I believe that this process that Doug Bowman shows us is very helpful and smart. Not all of us think and do the way Doug does but that doesn’t mean it is the wrong way. Doug starts off by showing the proper way of research and development before any big project. I believe that this is the right way to plan but maybe the wrong way to research. I would have looked and read the text to pinpoint any theme or style that goes along with the text.
When reading his exploration topic, I found it very fascinating of how he was doing it. After grouping all the text, he went through and put all the div names and tags he needed in the design. I found that this would be helpful in any circumstance so you dont overload your html with garbage of crazy names and tags.
He then talks about thumbnail sketching. He scribbles about 4 or 5 sketches, only taking 30 seconds a piece. I believe that this is a great way to get your ideas on paper before going to the computer. I like to visualize the imagery I am going to use first by citing the theme of the website I am designing for. Once I have that imagery , I see how that can go with the layout of my design that fits both for style and versatility. I also look at Typography. Will my header be big or small? Does the website need a big branding on each page or will the logo overpower the page? I think of all these things as i am sketching out my scribbles of text and headers. Doug then takes everything and applies the imagery throughout the design to incorporate all this findings.
I believe that this is a very great process to proceed in any web related situation. The systematic way of planning first and then designing can save a lot of hassle and anguish that are not needed at all.
Oh that is a good point! I didn’t think about reading the text, in my case, most of my projects I’ve had to create the text myself. Still a good Idea to review the text to be sure I’m starting in the right direction.
Collin,
I sense that you have a process that is meaningful to you already and your compared and contrasted with Bowmans. I thing it is valuable to observe the best designers and learn from them, but I like your control of your process and your reasons for how you work. I think we all have to fine tune our personal process yet it is also important to understand others as we often will work in teams. Keep tweaking your process to make it even richer for your needs.
I agree, we all have our own way to arrive at a solution. In graphic design, I do a lot of research on companies and what is in the market today. I see you do similar things in the world of web-site designs. The key word is design. No matter if it is tangible or virtual, it all has to have a plan, flow, a design. I enjoyed reading about your personal design process. Web-site design has always presented a challenge to me, so I look forward to learning from my peers.
Thumbnails is a great way to troubleshoot a design problem i have a spiral full of thumbnails drawings from in and out of class. It always helps
Collin-
Good explanation of your process and comparison to Bowman’s. I agree we all have our own process and that it’s good to hear other’s processes so that we can learn from eachother.
I also think that it is cool he mentioned writting out his div tags and such, but you’ll find after you make more and more websites, you use a consistent structure of tag names and div placements, and that you don’t really need to write them out in planning. It just sort of comes natural. This is all assuming that your not starting from scratch and re-inventing the wheel.
I agree with Bowman’s process of creating thumbnails first, I find that doing so allows me to flush out bad ones.
Question. I saw this as a link and am wondering if anyone knows how people can use our logo to promote a link to their site.
http://www.ameritexpaving.com/seo-agency/2007/05/interactive-pr-agency-underlines-seo-sem-joins-sempo-seo-agency.php
It points to a concrete company and had mention of Bowman Designed.
Is there reasons this would happen and who is probably responsible?
Thanks