[thelist] process question: hi-end multimedia sites

[Erika Meyer]

At 02:45 PM 2/7/01 -0800, you wrote:
>I would also recommend skipping the recruiters for now and going for the
>staffing agencies.

I might just have my vocabulary mixed up.  I think when I say "recruiters" 
I mean "staffing agencies."  They mostly do short term contracts working 
with freelancers, taking a percentage of the hourly wage.

>Here's how I have worked on front-end stuff for big projects:
>
>1. Discovery -- proposal, statement of work, understanding of the project,
>quid quo pro with client

I know I was asking for information, but I have to get all opinionated 
now.  I do not understand this custom (at my current job we do it this way) 
of the client setting out the project and soliciting proposals from web 
builders

99% of the time the client tries to describe what he/she wants without 
having really thought thru the basics (audience, goals, blah blah).  Or the 
person who tries to describe the project  is not someone who has a good 
understanding of web needs.  So a web shop gives a proposal based on what 
the client THINKS he/she needs, not what he/she really needs, basically 
saying what they think the client wants to hear.  IMO this is likely to 
doom the project from the start.

So once the project has been completed, the client realizes that the result 
is not what they really need, and now they are unhappy with the 
result.  Maybe they want to go back and change it all around, after it is 
1/2, 3/4, or all the way finished.

I inherited one of these client-proposal-based projects & so far it does 
nothing but confirm my doubts.

>2. Sketches -- for anything with a multimedia or user interface, sketches
>are a good place to start. Storyboarding ideas for multimedia or just loose
>sketches of interface design

how on earth can you design an interface before you establish content?

>3. Graphic Comps (Composites) -- this is a more formal presentation of ideas
>based on sketches
>4. Content -- gather, edit, hash out
>5. Build (Production) -- optimise graphics, gather further assets, create
>html templates
>6. Test -- platforms, operating systems, whatever
>7. Launch

do they do usability testing?

I don't mean to be difficult, because I am curious about how these things 
actually work.  But I really see a lot of flaws with the "proposal" method 
of web building, and with the idea that an interface can be successfully 
designed before structure, content, functionality, & navigation are firmly 
understood, and none of these can be understood until there is a firm 
agreement on audience and purpose.

Erika