when i’m not working on large scale client projects, the type that require sitemaps, wireframes and user flows, i do most of the planning in my head and jump straight into design. my initial layouts are basic, glorified wireframes laid out and manipulated mostly in photoshop. just the essentials. clean, frill-less, utilitarian. then i start researching sites in the same spectrum as those i’m creating. i study up on the competition and take what i deem to be the best of what already exists. i add all the usual, recognisable flourishes. this seems to be sufficient for the corporate client, though hardly satisfying for me, the designer-artist. so i turn to everything non-internet. print, film, architecture, nature…after all, the definition of interactive is two people or things influencing or having an effect on each other. so the world is full of potential inspiration! i gather my inspirations, ideas that span beyond the overly trendy world of web design, and begin translation. like a writer, i choose a mood and a theme. i then move on to the interactive experience. i have a library of isms, thanks to my art school training, that serve as filters for transforming the what of user experience to how. finally, i begin to play with graphics as a means of communicating the myriad of ideas fluttering about within my brain. as i lay out elements, my artistic intuition kicks in and eliminates weaker bits, while seeking out supplemental information to improve the surviving ideas, resulting in what can only be described as perfection.
then the design takes a visit to the client, and that’s the end of that.
