Comments on: Step Away from the Machine

By: Matt Balara (Private)

Matt Balara (Private) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:55:38 +0000

The standard process in the agency where I work is pushing pixels form day one. I’ve rebelled against this over the last year, to the point where I now refuse to even sit in front of a monitor until I’ve scribbled for a day or two. I usually start with a flipchart and rough markers (I find the standing and moving around with big gestures really helps get the creative juices flowing) and get finer with pen & paper afterwards. And if I’ve done this, the photoshopping always flows better than without.

By: NathanaelB

NathanaelB — Mon, 26 May 2008 09:15:04 +0000

Definitely start with pen and paper, then colour swatches and rough style guide (ie what colours map to what design elements) – that’s just from a visual point of view; although a lot of my UX/IxD work starts on paper too.

By: Jason Stirk

Jason Stirk — Thu, 22 May 2008 05:49:44 +0000

@Chisa – I find the same thing. Without spend a bit of time to think about what I’m doing, any time spent going straight into a full-blown design ends up a waste.

Reminds me of a development “rule” that if you don’t build a prototype, v1.0 of your software will work as poorly as a prototype and you’ll need to rebuild it anyway. Guess the same thing applies with designs too!

By: Chisa

Chisa — Thu, 22 May 2008 05:23:37 +0000

I tend to look at other sites first, for general ideas (but not copying!), do a couple of very quick loose sketches and mock up one or two in Photoshop from there. Sometimes I get in too quickly and skip straight to Photoshop, but those designs never turn out as well and take far longer to work through, so I try to make myself plan things through properly.

By: Gary Barber

Gary Barber — Thu, 22 May 2008 03:41:16 +0000

@Jason – exactly, there is something quick and disposable about using a pen and paper

@Ben Cutting and pasting, scrap book style is a little like the traditional old mood boards. These used to be great for getting the emotion and feeling of the site across and setting a base line for the design to grow from.

By: Ben Winter-Giles

Ben Winter-Giles — Thu, 22 May 2008 03:25:12 +0000

We’re analogue relics mate, probably comes from our older roots. I’m a butchers / sketchbook person myself, and i’ve been known to use scrap book style ‘litteral’ cut and paste techniques to comp up designs. on a real life light board even. I’ve usedeverything from printouts to magazine snippets, photos, texture materials and so on.

I usually find that by using different mediums allows me to be free of the constraints of a computer / screen only design. Really liberating exercise.

Plus …utterly fantastic at beating designers block.

By: Jason Stirk

Jason Stirk — Thu, 22 May 2008 01:29:46 +0000

Pens and paper FTW!

I’m similar – I start with rough sketches in pen and paper (done as far from the computer as possible).

Once I’ve got the ideas worked out, I then head off to build the short list of designs in Inkscape – usually only two or three. I find that by actually seeing how a few of the competing designs work I have more time to find and refine the bits that really help to present the information clearly.

At that stage, I have SVG and PNG images that I can take to the client, refine with feedback, and eventually implement in HTML/CSS.