Interior Design demands several skills needed in delivering a project with meaning and style. First, the designer must have great vision to translate the desires of customers in elegant ways. Second, they must have a deep understanding of home items, colors, materials and space. Designing the website for Loudoun’s Bummer Lamb, an interior design firm led by Jennifer Jenkins, followed a path similar to that needed in designing a room.
As with most website design projects, a full understanding of the clients needs are required. Being that the end goal is high client satisfaction (coupled with increased business), understanding these goals should be a designers first initiative.
In this case, Jennifer wanted an elegant online presentation that portrayed the beauty and grace of the service she provides. She had a vision for a taupe, white, and brown palette. She needed the navigation and menu system to be simple and easy to understand. Lastly, photographs representing the type of design service that she offers were to be presented in clean manner.
Taking these requirements into account, we began using these elements in Photoshop to create mock designs. These designs were then shared with the client to being an interactive process of deciding upon a final design. This process of creating bitmap art not only allows for rapid prototyping, but also solidifies the website design before any code is slung.
The final website concept, meant for WordPress development, was then passed along the to web artist who began building the website components. The Bummer Lamb example only required the development of five pages, so the overall project was simple, following the design process. As the pages came to life, Jennifer had the ability to review each, and respond with comments.
Sometimes, creating something simple and elegant can be a difficult challenge. We web technicians are fond of using the latest technology because it delivers new and exciting features. We often need to step back and think from the bottom up, rather than starting with “glossy” ways to represents word and images. Getting back to the basic of design is often called for.
Drawing comparisons between interior design, and web design, is highly relevant in this case. Both artisans are required to identify client goals, evaluate the landscape and then paint their canvases using the tools of their respective trade. The Bummer Lamb design firm is happy with their new website, and we are honored to have designed it.
