Hi,

 

I'v been building around 3 - 4 mock-up designs for clients when building a website, is this too many? I'd be VERY interested to know how many designs you show the client as i'm sure I can get away with less.

 

To be honest it depends on the client...some can understand your design from a few sketches on graph paper, whereas some need to be able to see most of the site pages on screen. I tend to play it by ear. At the initial stages I give a couple of options - two different approaches to the design. When the client has chosen their favoured route I then mock up a homepage and a sub page and any other page that has a different layout or functionality that needs to be explained visually for them to understand.

 

Sometimes I only present one route and get the client to comment on it and then I work on it some more until the client is happy. I would never do 3-4 different options of a design as that would just take too much time and drain my brain. I always find that I do one design and I love it and find it hard just to do one other option - so definitely couldn't do 3 or 4.

 

Hope that helps. It would be interesting to hear what other people do in the initial stages too.

As E said it depends of the client...

I remember while working from my previous employer, we use to do "on site" design.

 

I'd go to the clients (with a laptop) and spend a day with them to put their "vision" together on screen...

I remember it being a very popular service... Obviously some people hire designers so they don't have to do anything but sometimes big companies know what they want, they just don't know how to put it together...

 

Oli

not sure i'd like that way of working! I'd crack under the pressure!

With your skills!!! You should be more than comfortable with things like that!

 

It's actually a really nice experience

 

Oli

I hate people looking over my shoulder whilst I'm being creative - it makes me paranoid and unable to play around with stuff until I like something. I can handle that kind of work if it's on something I've already done and it's a matter of tweaking and re-working.

Personally I always ask them, what they want, e.g. colors wise e.t.c

 

Then I go do 2 sketches, show it to them. If they like one, I'll develop on it.

 

However, I tend to do just one, when they know little about the web, designing to suit what I belive will be most appropriate for their clientel.

Hi Karly,

 

Personally, I just try and get a detailed specification from them and try and design 1 mock-up layout to that specification. If they want any changes making though then they can have as many as they want completed before 'signing off' the final version. It also depends on the level of service, obviously if you're offering discount web design, then it would be cost prohibitive to create four or five mock-ups - it depends on the business model of the web design agency I suppose.

I only really do one at a time unless the client requests otherwise.

 

How it normally works for me is (and this is very simple), I send the client a design based on their brief and then work from the feedback given from it. If it's no good, I send another design taking into consideration the comments on the last design and then go from there.

 

I only really do one at a time unless the client requests otherwise.

 

How it normally works for me is (and this is very simple), I send the client a design based on their brief and then work from the feedback given from it. If it's no good, I send another design taking into consideration the comments on the last design and then go from there.

 

 

ditto, trouble is more different ideas you show them then the more they tend to confuse themselves of what they want.

The same with me. I only do one design and often the client loves it but just wants me to change one or two things. I would show them just the .psd or .png template and then if they like it, I would then start coding it.

i also do one design only based on their brief and the sample sites they provided me and most of the time it works out for me and next thing i have to o is to place the text i dont have to change the whole design just replace all the text in the design then just export it to a gif upland it and show them the design when they settle on the final look i have it coded

Interesting question, interesting responses.

 

I usually ask clients to send me links to three or four websites that they like, and to tell me why they like them, what aspects appeal to them and so on. This way I get a feel for the feel for their preferences which they often find difficult to articulate. (I have a lot of inarticulate clients...)

 

I recently completed this: http://www.angelareapr.com, inspired by this http://www.levick.com, which my client particularly liked.

 

Her immediate reaction was "Oh".

 

That was it.

 

Then a day later... "I LOVE IT!"

 

That's my biggest problem - I've yet to meet anyone who didn't initially greet their new site with, well, surprise... somehow it's not what they expected, because they do have something in mind, albeit subconsciously.

 

I kept this client's response as I thought it was particularly enlightening:

 

"It is like seeing the face of your baby for the first time - you need a few seconds, or minutes or even days to really get to know it and appreciate it. I did have a vague idea of what it would look like, because I was imagining the Levick grey, red, etc.... but the eye, the pics in general were a surprise and it takes a moment for you to come round to it."

 

Another thing I've learned is that everyone agrees that simple, uncluttered, easily-navigable sites are best. What they really mean is that every other site should be simple and uncluttered - theirs should have a WOW factor, so that it stands out from the crowd.

 

That's why I'm now learning Flash. Just for headers, mind.

 

Marie

The last mock I produced I produced two, one I was 95% sure of and the other was a design I really liked but was pretty sure it wasn't what the client would like...but would work quite well.

 

I showed the two.. they called the first one 'boring' and utterly adored the second one, "you've got exactly what we want - exactly" was the email I got later. It did help the client was very in-tune with her own branding and always said exactly what she thought (never rude tho) and it meant I could do the same back. Which was just superb!! However we arrived at this point after a few points that I was sure she was unhappy with, but wouldn't admit it - so that was a bit of a struggle at the beginning.

 

I've learned... you just never know what the client say.. or might not say.

I hate people looking over my shoulder whilst I'm being creative - it makes me paranoid and unable to play around with stuff until I like something. I can handle that kind of work if it's on something I've already done and it's a matter of tweaking and re-working.

 

Thats a bummer. I cant design whilst anyone is near me.

 

I need music, sometimes. Oher times, I just cant think of anything I am happy with at all.

 

Another thing that limits my creativity is focussing too much about making a nice design. I apply too much pressure to myself, and cant design. When that happens, I have to clear my mind, and start again.

lol I'm like that, if theres someone behind me I'm like p*** off before i bop u in the nose! even if they sneak up behind you to look i can tell they are there.

 

Music sometimes gets me going, most of the time i look at my surroundings and think is there anything here that could be incorporated into my design. Theres always loads of things but i never write them down so i aways forget. lol

Always develop and present two mocks to my clients.

In most cases, they're happy with those. If they require any more, i charge them.

A client I'm working at, was only sent one mock - at the initial meeting he had a clear idea where he wanted to go - sketched it for me, and I understood. The only changes will be the colour scheme.

 

A client 'sketching' a layout is a rather scary thing... but not in this case, luckily.