Website design

Radio New Zealand - extending and developing another designer's work - with 25 new templates and template variations in five different colourways

I design websites for many of our WebWeaver clients and projects. From time to time I also do contract web design work.

When I began designing websites in 1996, we were tasked with taking a website from its earliest scoping stages, right through IA, design, front-end development, content development and editing, content-loading and site building, browser testing, QA, and proofreading - all the way to site launch.

I've retained and built on my design skills since then, and have found that they come in particularly handy when I'm working on responsive websites. Being able to combine UX design, visual design and front-end development is a real advantage when it comes to responsive web design.

Depending on the project requirements, I can take various roles within the web design sphere:

I like to do my design mockups in Photoshop, and I can also use Fireworks or Illustrator if required. For responsive designs I tend to do a couple of full mockups in Photoshop (generally the homepage and perhaps a detail page), use Style Tiles for the rest of the interface element design, and then switch to in-browser prototyping - designing in the browser, as it's the best way to visualise how elements are working in a responsive setting.

I use a combination of my years of experience; an understanding of user behaviour through extensive user observation; ongoing upskilling and online research; and a whole lot of common sense.

My design aesthetic is simple, clean and clear. I like white space. My approach to designing and building websites is very straightforward. I listen to what the client wants, I make suggestions which will enable and/or enhance their aims for the site, and I aim to create a set of page designs that are both beautiful and user-centered and which reflect the client's branding and vision.

Alison - Thank you so much for your careful, considered work in a complex and difficult environment - with daggers coming at you from all sides! You opened up conversation around design in a way that was never possible previously. You are excellent at taking a 'non-precious' approach to your work while simultaneously being able to calmly argue your point.

You're very good at what you do and I'd hire you again in a heartbeat. Thank you. Stay in touch.
Jared Gulian, Govt.nz product owner, Department of Internal Affairs (Govt.nz website, 2013-2014)

DIA Marketplace

I am an approved supplier for DIA Marketplace in the Consultancy and Professional Services (Digital Experience Professional Services channel) - under the following categories:

Information Architecture
User Insight
Visual Design
Front-End Development
Content Design.

Website design case studies