Don't design websites. Design web SYSTEMS!

Time slot: 
March 9th, 2:15 PM - 3:15 PM
Room: 
Sheraton 2 & 3
Track: 
Design and UX
Experience: 
Intermediate

Drupal's theme layer is very flexible and can accommodate just about any web design. It's important for designers to remember, however, that they're not really creating a page — they're building a complete system to house the all of the site's content. By creating the sitemaps, wireframes, and mockups, designers are actually outlining a site's feature set. Designers, not developers, usually determine a site's purpose and functionality.

In this session, we will talk about concepting and creating a Drupal-optimized design and the importance of understanding a CMS during the initial design phase of a project. Standard practices and tools will be discussed in detail.

All too often, however, projects begin the design phase prior to choosing a CMS. In these cases, it's important for the stakeholders to understand that their choice of CMS may alter their design. To demonstrate the steps necessary to complete a successful Drupal "conversion," we will present a detailed, real-world case study of the Expeditionary Learning relaunch. Four Kitchens co-founders Todd Nienkerk and Aaron Stanush and Thinkso designer Adam Snetman will describe how they translated a thorough but CMS-unspecific design into Drupalspeak — all while minimizing cost and meeting the client's high expectations.

Video at archive.org.

Intended audience: 

This session is intended for anyone who has had to create or implement sitemaps, wireframes, and mockups. Those unfamiliar with Drupal will learn what Drupal "wants" to do and will be able to more easily prepare these materials, and those who already work with Drupal will learn tips and tools for managing the expectations of clients whose designs haven't been optimized for Drupal.

Questions answered by this session
Question 1: 
What should a designer know about a project before architecting a site or creating its look and feel?
Question 2: 
What are sitemaps, wireframes, and mockups important, and what are they supposed to communicate?
Question 3: 
What does it mean for a design to the "Drupal-optimized," and why is that important?
Question 4: 
What happens when you're given a design that wasn't created with Drupal in mind?
Question 5: 
What are the challenges a design firm faces when they aren't the ones implementing their design?
Don't design websites. Design web SYSTEMS! has been selected and voting is closed.

Comments

AWESOME!! This session is THE

AWESOME!! This session is THE best session that I have attended so far, not that the others were bad just yours was that GOOD!. Thanks

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