Reflection

Web design is hard.

I’ve done a lot of work in Photoshop, so I didn’t have much trouble working with the software. It is still more tedious than working in inDesign or Illustrator.  It was a challenge because I hadn’t worked with this many layers before, and I tend to neglect organization until I’m looking for something, which is an extremely time consuming method.

The conceptual side was the hard part. I find that it is harder to separate myself from my work when I am working on the web than when I am working in print. I don’t really know why. I think the difference might be in the amount of work it takes to actually create the site in Photoshop.

I also found it really hard to introduce any variety into my site. I was easy to just start copying and pasting boxes on every page that all look exactly alike.

It was easy to forget the difference in user interaction to take it into account. It is more comfortable to be able to put the piece in from someone and let the decisions about what they get to see made up. With the web, I have to try to design for a user who can do whatever he wants. If i design a book, there are only a couple of ways to logically flip through it. I know that, and the user knows that.

On a website, there isn’t a defined order to look at it. They may have something they are looking for, or they might just want to look around. And they might have three or four other windows open that are messing with their focus. Figuring out what to expect from the user will take some practice.

Throughout the process I saw improvement in my attention to hierarchy. I notice mistakes in it, and sometimes I catch myself before I break my hierarchy or stray too far from the visual language I designed. I still think my work looks like student work, but I like to think I am starting to catch some of the details that put my work in the student category.