41 Designing Backwards? Not as great advice as you'd

So I read this article about a year or so ago and lived by it. Then I got a massive web application project and learned that the “design backwards” approach is probably one of the worst pieces of advice I’ve ever followed. Basically, this logic completely screwed me on a project..

What happens is the team started designing page pieces instead of concentrating on the user experience and general look and feel, so when we returned to the home page we were making it out of boring little component parts designed for forms and copy blocks. We got designed into a corner and the client could tell.

This ended up making the home page ugly and dull, so we wound up designing it differently from the rest of the site, causing a horrible ripple effect of design inconsistency across the board. We had to go back and change so much of the design to account for this.

Use this technique with caution. My advice, design the home page first, but with the intention of coming back to it with a final sweep after the core of the site is completed.

posted at 12:04 am on December 8, 2007 by Ron Whitman

42 A worthwhile article

I came across this article after completing a redesign of our site, and agree with so much of what is written. The previous design (and copy) had dated, and upon reflection, the copy was very fluffy, and it was difficult to discern exactly what it was we were offering. The decision looks to be stating very obviously our main product, and mentioning the others, with a link through to an ‘about us’ page.

I find the biggest issue is targeting to potential customers, instead of to people like ourselves. Once the page has received some much needed attention, we’ll be running it past people in our target market to see what they think.

posted at 11:17 am on February 25, 2008 by Karl Hardisty

43 Untitled

thank you

posted at 03:34 am on April 10, 2008 by شباب ليبيا

44 Untitled

I think the best homepage is simple, informative and with just a few links, nothign messy and then having a structured heirarchy to the rest of the site to guide the user to the desired information, like this haha http://www.bigmediadesign.com

posted at 01:42 pm on May 29, 2008 by Matt Martin

45 Interesting concept

I stumbled across this article, and found it to be a pretty neat way of approaching web design. It’s always interesting to hear how others approach design projects, – in my opinion, there’s no right or wrong, but it’s enjoyable to try other methods out and see how they work for you.

posted at 12:58 pm on May 15, 2009 by Graphic Design by Zulu