You won’t likely build a high-quality website if you leave the design decision to just one person. Even if you hire someone else to do the work, you will still need to give your opinion as the client before deciding which design to go with.
Therefore, the process of brainstorming for a website design is crucial. The website may function properly, but its design could be poor if it was created quickly or without careful consideration. You shouldn’t make design changes to a website every week or two. For the next few years or so, you should be ready to live with your choice.
The following are some helpful hints for brainstorming a website design successfully.
Disclose the Design Brief in Full
To avoid wasting time on unusable ideas, share the full project brief with all stakeholders before the first brainstorming session. Send it out via email at least a week before the first brainstorming session so that everyone is aware of the guidelines.
Once they have this information, participants will mentally discard any design ideas that don’t fit the project brief. If the team only comes up with a few ideas, it will be easier to choose the best one.
Don’t Limit Brainstorming to Formal Meetings
Occasionally a meeting to come up with new ideas feels like being asked to tell a joke in front of a big group of people without any notice. Even if you usually have no trouble making jokes, the stress could make it difficult for you to regain your humor.
Meetings may be needed to debate ideas and choose a final design, but you should also make it easy for stakeholders to share their thoughts with the rest of the team through email, talks around the water cooler, and anywhere else someone might have a thought.
The Right Timing
People like to say that they are “morning people” or “afternoon people.” This is about the time when they feel most successful and efficient. But not everyone can be on the design team because they may have different “peak times.” In this case, it would be best to go back to what science has found.
An average time for most people to be productive is early to late morning. In the afternoon, employees are often less busy and more worn out. Another downside of Mondays is that some employees may still be thinking about the weekend. Furthermore, Fridays aren’t, because some people are already looking forward to good times on Friday nights. That means the best days are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Seek External Inspiration
When writers get writer’s block, they can’t seem to finish new work or put ideas on paper. Problems like these often occur for other creative individuals, such as web designers. Finding ideas from outside sources is a wonderful way to get brainstorming going when that happens.
Regardless of the situation, you don’t have to begin anew. Members should be able to share links to websites they really like. With this information, you can use tools like gochyu.com to find out what design theme was used on that site.
Embrace Physical Tools
You are brainstorming web design ideas, so it makes sense that digital tools like computers and screens will be used a lot to show off the different designs the team comes up with. But digital tools can sometimes make things seem like they can’t be touched.
You can use whiteboards, paperboards, brushes, paints, and felt-tip pens to bring the talk to life. These practical tools also speed up the questioning and analysis of ideas because anyone with a different perspective can just walk over to the whiteboard and quickly explain why they are different. It’s tougher to do that on a big screen.
Online, your website is like an address. If you focus on design, your site is more likely to help you reach your online goals.
