Today I have decided to interview one of our in house designers to understand a bit more about the process that is undertaken by a designer when a new web design project is assigned to him. I want to understand the how their mind works and what they think and know is important to make a successful website for our clients.
Q. What are some of the places where you find inspiration to design a website?
A. I look for inspiration in places around my environment, on my way to work, in the street, looking at people and their expressions, colors, textures, movements, and more. I try to find details that I can later apply to my designs. I write things down to not forget them and apply them to the web design project.
I also look at design resources as magazines, websites and blogs in order to see what is in fashion and how I can apply it to my style. Some of the Magazines are Designer, Surf, and SEO.
Q. I know that every morning you come to the office and the first thing you do is start looking at different websites, what are those?
A. I look at website that I can capture website design trends, techniques, and colors in fashion. Some of the websites I look at are THE FWA.com, FWAPHOTO.com, DESIGN CHARTS.com, LOOKSLIKEGOODDESIGN.com, FLYLYF.com, NOTCOT.org.
Q. What is the site that you have designed while working with Turbonacho that you like the most?
A. The website that I am most fond if is the ontheflybottle.com. I had the opportunity to get creative and less corporate, I also tested fun colors and a clean layout.
Q. What is the project that you are most proud of and why?
A. The website Project that I am most proud of is a Real estate website called Rockbottomproperty.com because it started as a complicated project, too much information to work with on the home page and the client’s ideas were difficult to make sense, but I have been able to translate them and deliver a website with a minimalist design, clean and coherent for the user and what the client wanted. I was also able to work in conjunction with the IT Team to develop a website that is SEO friendly even though it has a lot of programming in the back end.
Q. What is your perfect environment to be more inspired when designing Websites?
A. Our office is spacious but it is still an office it would be great to be able to work out side more often, but our line of work has some restrictions, since we need power to have the computers running, fast internet among other items that it is easier to be in the office. We are constantly trying to make the environment more inspiring.
Q. What is the initial process when designing a new site?
A. Well my process when designing a new Website entails a couple of steps.
1. The first step is very important when designing a website for someone else it is very important to know as much as possible about the company I would be designing for, the clients points of view and possible tastes, and the company’s competition. This will help me have a better idea of what type of site is being expected; if corporate, abstract, journalist looking among other ones.
2. I start observing my surroundings, online content, possible layouts that would work for the website, and look at sites to find elements and items that I would not want to use.
3. I start drawing sketches and doodles of what the websites wire frame would look like.
4. I take elemental pieces of what the clients wants to incorporate in the site and make it part of my initial sketches.
5. Then based on what I like from the sketches I work in Photoshop to do the initial layout design and try to test several color options based on previous research.
6. And last I incorporate proper imagery to the home page of the website layout.
On a side note when designing a site I always have to consider constructing and designing the site based on Search Engine Standards, functionality and Speed (as main items to keep in mind).
Q. What are the most important elements of a home page?
A. The most important elements that I consider that need to play a role in the home page of a website are:
1. Logo
2. Descriptive Image: getting the users attention and communicating a message about what the company does or what service it provides.
3. Some type of contact information either an email, phone number, or live chat.
4. USP: Unique Selling Point
5. Menu
6. And last a call to action item that will guide the user on what the company wants them to do next.
Q. What is the most difficult of being a webdesigner?
A. Translate the clients ideas to my design and create an awesome design. The other thing is keep the pace of how fast the industry moves, with different rules, styles, concepts etc.
Q. How long have you been working for Turbonacho?
A. I have been part of the Turbonacho team for 2.5 years.
Q. Since you started your career what do you feel has been what you have learned the most about?
A. There are several subjects that you do not learn as much in school and start seeing that the industry standards demand it a lot and that is.
1. HTML and CSS rules and standards
2. Page layouts when and why to use which one
3. How to use call to action items and when
4. Search Engine Optimization plays a big role in the construction of the site and for the client’s success therefore I have to always keep in mind the sites url structure, coding standards and more.
Q. What does your Turbonacho team members know that you would like to learn more about?
A. ActionScript: To use it in flash animations and sequences.
And Free hand drawing to explore new methods of creativity that could help me develop greater website designs.
I hope you have enjoyed my interview and grabbed some insight on what is important for a webdesigner.
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