Sparky Firepants explores: What do people think about when they want a website? (click image for full size)
For a while now I’ve been designing a package for semi-custom WordPress websites (I promise it has a more exciting name than that, but it’s still hatching!). And when I say “designing”, I mean doing bits of research, brainstorming, coding, and photoshop-ing in between my regular client projects. Suffice to say it’s been slow and always pushed to the bottom of my to-do list.
After much pondering and churning and over-thinking in my own little vacuum, I did a couple smart things.
First, I had a coaching session with Charlie Gilkey. His eloquent questions made me feel okay about where I was at. More importantly, they also lit a fire in me to launch this thing a.s.a.p.
Second, I got in touch with David, a.k.a. the brilliant Sparky Firepants, to see if he’d like to collaborate on this wee adventure with me.
Oh-my-god-am-I-ever-glad-I-did-that!
You see while I’m weighing the pros & cons of software development tactics, which features the themes should have, how I’m going to deliver on Big Idea X or Y, David goes right to the root of it all: the customer. What the heck do they want, anyway? When they think about getting a website, what’s on their mind? (You can see his exploration of the idea straight from his sketchbook, above right.)
Which isn’t to say that I hadn’t been thinking about the customer, of course. But I’d been coming at it from different angles. So when I saw this exploration in my inbox, I was inspired to share it with you. To say: Great things happen in a team when each of you spark different ideas and perspectives.
As you can imagine, it’s a whole lot easier to keep the ball rolling when you’re excited by each other’s ideas and pushing the envelope together.
As wonderful as it is being self-employed, working mostly one-on-one with my clients, I know that the old cliche two heads are better than one is true. So I’m really looking forward to sharing this-thing-our-two-heads-are-cooking-up with you.
Makes you wanna go out there and collaborate with someone, eh?
How cool to see part of your process. Thanks for sharing. Love how David addressed concerns and benefits from the customer’s point of view. The visual aspect really helps. I never thought of that, but I think it’s great.
Can’t wait to see what you two come up with!
.-= Naomi Niles´s last blog ..Introducing Intuitive Designs Version 7 =-.
Indeed. One of the things I miss most about working mostly alone is running my ideas past someone.
That being said, I grab every chance I get to run my blog posts past someone, or just talk through random ideas I’m wondering about. It’s really amazing how quickly can other people pinpoint deficiencies in something I’ve been thinking about for hours!
.-= Vlad Dolezal´s last blog ..Why Choose Polyamory =-.
@Naomi I never thought of it either. It’s kind of like a really quick “persona” exercise. Very cool.
Hi @Vlad, thanks for stopping by. I see from your blog you have a lot of random ideas
Collaborating or even just getting feedback is so invaluable. It helps you spot things which can only be seen from the outside, or what can’t be seen sometimes. When we go over something we designed or wrote, we fill in the gaps automatically because we know what we mean, but to others there may be a glaring gap.
Collaboration also taps into a whole new knowledge and experience base which can spark off synergistic new ideas. For both or all.
Scribble, scribble, new idea for post just sparked off by this…..