Comments on: Are graphic mock-ups necessary? http://meganmcdermott.com/2008/06/03/are-graphic-mock-ups-necessary/ Web design and that Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:00:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Randall http://meganmcdermott.com/2008/06/03/are-graphic-mock-ups-necessary/comment-page-1/#comment-23786 Randall Sat, 07 Jun 2008 03:57:30 +0000 http://meganmcdermott.com/?p=234#comment-23786 After about ten years I have discovered that I am a developer and I'm happy to leave the design to the graphics mavens. Often I am so absorbed in getting the function working that I don't even think about what it looks like until after the damn doodad is working - like I said, I'm a developer. I am fortunate at the moment to be working with two talented designers with very different backgrounds and styles. What a relief to have a blueprint for the site. Since I usually use Drupal, I have a ready frame (I often start with the barebones Framework theme) and the designer delivers the look and it's a matter of melding them which is quite fun! Funny thing happened today on a site I recently "took over" (not in Drupal). Several emails back and forth between PM/Designer and me (Programmer) on various bugs, failures of user db searches and so forth and then the Designer obsesses over a small gap at the top of one of the page views which only appears after a specific type of search in Safari (Win/Mac) IE (Mac/less on Win) and Firefox (Mac). I guess you have to be a designer or programmer to find that funny.... Anyway, I think a designer/developer team that works well is a recipe for an attractive and usable site! After about ten years I have discovered that I am a developer and I’m happy to leave the design to the graphics mavens. Often I am so absorbed in getting the function working that I don’t even think about what it looks like until after the damn doodad is working – like I said, I’m a developer.

I am fortunate at the moment to be working with two talented designers with very different backgrounds and styles. What a relief to have a blueprint for the site. Since I usually use Drupal, I have a ready frame (I often start with the barebones Framework theme) and the designer delivers the look and it’s a matter of melding them which is quite fun!

Funny thing happened today on a site I recently “took over” (not in Drupal). Several emails back and forth between PM/Designer and me (Programmer) on various bugs, failures of user db searches and so forth and then the Designer obsesses over a small gap at the top of one of the page views which only appears after a specific type of search in Safari (Win/Mac) IE (Mac/less on Win) and Firefox (Mac). I guess you have to be a designer or programmer to find that funny….

Anyway, I think a designer/developer team that works well is a recipe for an attractive and usable site!

]]> By: Adam H http://meganmcdermott.com/2008/06/03/are-graphic-mock-ups-necessary/comment-page-1/#comment-23704 Adam H Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:29:13 +0000 http://meganmcdermott.com/?p=234#comment-23704 I use mock ups for all my sites now. I used to just create them in HTML/CSS but it lead to very bland results. Now I experiment with texture, layout and images so mock ups work great. Plus I need to hit Photoshop anyway to create the backgrounds, buttons, textures, type marks and everything else. If I did each individually as I built the site I would have to tweak and redo them many times. I use mock ups for all my sites now. I used to just create them in HTML/CSS but it lead to very bland results. Now I experiment with texture, layout and images so mock ups work great. Plus I need to hit Photoshop anyway to create the backgrounds, buttons, textures, type marks and everything else. If I did each individually as I built the site I would have to tweak and redo them many times.

]]> By: Matt http://meganmcdermott.com/2008/06/03/are-graphic-mock-ups-necessary/comment-page-1/#comment-23699 Matt Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:59:15 +0000 http://meganmcdermott.com/?p=234#comment-23699 I don't know much about what 37 Signals has put together, but after a quick glance at some of their projects, I noticed that they all look the same. Why bother with a mockup is you're just cloning something you already did? I don't start coding unless I have a good idea of what the project is going to look like. I use Photoshop to do the mockups (I don't ever use paper). I find that having a good design helps me stay motivated while coding and programming. If I am coding something that looks like crap, it isn't long until my code starts looking like crap. I don’t know much about what 37 Signals has put together, but after a quick glance at some of their projects, I noticed that they all look the same. Why bother with a mockup is you’re just cloning something you already did?

I don’t start coding unless I have a good idea of what the project is going to look like. I use Photoshop to do the mockups (I don’t ever use paper). I find that having a good design helps me stay motivated while coding and programming. If I am coding something that looks like crap, it isn’t long until my code starts looking like crap.

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