Development of layouts: but let's not ask this time a cleaner?
Very few people have the idea to tell programmers how to write code (although some manage to point out even to database designers), but letting the designer know how to draw is a straight line.
This is because all the “experts” know: design is a beautiful picture.
Design is only 20% art, 80% is an exact science. And you will be surprised when you learn what each picture actually consists of.
')
Oh, every second project begins with the fact that they send me an approved layout of the main page of the site.
- How interesting ... You probably already have requirements for the site?
- No, no.
- And send me, please, at least a site map.
- It is not.
- Ok, what about the audience and goals? What is it and for whom?
- We haven't thought about it yet.
Why it happens? Do not they understand ?!
No, they do not understand. And this is due to the fact that all the “experts” know: design is a beautiful picture.
But we all know that this is not so.
Any layout is the result of solving some problem. People who paint on a whim, or are guided by a sense of beauty, should be taken out outside the Moscow Ring Road and shot.
Design. It. Decision. Tasks.
If there is no task, close “Photoshop” and go look for it!
“Nine days on a tractor on a snowy steppe - beauty was never easy”
- BG
Design is only 20% art, 80% is an exact science. And you will be surprised when you learn what each picture actually consists of.
(picture drawn sinner . Thank you, sinner !)
Resource business goals + potential user and his needs + content requirements + functional requirements + resource structure design + navigation design + graphic design development - these are the 7 components of the design that works.
Consider them closer.
To make the world a better place, to strengthen its reputation, to occupy a new niche, to earn all the money of the world with the help of epilepsy-causing banners — these are all business goals. And it is they who primarily determine the final decision. For example, a business goal determines the order of blocks on the main page or semantic accents (or the structure of the resource, or the absence / presence of an online store, or ...).
Constant return to business goals helps to save yourself from the need to develop redundant functionality (“Well, it's so cool!” - “Yes, but you wanted to enter the market of nano-colorings for children, and here blackjack and whores?”).
A user with his needs is as important as a business goal. Admit it honestly, every time you say “Everything is fine, but users do not like it,” in fact, you are reducing your personal scores with green color, dies, selectors, and have no idea who your users are and what they like.
(Even if after “... users do not like it,” you are able to speak extensively about global trends in interface design and recent research.)
You are going to make a product (it doesn't matter if it’s a site or a toilet) that people will use. Who are they? What do they live? What problems are they facing? What are they thinking about? What to eat for dinner? What class fly to hot countries and do they fly there at all? Why do they want to spend their time and money on your product?
The more you know about your users, the easier it is to predict their behavior, the easier it is to offer what they really need.
And this, believe me, is much easier than to make buying unnecessary things.
And remember: 21-35 years old, successful, Muscovites and blablabla is not an audience, this is the average temperature in the hospital, which is embarrassing to show even brainless advertisers.
There is a huge gulf between the twenty and thirty and thirty years, and you know that perfectly well.
Most likely this happened to you. You diligently collected the requirements, wrote a good, detailed technical task, drew a beautiful design for it, made it all cross-browser, developed it in time (uchi-pusi!), Fixed all the critical bugs, transferred the development to trial operation and ... everything broke. The layouts are beautiful, disgusting in life. How so?
That's how! Design is a beautiful (or not so) wrapper for the essence. If you develop a design in isolation from the data that will then live in it, it will turn out as always. Editorial, advertising, user-generated - think how it should be and how it will be on your site and decide (at least in the first approximation) how it will look. And if the text is short? And if the picture is not? Think carefully about this - anything happens in life.
What can the user do on the site? According to what principles will the contents of the main page be updated? Will there be a newsletter subscription? And RSS? BUT...? Here you have to remember and write down all your fantasies. Even the most ... uhh ... brave.
“And add some more cool prop,” as one customer liked to say.
Design is just a way of presenting information. With what to show the user, you decided on the “Content Requirements” stage, it remains to decide how to submit it to him.
Your task is to sort the information and break it into homogeneous groups, with which you can then work on. Break into sections or assess their share from the point of view of potential users or business tasks.
We must somehow decide what will be in the upper right corner, and what will be in the lower left.
Not on a stone-scissors-paper, in fact ...
Worse, lack of navigation can only be very bad navigation.
At this stage, you will determine the principles of navigation for the resource, work out the main and additional navigation, determine the principles of the transition between sections.
Paper page prototypes help a lot.
Well. Now we understand what, for whom and for what purpose we are going to produce. In addition, we decided on what and how we show the user.
And now only FINALLY! You can take up the production of pictures.
I will tell you more about the image production process in the article “The process of developing graphic layouts from the point of view of the project manager”.
This is because all the “experts” know: design is a beautiful picture.
Design is only 20% art, 80% is an exact science. And you will be surprised when you learn what each picture actually consists of.
')
Oh, every second project begins with the fact that they send me an approved layout of the main page of the site.
- How interesting ... You probably already have requirements for the site?
- No, no.
- And send me, please, at least a site map.
- It is not.
- Ok, what about the audience and goals? What is it and for whom?
- We haven't thought about it yet.
Why it happens? Do not they understand ?!
No, they do not understand. And this is due to the fact that all the “experts” know: design is a beautiful picture.
But we all know that this is not so.
Design is Math
Any layout is the result of solving some problem. People who paint on a whim, or are guided by a sense of beauty, should be taken out outside the Moscow Ring Road and shot.
Design. It. Decision. Tasks.
If there is no task, close “Photoshop” and go look for it!
Design is a process
“Nine days on a tractor on a snowy steppe - beauty was never easy”
- BG
Design is only 20% art, 80% is an exact science. And you will be surprised when you learn what each picture actually consists of.
(picture drawn sinner . Thank you, sinner !)
Resource business goals + potential user and his needs + content requirements + functional requirements + resource structure design + navigation design + graphic design development - these are the 7 components of the design that works.
Consider them closer.
Resource business objectives
To make the world a better place, to strengthen its reputation, to occupy a new niche, to earn all the money of the world with the help of epilepsy-causing banners — these are all business goals. And it is they who primarily determine the final decision. For example, a business goal determines the order of blocks on the main page or semantic accents (or the structure of the resource, or the absence / presence of an online store, or ...).
Constant return to business goals helps to save yourself from the need to develop redundant functionality (“Well, it's so cool!” - “Yes, but you wanted to enter the market of nano-colorings for children, and here blackjack and whores?”).
Potential user and his needs
A user with his needs is as important as a business goal. Admit it honestly, every time you say “Everything is fine, but users do not like it,” in fact, you are reducing your personal scores with green color, dies, selectors, and have no idea who your users are and what they like.
(Even if after “... users do not like it,” you are able to speak extensively about global trends in interface design and recent research.)
You are going to make a product (it doesn't matter if it’s a site or a toilet) that people will use. Who are they? What do they live? What problems are they facing? What are they thinking about? What to eat for dinner? What class fly to hot countries and do they fly there at all? Why do they want to spend their time and money on your product?
The more you know about your users, the easier it is to predict their behavior, the easier it is to offer what they really need.
And this, believe me, is much easier than to make buying unnecessary things.
And remember: 21-35 years old, successful, Muscovites and blablabla is not an audience, this is the average temperature in the hospital, which is embarrassing to show even brainless advertisers.
There is a huge gulf between the twenty and thirty and thirty years, and you know that perfectly well.
Content requirements
Most likely this happened to you. You diligently collected the requirements, wrote a good, detailed technical task, drew a beautiful design for it, made it all cross-browser, developed it in time (uchi-pusi!), Fixed all the critical bugs, transferred the development to trial operation and ... everything broke. The layouts are beautiful, disgusting in life. How so?
That's how! Design is a beautiful (or not so) wrapper for the essence. If you develop a design in isolation from the data that will then live in it, it will turn out as always. Editorial, advertising, user-generated - think how it should be and how it will be on your site and decide (at least in the first approximation) how it will look. And if the text is short? And if the picture is not? Think carefully about this - anything happens in life.
Product Requirements
What can the user do on the site? According to what principles will the contents of the main page be updated? Will there be a newsletter subscription? And RSS? BUT...? Here you have to remember and write down all your fantasies. Even the most ... uhh ... brave.
“And add some more cool prop,” as one customer liked to say.
Resource Structure Design
Design is just a way of presenting information. With what to show the user, you decided on the “Content Requirements” stage, it remains to decide how to submit it to him.
Your task is to sort the information and break it into homogeneous groups, with which you can then work on. Break into sections or assess their share from the point of view of potential users or business tasks.
We must somehow decide what will be in the upper right corner, and what will be in the lower left.
Not on a stone-scissors-paper, in fact ...
Navigation design
Worse, lack of navigation can only be very bad navigation.
At this stage, you will determine the principles of navigation for the resource, work out the main and additional navigation, determine the principles of the transition between sections.
Paper page prototypes help a lot.
Graphic design development
Well. Now we understand what, for whom and for what purpose we are going to produce. In addition, we decided on what and how we show the user.
And now only FINALLY! You can take up the production of pictures.
I will tell you more about the image production process in the article “The process of developing graphic layouts from the point of view of the project manager”.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/45633/
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