Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
ALERT!
When you
re creating and working with information architecture docu-
ments, such as site maps and wireframes, it is very important to let your
clients know that those items are intended to show site organization and
content hierarchy/importance, not design. On top of verbally informing
them of this, you may also consider including it on the documents them-
selves. Simply place a sentence like,
'
These documents are not intended
to show design, only to inventory page contents and relationships
“
”
in a
place where they will be seen on each page.
While you are talking to the artist, get as many details as you
can and take plenty of notes on his answers. Don
t be scared to ask
about anything no matter how small it may seem because you will
often find out that not everything was thought of beforehand. If
there are multiple pages in the site, how will you transit between
them? Do the buttons have rollover states and are menu items ani-
mated or do they just cut from the up state to the over state? What
if a user clicks that button right there? And that button? Where
does this button take the user? You get the idea. The point to this
line of questioning is multifaceted: on one side, you need to know
how the site will live and breathe; on another side, you need to
know how the site will react to certain interactions; and on yet
another side, you and the artist can (and should) try to detach
yourselves from the project and think like an outside user.
Another thing to do while you are in the planning phase is to
think about the code you
'
re talking with
the artist about the features and functionality of the site, make
mental notes about what code you might need to complete each
item. Better yet, write down those mental notes so you don
'
ll be writing. When you
'
'
t forget.
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Also, think about past projects you
ve worked on. You may find
that you worked on another site or even a round of banners that
have code you can use in the form of classes or snippets. If you do
happen to think of such a project, you
ll know that you can already
plan on saving a little development time by reusing that code.
'
Collecting Assets
Before you can actually build a microsite, you
'
ll need to know what
it
s going to look like, right? Okay, so the artist on your team has
designed the layout of the site and hopefully given that layout to
you in at least the form of a Photoshop file (and possibly print-
outs). That layout is your guide and template for this project and
your goal is to mimic it as closely as you can. And that doesn
'
'
tjust
mean images either. You
ll also need to pay attention to aspects
like the typography. There
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s an art to everything you see in the
layout and the text is no exception. Kerning, tracking, leading,
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