developer experience shining through. Generally, a designer will be able to create something that either works for a fixed width design that doesn’t expand/contract depending on the screen resolution of the Web site visitor, or he will be able to design something which is fluid, that expands and contracts as is required. It’s often very hard to create a design that will work for both.
Most blogs use a fixed width design which is intended for a minimum screen resolution of 1024px wide. I decided to go this route too, but only after checking my Google Analytics stats to make sure only a tiny percentage of my visitors were using a resolution that is more narrow than 1024px.
General Thoughts
An awful title, but it worked. This was an area for any extra thoughts I wanted Paul to take in to account. I used it for asking him to try to incorporate some entrepreneur feel to the design.
What Should the Design Achieve?
This is the most important part. Every Web site should have goals. It shouldn’t just be a brochure-ware Web site. It should have measurable goals with a clear path to achieve those goals. I told Paul what I wanted from the new blog:
- Increase RSS Subscribers - RSS icon and email subscribe option should be a prominent feature of the design.
- Prompt Visit to ‘X’ Page - On the new blog I will be having a series of posts that I want to promote. I asked Paul to include an icon or prominent link to this post series.
- Promote my Advertisers - Quite simple. Adverts should be in valuable positions.
The Specifics
Here, I listed several points about specific areas of the design. I told Paul that I would be having another designer create the logo, and I gave him a list of the links to go in the menu. I listed what sizes the adverts should be and gave him my thoughts on where the adverts should be positioned. I also listed all the other elements of a blog that need to be included, such as the latest posts feature and list of categories.
Other Sites in my Niche
Inspiration is key. I gave Paul a list of several other blogs in the same niche so he could get a feel for what other people were doing and what their readers liked.
And that’s all. I tried to provide Paul with enough information to work from, while still making sure he had plenty of room to breathe and exercise his own design skills. Apparently, the spec did this well (or so he told me!).
If you want to have a full read of the spec or use it as a basis for sending to your designer, feel free to download it:
Download
Word Document (.doc) - PDF Document (.pdf)
Others You May Enjoy
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed!
Del.icio.us - Technorati - Digg This! - StumbleUpon
Posted on 27 November, 2007 by Jamie Harrop
Filed Under Web Design |
4 Comments»
Popular Posts
Top Commentators
- Cath Lawson (6)
- Hunter Nuttall (5)
- Sid Savara (3)
- Marshall@bondChristian (2)
- VeRonda (2)
Jamie kayaking the River Rothay in January 08
Latest Musings
- Let’s Focus on the Readers We Have Today (Not Tomorrow)
- Perth to Paradise - Support Young Jack!
- Blogger Interview Series - Cath Lawson
- Breast Cancer Awareness Month
- Motivational Videos
Categories
- Blogging (44)
- Events (4)
- General Business (40)
- Guest Posts (1)
- Interviews (11)
- Misc (29)
- Motivation (27)
- Motivational Media (5)
- Polls (1)
- Quick Questions (3)
- Quick Tips (2)
- RSS Only (4)
- Social Media (3)
- Video Blogs (3)
- Web Design (5)
- Your Feedback (11)
Twitter... Follow Me
- .... from a McCain supporter... "I don't trust Obama. I have read about him and he's an Arab" 1 hr ago
- Thinks it's crazy that in this day and age, some Americans (and other westerners) still haven't got past the whole racism thing.... 1 hr ago
- Back home and looking forward to writing a blog post then relaxing 1 hr ago
- More updates...
Do we get to see the quote that Paul comes back with?
Looking forward to seeing the design as it progresses.
Well, at $0.00 the quote would probably be very boring.
However, I may be able to show you a sample of the proposal/quote that I usually send to customers after I have the spec.
Hi Jamie, I noticed in the spec that you have no desire to accommodate 800×600 users… but you are prepared to cater for 1024×768 users who have the Opera sidebar displayed. Wouldn’t this result in a similar viewable screen size as 800×600?
Also, be very careful with statistics. Even if the majority of users are on 1024×768 or above, do you know for certain if any of your top commentators are on 800×600?
For the record, I have a laptop running at 1440×900 and a 2nd monitor running at 1680×1050. The laptop is my primary display and I have Firefox on that, but I do not have it maximised. I wonder what my screen resolution is being reported as?
You also said that you have less focus on accessibility and usability than other websites. I think it’s a good idea to be aware of usability - it makes a site so much easier for the readers. Of course, if your site is easy to navigate, you probably won’t get a lot of people telling you. If it’s not, you’ll know about it. From your current layout, my guess is that you’re probably more aware of usability than you think.
Hey Ben,
You make some very good points. Let me try and address each of them.
The Opera sidebar… yep, I’ll be accommodating that. As an Opera lover myself, the sidebar was the first thing that came to mind.
I realise that the stats aren’t always going to be accurate. People could browse with half sized screens or with any number of toolbars and widgets to the left or right. However, this current design is built with a 1024px resolution in mind and I haven’t had a single complaint from a user. As a result, I feel pretty safe going down the same route with the new design.
I probably should have clarified my stance on accessibility and usability. For my own Web design clients, this is a huge issue. I put great time and effort in to making sure it is accessible to the widest possible audience and is easy to use. I guess what I was saying is this… for the blog, I’m willing to compromise a little usability and accessibility compared to my usual strict guidelines. If a small compromise means better things come to my readers or advertisers, then I’m willing to make that change. For any normal Web site, I wouldn’t compromise. But for a personal blog like this, I like to test the limits. Accessibility and usability will still be a concern. It just won’t be as important as it is with my other sites.