Client web site Mock-Ups & Comps: Do you bother?

Are they radically different or are they variations on a theme?

[martinibuster]

I usually design a site around a functionality goal joined to an appropriate visual style. Thus, more often than not, my mock-ups tend to be variations of each other.

What is your experience in this regard?

Negative/positive customer reactions to lack of variety?

Do you do mock-ups at all?

Thanks for your input, I was curious to know what other people are doing.

[Nick_W]

I just do one test page based on what I think they want and take it from there.

They invariably dislike or want some elements altered or changed and we keep 'to and fro'ing' till we agree.

I never do multiple mock-ups but will start over if neccessary. It's not really till they see something on screen that the real discussion starts...

Nick

[tedster]

It's not really till they see something on screen that the real discussion starts...

I agree, and I think that's very unfortunate. The importance of a deep IA consideration before anything visual gets mocked up can be essential to a successful site.

So, I'm working to orient clients in that direction. It's my job to create a development process that maximizes the result. The IA is critical - all kinds of design issues hang on it.

If a client seems too keen on seeing a mock-up too early in the process, I may tell them point blank that we just don't work that way. It's like hiring an interior decorator before you've even drawn blueprints for the house.

I ain't no interior decorator!

[moonbiter]

[...] more often than not, my mock-ups tend to be variations of each other.
What is your experience in this regard?

My experience: that artists/designers have a particular style, and it is to be expected that this style will be reflected, to some extent, in most everything they produce.

Almost all of Van Gogh's work looks the same. People that like Van Gogh's style like most of his work because of this. Your design work is similar. If you have a style that people like, then this is a selling point -- a strength. The challenge is coming up with a style that people like.

Of course, this can be a big problem when a particular client doesn't like your style. In this case, the only things you can do is to:

1. try to adapt your style to fit you client's expectations (which can be difficult and is unlikely to be satisfying), or
   
2. see if you can find an artist (or artists) who has a different style that can help you out. This might cost money, but it might cost less money than losing the client.
   

Anyway, that's my experience.

p.s., I always do mock-ups, usually in Illustrator and then in XHTML/CSS, before I show a client anything. That way, I know a design will work.

p.p.s., Is it just me, or does the list in my post appear to be rather large when compared to the rest of the text?

[tedster]

Is it just me, or does the list in my post appear to be rather large when compared to the rest of the text?

When you format a list on this board, at least for now, the font reverts to the browser default instead of being dictated by the HTML. Threw me for a loop the first time I noticed it, too.

[martinibuster]

I didn't mean to imply that all of my designs resemble one another, but that for a particular client, the mockups sometimes play off of each other, perhaps because the web site to be built has a particular functional goal to meet (sales, informational, volunteers, etc).

Although to the extent that I take a clean uncluttered approach to design, my sites can resemble one another somewhat. I agree that personal style has something to do with it.

I was curious if it was or wasn't unusual for the rest of you out there to produce a set of not highly different mockups. Or if that's kind of the rule.

[rewboss]

Well, to an extent the content dictates -- or at least influences -- the design, so it's really not surprising. You may already have been given the company logo and other design elements which will automatically restrict your options re colour if not also layout.

A kindergarten's website will be bright and colourful, for example, while the Australian Embassy might want a more serious design with at least one kangaroo silhouetted against the sunset in the outback. So the kindergarten will have bold primary colours and slightly wacky-looking buttons that practically jump off the page, while the embassy might want warm ochres and reds and a more conventional layout.

Your audience will also dictate things to a certain extent. For the kindergarten, your target audience is going to be young adults living in the area who just did a search for "kindergartens in Anytown, USA" (and probably typed it in just like that) and almost all of which are probably using MSIE5 or 6 on a PC they've had a couple of years. The embassy site will be visited by a whole range of people, probably a relatively high proportion of text-only users. Your user interface is going to have to take the different audiences into account: for the embassy, different audiences will go to different parts of the site (kids doing their geography homework? holidaymakers wanting to know if they need a visa? Australians who've lost their passports?).

The way the information is organized is going to be reflected in your navigation system as well.

In short, once you've taken all of these factors into consideration, the different solutions you come up with are bound to be similar.