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How I designed a website without Photoshop(medium.com)

over 9 years ago from Vikas Chauhan, Team Lead at R K Information Technologies (I) Pvt. Ltd.

  • Ben Henschel, over 9 years ago (edited over 9 years ago )

    I'm tired of reading "design in the browser" articles. If it works for you, great. But it doesn't for me and I'm not going to feel bad about it, or feel that I'm falling behind the times, or not a real designer.

    I don't even like sketching that much. Occasionally I sketch out illustrations, but not really for layouts. Honestly it's too slow. I'm probably just not very good at sketching, but it's a lot easier for me to run through some ideas in my head, quickly create something in PS and then duplicate it if I want to try some variations.

    If I'm designing something that I'm going to code, my mockups are not perfect. I don't waste time making sure everything is perfectly spaced and aligned correctly, because I'll make it perfect in code.

    But if I'm designing something that someone else is coding (like at work), I usually make it pretty perfect, because developers don't always know that you thought it was a given that something should be perfectly aligned, centered or have 30px of spacing between each element etc. But even that doesn't take long because I have create a style guide and I have a psd with all our normal elements. If I'm adding a feature to an existing screen, I take a screenshot of it and then add it in. It might not be super flexible, but it's quick.

    So what ever way you do things, if it works, is the right way.

    7 points
    • Marc EdwardsMarc Edwards, over 9 years ago

      I completely agree with this, especially:

      • If it works for you, that’s awesome. Doesn’t mean it will for me.
      • I’m not very good at sketching and find AI and PS way faster.
      • Duplication for quick experimentation is great. Love doing that.
      • Mocks for things I’ll code are usually rough.
      • Mocks for other people are usually pixel perfect.

      Is it such a crime to want to use a visual, mouse driven tool to design?

      If I'm adding a feature to an existing screen, I take a screenshot of it and then add it in. It might not be super flexible, but it's quick.

      It’s pragmatic, and doesn’t conflate the best design direction with technical constraints. I think that ultimately means you’ll end up with a better result, and cleaner code.

      So what ever way you do things, if it works, is the right way.

      YES.

      3 points