BasimMousilli.com » design

Building a website step-by-step (my secret design project methodology)

Basim Mousilli — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:57:37 +0000

The #1 thing that will determine the success or failure of your web design project is effective project management to properly scope your design project, communicate progress, and ensure project closeout.

I am going to explain my very own “secret” methodology involved with managing a web design (or graphics design) project from concept to completion, given you have a customer, a project, and a deadline. I will describe the process from start to finish as if you were my client.

By the end of this tutorial, you will have a good grip on how web design projects should be conducted.

A glamorous design is only called a success if you meet scope expectations on time, within budget, and with allocated resources. Communication, creativity, and closure are the 3 C’s you need to keep in mind as the keys for your success as a web designer. If you master these concepts of project management for web & graphics design that I am about to explain, clients will keep coming back to you and referring you like a call girl diva in New York in the roaring 1920s.

Purpose & target audience for this methodology tutorial

With this knowledge of my very own web design methodology, you will have a firm handle on how to approach clients or design a website yourself if you are a new web designer; for other readers, you can know what to expect if you are about to engage with a web designer to do some work for you. Specific uses for this methodology:

Explaining next steps to your client (enhancing sales)
Organizing your design workload (effective planning)
Creating discreet project milestones (contract closure)

Here’s the web design process I use for my clients. I will explain each step in the pages to come:

Methodologies help achieve repeatable success and are not meant to be followed precisely but rather with broads strokes and dashes of your own creativity.

Elements of the design process to be explained

I will cover the whole web/graphics design project process in quite some detail starting with…

Analyzing Your Needs and Agreeing on a Proposal
Collecting Content & Getting Started with Wording
Building the Design Concept and Detailed Design
Reviewing, Testing, and Tweaking the Details
Publishing the Solution and Handing Over
Marketing, Support, Maintenance, Follow Up

Note: I have adapted this approach based on consulting techniques learned at Accenture and from Forture 500 firms I have worked for. This walk through is relevant whether the “design” project is a website, a small business card, or even a simple t-shirt.

This tutorial is quite long so sit back, grab some Doritos, and enjoy homeboy. Remember while reading, the term “you” refers to you as the client and “we” refers to us as the designer team…

I’m a web designer for hire! Print design, multimedia, photography

Basim Mousilli — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:19:28 +0000

I’m a graphics designer and I enjoy creating websites, logos, multimedia content, and more. Anything that you’ve seen printed or on the screen I can create. Browse my design portfolio to see examples of my work.

If you need a new website or if it’s time to redesign your existing one, I’m always ready to help give some advice.

Reach out to me for a free consultation. I’m ready for hire.

Here’s a breakdown of my creative design services…

Website design (and redesign)

This includes re-designing your website, creating new websites that are…

Easy to use and user-updatable, or for complex article management
Video-based with a narrator walking around and talking like on TV
Flash-animated or database-driven sites with custom requirements
App-driven with calendars, news, blogs, contact forms, shopping carts
The list goes on and on…if you’ve seen it done, I can do it

Print media design (anything printed)

This includes pretty much anything that can be printed…

Magazine ads, newspaper prints, billboards, event banners
T-shirts, CD covers, jars, hats, mouse pads, vehicle graphics
Business cards, brochures, flyers, door hangers, you name it!

Logo design (and logo recreation)

OK, here’s what we can do as far as your logo…

Create a new custom logo or revamp your existing logo
Make your logo 3D, animated, with voiceovers and sound effects
Re-draw your logo if it’s not fit for print (or if you lost the original)

Multimedia design (3D/animation)

Multimedia means any design that moves…

Video production, TV ads, radio ads, voiceovers, sound effects
Flash animations for whatever occasion – to grab attention
3D product renderings, layout maps, interactive diagrams

Photography services (photo studio)

Nothing makes a design look better than great photos…

Product galleries (for the things you want to advertise)
People photos (for the team profiles section of your design)
Location photos (of your building, office, studio, or equipment)
Event photos (to post in your blog…for PR exposure reasons)

Marketing your design (spreading the word!)

We have both online/offline marketing campaign approaches that include…

Viral Youtube videos, Facebook groups, Myspace pages
Interactive ads, annoying pop up ads, website banners
Search engine optimization, newsletter management, etc.

Surreal imagery fuels creative spunk

Basim Mousilli — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:46:25 +0000

There’s something unique for me about incongruent abstract art forms. I have discovered this is the fuel of my mind and my creative spunk. Now let’s think cartoons. There’s nothing like cartoons and ice cream to cheer you up! But, it’s more than that. For me, cartoons are the archers of my imagination. They symbolize hope, flexibility, mirth, and the free spirit nature of the ideal human being. A stick-man without a care, unburdened by the sharp and boxy edges of grounded reality. Everything is pudgy, colorful, shiny and objects are exaggerated as big as your perceived value for them. In my opinion, cartoons draw upon Surrealism, art techniques mastered by famous artists like Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso.

It is cartoons, abstract art, and surrealist art that boost my thinking and squeeze my creative juices to the max. It also happens when I witness psychedelic art from the 60s or if I look into the stars, planets, or sci-fi lifeforms from outer space. These abstract art forms (like a funky screensaver) let my mind soar beyond the (t)reason of worldly constraint. When experiencing such art, for a moment I feel like I am upward-gravitating; in those very moments I have clarity and superhero vision! It’s a transcending inspiration. I see what’s right and what should be. It helps me isolate from this world and focus on my inner best intentions.

For me, it’s important to keep my mind active and critical of visually splendid things. It stimulates my senses and keeps my brain jogging full speed. It can even be small math puzzles, like Mad Minute. So when I wake up I tell myself this every day: “Think, count, process, and dream a world of your own rules, Basim! Don’t let yourself accept without appreciating the world around you for exactly what it is.”

Sometimes I have to isolate myself and meditate to my own tune. Nobody seems to understand this, and it annoys me! They think I’m depressed or somethings wrong. I have to do this because of the influx of data processing happening in my brain – complex multi-threading creates massive overheat and I have to get away to keep the supercomputer in sound function and repair. We must get back to square 1, numero uno, the unit self.