Transcript Kandiyohi Economic Development Partnership

Design Basics & Usability
Shelley Paulson
June 1, 2005
Introduction
Started Summerset Studio in January, 2003
Design-Photography-Video
www.summersetstudio.com
Previously:
– Johnson Bros (Director of Communications)
– RedStar Creative (Interactive Director)
– Bennett Office Technologies (Web Designer/Developer)
Web designer since 1996
BDK
Design Basics
Start with a concept
Let your layouts breathe
Find a balance
Create a focal point
Prioritize content
Keep it simple
Choose a color palette
Limit typeface usage
Design with CSS
Reinforce Branding
Usability
Don’t mess with what people know
– Form Buttons
– Links
– Navigation
Keep it simple
Provide instructions
Scannable Text
No skip intro pages!
Show and Tell
View the redesigned page
View the redesigned page
View the redesigned page
View the redesigned page
My Process
Design research
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coolhomepages.com
designinteract.com/sow
digitalrefueler.com (“sites we love” section)
misspato.com
cssvault.com
stylegala.com
My Process
Sketching
– Yep, paper and pencil
– You don’t have to be an artist
– Saves a bunch of time
My Process
Mock up Design in Fireworks
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Design home page
Include all the elements, including dummy text
Send proof to client as a jpeg
After home page approval, design secondary page
My Process
Slice and dice
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Slice up home page and secondary page design in Fireworks
Export html just for the rollovers
Rebuild page in Dreamweaver
Create templates for secondary pages
My Process
Make it Dynamic
– Create output pages in Dreamweaver with dummy content for
output
– Create applications, replace dummy content with cfml
Working with a Designer
Collaborate - clearly define goals
Provide sample output or spec output
Be specific
Leave room for creativity!
Resources
How Design (www.howdesign.com)
Creative Latitude (www.creativelatitude.com)
Questions?