Blog Topic #8: Get into the process

Since I'm attempting to become a web designer to bridge Japanese and American markets, I have researched bilingual web design firms a lot. btrax
, San Francisco based multilingual web production agency, has one of the most clear descriptions about developmental process. They separate the process in three part: pre-production, production, and post-production. The pre-production starts with client survey, as same as we learned in the class, to identify objectives or target audiences, then market and competitors analysis, and building strategic plan. I really think this process decide succeeds of web designers or design companies on each project. Experiencing fails is typical learning pattern of human being, but it is better to learn before we fail. I think clarify all elements and requirements at the beginning of projects, in another word giving a clear vision, is the easiest, fastest and the best way even though dealing with clients on this process is not so easy.

On the other hand, AQ provides unique service - usability test. They collect about 10 potential web users and let them explore free or give them some tasks on a web site. AQ video tapes and observes their activity and then analyzes what is the problem of the web site in terms of the usability. They don't mention in what process do they apply this test, but it must be so effective to utilize the result to plan a new web design.