Work from your user personas and your content inventory as you design the site. Keep them in front of you as you work. I will being asking you to connect your design decisions to the user goals you developed in the user personas.

• Include navigation nomentclature on your wireframes. Make them large enough to work with.

You won't be able to do the site map and wireframes on the wiki, so turn to whatever means you find comfortable: page layout, tagboard and markers, whatever.

Visual designs will come next, in chap 4.

Refer to Summers and Summers, chap 3, pp 49 - 65. The chapter covers method, level of detail, and set out criteria.

Did I mention this? Refer to Summers and Summers, chap 3, pp 49 - 65.

When in doubt as to what to include or what level of detail to work in, refer to Summers and Summers.

• Level of detail: include section names and page names.

Work from your user personas and your content inventory as you design the site. Keep them in front of you as you work. I will being aksing you to connect your design decisions to the user goals you developed in the user personas.

• Keep in mind that you are designing for screens, not print, and that you do not have complete control over placement. Design within the constraints.

• Work from your content inventory and user goals to develop the site map, and from the map to develop navigation and wireframes.
• Level of detail: name the pages to indicate what each one will contain.
• Don't over-design. Your site can be very simple and compact, on one level, with all the navigation visible on every page.

The map

The wireframes

• Refer back to your first set of wireframes and sketches from the web: hard bottom or soft? flexible layout or static?

The visual mockups

• Don't become too attached to these as your design will change once you try to work it out in Dreamweaver.
• Make notes on the mockups, enough that others can follow them.

You'll want to work together as well as designate tasks to individual members.

Whoever is doing visual design mock ups should refer at Chap 4: Effective Visual Design. Expect to be revising your mock ups as the site develops.

You won't be able to do these on the wiki, so turn to whatever means you find comfortable: page layout, tagboard and markers, whatever.

=== The map ===

• Work from your content inventory and user goals to develop the site map, and from the map to navigation and wireframes.
• Don't over design. Your site can be very simple and compact, on one level, with all the navigation visible on every page.

• Create a wireframe for each major kind of page. Anticipate that your home page might be laid out differently than the content pages.
• This is the time to experiment with different layouts. Again, refer to your user personas and their goals to make design choices.
• Include navigation on your wireframes. Make them large enough to work with.

• Don't go over board on these as your design will change once you try to work it in Dreamweaver.
• Make notes on the mockups, enough that others can follow them.
• Usability and legibility are central, so skip the colored and textured backgrounds behind text. Both are passé anyway.
• Skip, too, script fonts for reading and nav. Again, refer to Summers and Summers, chap 4.

I'll be evaluating your materials using the checklist on pp 63 - 64, but I will return them to you right away.

You'll want to work together as well as designate tasks to individual members. For vis design mock ups, refer at chap 4: Effective Visual Design. Expect to be revising your mock ups as the site develops.

Look also to chap 5 to design information.

This is one of the trickiest and the most essential steps in design, so don't short it. Chapter 3 in Summers and Summers is a good guide to developing your site map, wireframes, navigation, terminology, and visual design. We'll look at some techniques and criteria in class.

[more to come]

Use the advice of the chapter and the checklist on pp 63 - 64 to help you design these materials. The lists are there to help you check and develop your design work; they do not guarantee success.

I'll be evaluating your materials using the checklist on pp 63 - 64.

Refer to Summers and Summers, chap 3, pp 49 - 65.