This week I read about what makes a good design brief and what makes a good design process.  As with many other subjects in this area, there is no perfect method to use for everything or everyone.  You must find your own method that works for you, but there are some good guidelines to start off from.

Design briefs are personally something I think are very important.  I always feel I need a little guidance when I’m going to be working on a project.  Just to get started.  This is because I don’t want to create something that the person wouldn’t like.  I want them to be as detailed as possible when outlining their needs and wants for a website.  I have had the experience of creating a site for someone who ultimately designed the site for themselves…which left a bad taste in my mouth.  It made me feel frustrated and like I wasn’t doing a good enough job.  Now that I read about this in Adrian Shaughnessy’s book, I feel a bit better because even this senior designer has encountered it many times in their career.

The process of designing something is different for everyone, but Shaughnessy points out some very important parts that must be included if you are going to be successful.  Mainly research.  Before I DID do research, but not as much as I probably should have.  Research helps you develop ideas that you may not have just designing from what was already in your head.  Borrowing elements of a design you like is fine as long as you adapt it and change it for your own purposes.  Trying to be completely original will just result in a massive headache, which is something that I have learned myself first hand when first starting out with creating web sites.  Better design comes with experience, which is something I wish I could have known when I was younger.

This week I worked on creating thumbnails for my new portfolio website as well as comps in photoshop.  I had a few really cool ideas I think.  This time around, I’m going to be going much more minimalistic and with less of an emphasis on textures (which is something I have done a lot in the past).  I want to use more solid colors, but with slight gradients and textures in some areas.  My comps are grayscale right now because I want to select a design before I get into the colors more in depth.  Here are some samples:

I am also in the process of debating which web projects I should include in my new portfolio.  I mean I have done a lot for my age, but I wonder if they are good enough to really include?  I know some of them will probably need some reworking.  Another thing, trying to find your work can be tough.  Luckily for me, I have a pretty well organized system with lots of backups, but for other people, I can imagine it being tough.  While reading "Designing a Digital Portfolio," the author recommended some programs for archiving work, namely FileMaker Pro and iView.

Also, some people who may want to work on creating a Wordpress site, I used this tutorial, by Small Potato to help me get started.  It seems like a lot of work at first, and it is, but it’s not too difficult, just time consuming.  That tutorial is really helpful.  Wordpress helps you keep your site very organized while still allowing you to design static web pages and include them in your site.  It’s great.