Day Forty-Nine: Thursday 08.01.2013

As expected I created wireframes today and made a written outline of different options for content. The different options are varying degrees of change from the current content. I can see the splash page being more of a login page with a simple link to request more information. The current page has a lot of corporate catch phrases to describe what we do. I want to pare down this information no matter what, but it could be included if the page keeps the brochure style. 

I'm really happy with how the wireframes are going. Even though they are just rectangle boxes, I am mentally filling them out more. I make notes off to the side of the different options for each box and the overall layout has a more specific plan compared to how I normally do wireframes. I think this method will work much better when presenting to Chris, as well as make the step between wireframes and mock ups much smoother. I will be able to communicate my vision to Chris better and we are much more likely to be on the same page from start to finish.

This is a good example of a process of design that I learned about, but it makes way more sense in practice. In class I was designing for myself, I didn't think through my wireframes as much because I wasn't going to explain it to anyone. There may have been a brief class discussion, but for the most part this stage was largely for myself. Perhaps other students were better at making themselves slow down and utilize their wireframes as a map, but I breezed over them, excited to put together content. Now, I very quickly realized I needed to be specific in my plans, even though a wireframe is visually unspecific. This project is really exciting for me and I want it to go as smoothly as possible.

Day Forty-Eight: Wednesday 07.31.2013

Well, tomorrow is my last day of my internship according to my school paperwork. I plan on ending my journaling on this day as well so I will have enough time to compile everything in to the final "book". Unfortunately this means my reporting doesn't end on a nice clean point of finishing a project. In fact it ends almost the opposite, as I am just getting knee deep in a new project. 

Today I finished reading the article/book about homepage design. The end was mostly about how to place ad space, graphics to represent stocks and some other very unhelpful topics. However it has helped me know which stuff to cut out (press coverage) and I have a better idea of what I want to make prominent. I want to move the sign in button, but that's something that will definitely have to be cleared by Chris. I will go ahead and move it in my sketches, but I know there will be a discussion about it. I am also going to try and design with the idea of not moving it, but changing how the link looks. This way we have a couple of options and I will have a more open mind. The only other aspect that is a bit challenging is figuring out who exactly the audience is. My understanding is that it's mostly seed company consultants and growers coming to the page. There might be an investor or generally interested person here and there, but they are the minority. However, the call to action on the page is for this minority. That is why I want to move the 'Sign In' button down and put it next to the 'Request a Demo' button. Then it would be more with the standard of profile login websites. The user asks for a demo if he/she doesn't have an account, or just signs in. We'll see if Chris would agree with this or if he likes the current set up better.

Day Forty-Seven: Tuesday 07.30.2013

Today I tried to finish off the mock ups for Yield Environment. Kelly said she liked them and Tim agreed as well. I e-mailed Phil to see if I could "Finish" the project, or if I needed to wait until we had a certain column title checked off. I haven't gotten an answer yet (Phil has been in and out of the office), so I guess that will have to keep sitting as it is.

Besides that, I kept reading the article/book on homepage design. I am a little concerned with the development of this project. I am not entirely sure which parts to tackle first and how much of it do I just decide and how much do I try and talk through with Chris. It is larger, important projects like this that really make me wish that I was working under another designer more. I know Kelly is always willing to help, but I don't think she would know much more than me at this point. I think the thing I am missing at this point is the confidence in my position and skill. That's just something I need to be aware of and work on - I think I've said that exact sentence before.