Created by Michael Wender / @mwender
You've landed your first gig designing and developing a website for a new client. Now it's time to work with her on her site's design and layout. Where do you start?
I like to start by asking my clients to generate a list representing their site's page structure.
While the client is working on her site's structure, have her propose the type of content for each page.
Once I've received the client's preliminary structure and rough content, I can build a beta website. At this point, it's also good to have the client's 1) logo and 2) color palette.
Once I've got the beta website built, the client must provide me with her content. Next I do an initial layout for each page of the site. We work together to refine each page's layout/design to meet the client's specifications.
Avoid using email as your primary means of communicating with clients. Email has these drawbacks:
Find a project management software that you like, and insist that your client interacts with you inside it.