Introduction

When planning a multimedia project it is important to consider carefully all organisational, structural and design aspects. This page considers all the issues you should address before you begin your design and building processes.

Website planning

If your project is a website, you might like to read our article on website planning / first client meetings which outlines the processes you will need to complete with your client when you have your first planning meeting.

Project management

You must manage a project carefully. There are many issues to consider from budget, copyright and deadlines.

Click here for an article which describes project roles.

Click here for an article about project managers.

Click here for an article on project development processes.

End-user profiles

Perhaps the most important task to complete early in the design of a project is profiling end-users. Click here for more detailed information on profiling end-users.

Search engine optimistaion

If you are building a web site you will need to consider how Google and other search engines will index it. More here

Budgets / Skills & equipment audits

An article on budgets and equipment audits is here.

Navigation maps

A navigation map helps you to detail all the project screens / pages you will need and to consider the navigation links between them.

You can read more about navigation maps here.

Adobe Illustrator Nav Map template (248Kb) Use this to create a nav map.

Choosing screen / page size for projects

Chosing the size of your project screen or page to suit your end-users monitor is essential.

Choosing screen / page size

Storyboards

It is important to design the look of your project screens or pages. This will ensure consistency of design throughout a project and also gives your client the opportunity to agree a look for the project before you start building it.

You can read more about storyboards here.

Screen / page background colour

This is always about style and legibility. Ever tried reading red writing on a green background? Ouch!!! And impossible for the colour blind.

A white background will suggest precision and accuracy. Lots of white space in your design will make you site look expensive and help create balance ("hey! look how much space I can afford to waste!"). A black background may create a more hard hitting feel, a bit more urban or rock'n'roll perhaps?

Whatever colour you choose, define it in the body tag of a CSS so you can easily change it later.

Using grids

Almost all multimedia authoring, web site design and DTP programs allow you to define a background grid to which you can align your various elements (text, boxes, images, nav bars etc).

You can read grids for multimedia design and artwork for print here.