Comments on: A Request

By: Anastasia

Anastasia — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:22:14 +0000

I hope this isn’t too late, but I’ve got a few screencaps of fluffy-finches.net and a rough plan of the first layout idea. I’ll send them to you!

By: Chantelle

Chantelle — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 16:24:18 +0000

I have sketches (extraordinarily skeletal sketches) of my newest design & I can provide you with screencaps of its progression. My designs aren’t especially complicated but, let me know if you want my assistance because I’d be more than happy to help you with this project. :D

By: Belinda

Belinda — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 22:57:12 +0000

I usually don’t, but I did on my current layout, because I got the idea when I was sleeping :P I can send you the rough draft if you like.

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 18:34:47 +0000

Nice question. I would certainly question the wording: “act of creation”. I’d argue that creation is a process, made of many acts (not just one!) but including many other elements, and taking place against a background of existing knowledge. A key element to creation, to me, is a kind of instinct which guides the first steps. You start with a blend of imagination which half-guesses ‘this is what I want to make’, solid knowledge which says ‘this is where I am now’ and an intuition ‘hmm, let’s try this..’. Creation is all the steps along the way, and the first one is crucial: some people have a kind of astounding ability to see just which way to go, even though they are not sure where they will end (think of Michelangelo, looking at a block of marble, and saying: I’ll strike *here*).
One of my favourite creative thinkers is the amazing american physicist Richard Feynman (great recent biography by James Gleick). There is a lovely website about him and creativity at
http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2007/06/14/9-lessons-richard-feynman-taught-us-about-creativity/
Good luck!

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 17:43:50 +0000

I wish I could help but I never draw anything by hand first. However I do have a .psd of my current layout that I created before I started working on coding it, which shows how dramatically it changed in terms of the header, if you’d like it (*hopes I haven’t deleted it*).

By: Hiro

Hiro — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:16:44 +0000

I used to do that. D: Totally used to… But now… ):

I did do it with my wallpaper… does that count? Kidding.. >_> Sorry.

Good luck!

By: Julianne

Julianne — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:23:45 +0000

I’m not sure how much this will help you, but when I was working on my latest layout, I took screenshots every few steps: http://vimeo.com/267677/. I didn’t make a mockup in Photoshop, though — I just started with a basic structure and made changes to the CSS.

Good luck with your essay!

By: Nan

Nan — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 13:37:43 +0000

I hope you get some great feedback on this. I don’t draw sketches of my website on paper – but as you know I hardly ever change the layout anyway. Just re-organizing and improving what I have. Good luck on your essay Amanda.

By: Bobbi-lee

Bobbi-lee — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 11:49:02 +0000

I usually sketch out something first but it always changes along the way and comes out not how I wanted or better. I wouldn’t call myself a web designer though, but I can help if you want. Sounds like an interesting choice for an essay. If you wanted me to help, the layout I could help you with would be this one http://intotherain.org/blog/wordpress-theme/. Which I could explain the way I decided how to structure it and illustrate it-but I can’t help with the way I coded it as it is a modification of another free layout, I just fixed it to my liking. You should take a look at http://www.webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/design-process-of-wdw/ as it shows the process from sketch to finish..which is pretty much the same way I do mine.
Good luck with the essay.

By: Mish

Mish — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 10:39:08 +0000

I think I may be able to help you… I’ll see if I have kept any of the design process… and plus I need to find my sketchbook…