Starting with basic websites close to 10 years ago I worked up to complex projects as an Art Director over these past three years. Visually appealing designs, subtle details and brand guidelines combined with innovated interfaces across various platforms became my daily companion.
Out of this love for aesthetic design focused around functionality, typography, and structure my passion continued to evolve. As the industry continued to change and expand around me jumping right into Photoshop no longer felt accurate anymore. Building a framework based on functionality and usability became my priority, while keeping aesthetics involved in the process evolving and iterating along the way.
I believe in a user-centered mindset and sensitivity for design, collaboration with clients, and brands to develop digital concepts to solve the problems that are constantly changing because of an ever evolving digital world we live in. Everyday it seems we are introduced to new platforms and evolutions in development that engage our users in new ways and challenge us to adapt and evolve while always staying one step ahead.
This rough framework outlines my process of developing digital experiences:
RESEARCH and gather the present state
STRUCTURE setup and content of the project
CONCEPT AND STRATEGY
CREATE, evaluate and iterate deliverables like
Personas
Use cases and scenarios
Sketches
Wireframes
Prototypes
Once these steps have been completed we can begin to design. To accomplish these steps over the years I have used many different methods and programs/software such as, OmniGraffle, Adobe Creative Suite, Confluence, Gliffy, Invision, good old fashioned sketchbooks, HTML5/CSS prototyping and many more.
In web design, great user interface, or UI design is all about helping the user to accomplish a given task as simply and efficiently as possible. While the look is undeniably important, at the core of great UI is function. Navigation, typography, grids, space, scale, color, and use of imagery—guide visual treatments. These elements do far more than please the eye. They create hierarchy, meaning, and focus. Deliberate color choices, edge-to-edge imagery, large-scale typography, and intentional white space create a bold and graphic interface that immerse the user in the experience. The design process I work with requires developing serious stages of photoshop comps, in-browser design, sketches, etc.