[thelist] process question: hi-end multimedia sites

[matt newell]

this is a long question, so i'm answering in annotation::


On Wed, 7 Feb 2001, Erika Meyer wrote:

> I have a tough time with job-hunting because I seem to fall somewhere in 
> between the "programmer" and "designer" pigeonholes, plus I have some 
> knowledge in other general areas (usability, accessibility, IA) but not 
> enough to go around calling myself an expert & certainly not a specialist.

there are plenty of jobs for jack-of-all-trades. specially front end
focused pepl with decent skills.

> 
> So I work with these two recruiters: one mainly works with employers 
> searching for backend programmers, the other with employers seeking graphic 
> artists.  I'd be fine with the first recruiter if I'd buckle down & learn 
> ASP, but I'd rather spend my time playing with front ends: 
> graphic/UI/flash/javascript, leaving the databases to others.  The second 
> recruiter says her clients are looking for "high end designers who work on 
> sites like nike.com or adidas.com."

don't trust recruiters. period. instead of letting them tell you what the
companies they represent are looking for .. were you given a chance to
tell them who and what exactly /you/ want to do? they can be pushy and not
so nice sometimes. 

not to mention, the graphics on adidas.com are crap imho.

> This leads me to ask, since I have never worked on sites as ambitious as 
> either nike.com or adidas.com, what is the process that goes into creating 
> them?  I simply can't imagine there is a single sole web genius putting 
> these things together... or that the marketing director dictates ideas to 
> one person who builds the movies...  how do they divide up tasks?    What 
> is the process for designing, building and testing?

most web production houses have a "process". its usually
cross-departmental and project/release based. meaning, no single dept.
owns the whole process but works collaboratively (yay phonix-pop) with the
rest .. the usual breakdown is (everyone has a diff. opinion though):

Discovery (finding out stuff from client. needs/reqs/etc)
Architecture (where you sit down and figure how and what your going to
build)
Creation (creative goes nuts/writers prose/production sits idle.
interative process here)
Production (this is where the code monkies come out and build stuff)

QA (we all know there's never any qa when projects slip the timeline :).

> 
> I've tended to build sites that are low-bandwith, usable on all browsers, 
> text-heavy.  But I'm fascinated by these high-bandwidth, high-end media 
> sites, and I'm fascinated by design process in general. (I tend to think 
> many businesses divide up tasks the 'wrong' way, but that's another 
> discussion.)
> 
>   I would like to know more about how hi-end multimedia sites are put together.

my experience ranges from brochureware to large templated portals and
kiosks. 

anyone else doing crazy hi-end stuff?


hope this helps,

matt
matt at sweetillusions.org