09 July 2004
Mock Designing
Wednesday afternoon, at the cabin, I was trying my hand at a mock design. I am not the best graphic designer I know, and I am sure that a ‘real' graphic designer would be able to laugh at my pitiful attempt. I did enjoy the task however, and I am reasonably happy with the results.
As often happens with me I started wondering how other people do the same task, and the best way of delivering the end result to the client.
I did my mock yesterday in Fireworks, but sometimes I will start with pencil and paper. I don't think I will ever give initial mock-ups as HTML, because that is too much work for it just to be blown down.
How do you mock-up? As I see it, here are some of the options:
- Start with thumbnails on paper then move onto a larger concept sketch, then bring it into Fireworks/Photoshop
- Go straight to Fireworks/Photoshop, and mess around in there. Deliver the flat image mock-up so that you don't have to worry about code and browsers for now.
- Start with one of the above, but take it one step further and make a HTML template.
There are probably more, but these are meant to be a bit vague for now.
Mock Design Delivery
Then there is the delivery of the mock design to the client. The moment of dread, possible days of anticipation, and quite likely a letdown, when they say they want a flying animated fish in the design somewhere.
But never mind that, the questions I want to ask are how do you deliver your mock-up(s)? Do you give them a selection or mock-ups to choose from, or does your team pick its favourite and just send the one? When the user comes back with changes or an OK do you get a sign off? Is there anything else that you do at this stage?
- Time: 11:02
- Ask the Audience
Comments ( 8 )
Edward Prendergast
Creative Process
I would say the creative process should be seperated from the design process as far as possible. After all, you're creating a concept for the client, and if you're dealing with a software package you're bound to be more wrapped up in technique than actual creation of creative concepts.
Like my art teacher used to say: "Edward, you're bad enough at painting, at least get your concepts in order before you attack the canvas again."
chris e boy
Hearty Agreement
On a serious note, i tend to go with option number 4 (dont look, its not on your list). I try to identify what navigation and content are required on the site, come up with a craaazy colour scheme, launch Fireworks, and draw a white square with a black border...
Then comes the creative bit. Filling the white square with interesting, colourful stuff that will intrigue visitors to the site. Unfortunately, navigation is my weak spot. I am absolutely rubbish at designing and implementing decent navigation, this part could take up to 4 hours to get sorted :)
PS. all that talk about your mock design and you never even posted a screenie so we could look at your design and feel humbled!
Steve
Flying Fish Great Idea
A singing Bass
Click here to begin .....
(Warning 700k)
http://users.esc.net.au/~mapie/d-a-b.exe
Steve
Eric
I putter around in Photoshop, jumping to Illustrator for things like boxes for navigation lists and color blocks, since they can be taken into Photoshop and sized to fit before being rasterized.
Delivery is usually one comp, at least with my current company. The budgets haven't been enough to allow for multiple comps. Delivered as a static image, only after the initial payment has been received!!
The signoff idea is very good - I have introduced the idea to my boss, who likes it. I think it's vital to ensure that once the initial stage of design is passed, that the client can't come back and change it after you've coded CSS for hours. Have you seen this: http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/archives/getting_client_signoff.html ? (stuffandnonsense article about client signoff.)
kevin francis
How I do comps
I use Fireworks for my comps mainly because I like it's vector abilities. I used to start designs on paper, but I find I can create/discount ideas quicker on the computer.
Most of my work is freelance for other companies and budgets don't allow for multiple concepts. Once I have a design I'm happy with, I export it as a png and drop it in to a centered table in a html page. This only takes a minute and looks like a coded page and allows the client to see how the design might appear in a browser. I then zip the html page/image and email it to my employer who presents it to the client. If the client doesn't like it - they pay for more design work.
I don't believe presenting digital media 'flat' is a good idea as it's too far removed from it's intended purpose.
As for inspiration - I still find this the most challenging part of creating websites. I find inspiration from all over the place including other websites, printed material, tv, movies, and posters etc.
Phil Baines
Not Flat a good idea
Of course, I would use a centered DIV rather than a table ;)
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