Datasheet

or its requirements, but may at least present an idea of how to move forward. However you decide to
perform this ever-delicate balancing act between client and user requirements, keep the goals of the page
at the forefront of your mind. Build a clear, usable interface, and the rest will fall into place.
Sounds almost easy, doesn’t it?
Jason Santa Maria’s “Grey Box Methodology” (
www.jasonsantamaria.com/archive/2004/
05/24/grey_box_method.php
) describes one graphic designer’s approach to planning a design.
His approach is a compelling read, and tackles the challenge of defining a page’s architecture from a
slightly different perspective. Whereas we took stock of the page’s content before considering the layout,
Santa Maria takes a more visual approach. The two methods achieve the same goals, however — both
force the designer to think in terms of how the layout can help the user before planning the more
aesthetic details of a design.
Beginning the Design
So, the planning has been finished, the site map has been approved, and the wireframes are set. We can
finally set aside all of this theoretical nonsense about “interface,” “requirements,” and “change manage-
ment,” and stop worrying about taking “notes” in “meetings” with “stakeholders.” At long last, we can
finally get into actually designing our site . . . can’t we?
As much as we’d like to tell you otherwise, the actual construction of a site requires no less planning
than the rest of the project. Sitting down to design and build a site is absolutely one of the most reward-
ing parts of any Web project, that’s true. But this is the phase of the project in which all of your careful
planning and analysis pay off. That’s not to say that imposing a process upon the design process should
remove any of the fun from it. Rather, some of the most compelling Web designs are a direct result of the
constraints placed upon them.
That’s not to say that there aren’t many talented designers who can create a stunning personal site with
little or no outside direction. However, it’s another challenge altogether to create a design that simulta-
neously furthers a company’s brand, ensures that the site is supremely user-friendly, and remains aes-
thetically appealing. From these competing needs, the true beauty of Web design originates.
Setting the Tone for Your Site
With a firm understanding of the scope of our project, we can then craft a design that speaks to the
needs of both groups. In order to do so, however, we should establish the tone of our site. After all, we
might settle upon a different design direction for a small law firm than we might for an online publica-
tion. Each company would have its own target audience, its own brand identity, and its own business
requirements. As such, an understanding of what those goals are is integral to building a site that
achieves them. Let’s take a brief look at one site that exemplifies this attention to goal-driven design:
Cinnamon Interactive (
www.cinnamon.nl/).
In the early days of CSS adoption, far too many style sheet–driven sites were doomed to “look like Web
standards”— their layouts were boxy, their palettes flat, and they made far from a compelling case for
abandoning table-driven design techniques. Cinnamon Interactive was one of the earliest sites to show-
case the true power of CSS as a tool for bringing gorgeous designs to the Web. Launched in January
2003, it featured an incredibly nuanced design (see Figure 1-8). The site’s layered typography, beautiful
use of color, and well-implemented access enhancements are facilitated by a foundation of CSS and valid
XHTML, which ensures that the site is as impressive under the hood as it is above it.
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