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The Best Process for Web Design

over 5 years ago from , User Interface Designer

I'm currently trying to get a solid work process for designing websites, both big and small projects. Do I start with Sketches? Research? Wireframes?

Right now my process starts with research/inspiration: I dig into the project to gain an understanding, the company goals, reasons etc.

Next, I wireframe depending on the size and complexity of the project (Usually on Sketch) - sending these to the clients for layout feedback allows me to continue & create High Fidelity Designs.

I'd love to hear how you guys plan out your design projects!

4 comments

  • Daniel De LaneyDaniel De Laney, over 5 years ago

    We don't have a perfect process yet, but at a high level you should do something roughly like the scientific method: make observations, form a hypothesis, and test it by experiment. Or, as the Google Ventures guys put it in their Sprint Kit, which you should read because it outlines a ready-made process which has been repeated and tested and refined for years by great designers: Understand, Sketch, Decide, Prototype, Validate.

    Testing is the best method we have for warding off unsupported assumptions. Even if your Understand/immersion/observation phase is thorough, you will accumulate assumptions. When we build a low-effort prototype quickly and apply some kind of pressure against it in the form of testing, whether it be against internal stakeholders at first or real users afterward, we learn which of our beliefs are false. By doing this we avoid putting a lot of effort into something that is wrong, and ultimately running out of time and budget to produce something that's right.

    Overall, I recommend that you move in a tight feedback loop of

    1. quick, low-fidelity, low-effort prototypes in something like Marvel or InVision, and
    2. quick stakeholder and user testing feedback

    until you're sure you have a good direction. Then start to put more craft into visual design. Voila, you've got approximately the best process we've come up with so far.

    Of course, following this process will not in itself yield the best possible results. The essential problem of design is that you need to make a lot of open-ended choices to arrive at a complete solution. The trick of it is to ensure that each decision is in service of the purpose. To do that at a high level of quality, you will have to think deeply, carefully inspecting even the seemingly obvious decisions. (For more on this topic, see perhaps my all-time favorite article on design, Putting Thought Into Things by Information Architects.)

    2 points
    • Bevan StephensBevan Stephens, over 5 years ago

      +1 for the sprint method, and use it as introduction into Design Thinking and Lean methodology, to understand where it came from.

      2 points
    • Korey HallKorey Hall, over 5 years ago

      Thanks Daniel, really appreciate the comment. It's so inspiring to hear about others and how they tackle these challenges! I'll be sure to check out the Sprint Kit too

      1 point
  • Wesstong Jr, over 5 years ago

    Here’s mine (like that I’ll learn from your workflow, and maybe you can correct me)

    1 - I’ve an interview with my client and ask him a long list of question to have a good understanding of the project

    2 - After that, at my office, I look for similar website (depend of the activity of the client) to see the concurrency and I make a folder with concurrency website. Take note about all this.

    3 - I start to make list of the target (age, gender, etc ..) and write all the scenario

    4 - Start to make a wireframe (with link) and think about the scenario

    5 - look for some inspirations

    6 - Make the UI style guide

    7 - Make all the design

    8 - Take feedback from some random people I know who can match the target

    8 - Send the design in PDF to my client

    9 - Take feedback from my client and do the changes (the part I hate the most !)

    1 point