The design portion of the talk "Planning a Website: Design, Content, & Development", presented by Karla Santi.

1. web design
visual decisions & user experience

2. who am I ?

3. the project process
sales cs design
front-end dev
development
QA/testing launch

4. the design process
● mood boards

8. the design process
● mood boards
● static mocks

10. the design process
● mood boards
● static mocks
● client feedback

12. the design process
● mood boards
● static mocks
● client feedback
● front-end development
● design QA

13. the evolving process
● mobile first design
● interactive mock-ups
● new tools = new methods

14. what makes “good” web design?

15. tastes evolve
● “Flashy” sites were cool

17. tastes evolve
● “Flashy” sites were cool
● being unique was a must

19. tastes evolve
● “Flashy” sites were cool
● being unique was a must
● background music!!
● load intro...

20. today’s expectations
● users want familiarity
○ buttons, menus, interactions
○ usability

22. today’s expectations
● users want familiarity
○ buttons, menus, interactions
○ usability
● heat mapping & analytics

24. today’s expectations
● users want familiarity
○ buttons, menus, interactions
○ usability
● heat mapping & analytics
● unique to the brand

25. basic design principles
● less is more
○ simple is hard

28. basic design principles
● less is more
○ simple is hard
● typography matters

29. “95% of the information on the web is
written language. It is only logical to say
that a web designer should get good
training in the main discipline of shaping
written information, in other words:
Typography.” - Oliver Reichenstein

30. basic design principles
● less is more
○ simple is hard
● typography matters
● typography vs. typeface

31. basic design principles
● color palette
○ Adobe Kuler
○ set styles across site
● white space
● grid systems

32. tools & applications

33. themes & hosted sites
● purchased CMS themes
● hosted subscriptions

34. thank you
karla@blendinteractive.com