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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)
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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
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!
My Process • Design research • 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 • 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 • 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)