Visual Design Development
- design goals are based on analysis
- site goals and
- focus group feedback (audience focus)
- how modular does the homepage need to be?
- html criteria
- ADA
- css: web and print
- platform + browser focus (development)
- cross-browser, cross-platform testing based on homepage and 1 or 2 content level pages
- develop style guide (and table samples)
- specialized pages can be created during production phase (UIUC example)
Homepage, template and feature development
Once there's enough content or content types available, you can create sample pages. Once sample pages are complete they should be evaluated to match focus group comments and site goals. This phase includes:
- art direction of photo shoots
- creation of style guide (color palette, fonts, photo treatments, etc.)
- creation of css files
- user interface design for any backend programming
Generally, screens are designed in an image editing program. Get approval on design direction of sample pages before they're converted to html. User testing
After sample pages are designed, show them to sample users to get feedback before you move to production. I've worked on projects where we've gotten user feedback at several stages of the design development--including asking a sample of users to choose their favorite design. An objective audience is far more efficient than anyone on your team by this point and feedback can be surprisingly consistent.
Approval
Get it now, before moving on to production!
Meet those specs
This is the time to do all your cross-browser, ADA, and cross-platform compatability tests.
Design Freeze
Once the design is tested, tweaked, and approved, design is frozen. Time to move on to production.
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