I think it's worth posting some ongoing musings on the web app design process as compared to the print design process.

Designing for the web has quite a different set of requirements. I like that you have to constantly think about the structure - where the user goes, how they get there, what they find when they are there and how they get back.
i think that the style and presentation are an additional layer on that, but decisions made about styling can have a direct impact on the method of interaction . . .

There seem to be 4 main part of the process

• aim and concept
• structure (which will modifiy aim)
• styling (which must understand the limitations of the structure)
• construction (coding - html, css, javascript)

the most logical place for overall direction of the design process would seem to lie at the structure/architecture level - because the site would need to retain it's structural integrity.

All the other areas require leads who are experts, and can respond to the requirements of the other parts of the process.

It's interesting that it is a somewhat more concrete process (than print). It is possible to build a working dummy more easily, because the medium you work in is the medium it is likely to be delivered on - and you can emulate the interactions quite easily (even if you can't code them - - - Keynote is working out well for me!) and see the holes, hone the process.

I must hone these thoughts at some point, but for now - post and be damned!

Notes on the Weekly re-design

With Guardian Weekly settling in to it's third issue, the best cover image so far . . I thought it time to write something about it. Guardian Weekly . . an internationally oriented weekly newspaper, carrying articles from the Guardian, plus Le Monde the Washington Post and the (London) Observer. It's not so welll read in the UK (though I think it has a wider market here than it reaches) but has a growing readership elsewhere in the world.

With this redesign, it has changed from the old Guardian typography (Helvetica, Miller) to the new Guardian typefaces(Guardian Egyptian and Guardian Sans) which were created for the Beriner redesign. There is also a format change from tabloid, and mostly mono, to half Berliner. The copies in Europe are printed on the Guardians new (ish) Berliner presses and are full colour. The US and Australian editions are printed on older presses and therefore the readers in countries served by those presses have little colour, which is less accurate than the European copies. I hope full colour Berliner presses begin to appear in these parts of the world soon!

The design brings more photography to the newspaper, but keeps display sizes down. It makes use of elements introduced in the Guardian which combine photos and text in fixed size elements. The image part of these can be photo, small info-graphic or large numbers, which are then expanded upon in the caption/quote adjacent. They serve to extend the stories, help animate the page while taking up minimal space.

We have used variations in the grid to change pace throughout the paper - from the immediacy of 4 column news to wider measures on comment and features for a more leisurely read.

We believe this is the first half-berliner format UK newspaper . . . and it has so far (third edition this week) got a favourable reception.

Having been involved twice before in changes to the Tabloid/helvetica Guardian Weekly, I know the paper well . . and I'm sure this new iteration will surprise many readers . . i hope they come to love it - I'm fairly sure they will.

An extensive redesign allows any editorial team to re-evaluate how they put a paper together, and this is a good time to be refreshing newspapers the world over. I wish GW all the best, and hope they grow and extend the Guardian's liberal voice to a wider audience worldwide . .

This week also sees a major change (designed by our Creative director Mark Porter) to the front page of the Guardian website. This brings it closer to the look and feel of it's print counterpart, and is part of ongoing development.

The new Guardian Weekly

It has been a day of firsts for me, both coming together in East London . . After a crazy few hours participation in the final pages of the first edition of the redesigned half-Berliner format Guardian Weekly, I jumped in a taxi with Will, Jenny and Natalie for a slow dash to Stratford and the Guardian Press Centre.

So my first is the redesign I've worked on for ages finally coming to publication, and my second first is seeing the fantastic Guardian Print Centre. I have not seen many presses, that's for sure, but I did visit the previous Guardian press, but this place is great. We watched the presses running from inside this large room flanked by windows, which look out onto Great slabs of metal with paper rushing past and through them.

The physicality of the press is something to be seen. Printers stand in front of very high tech computer consoles, against which they'll hold the actual copy that has just been pulled form the press. The newspaper is positioned against an array of buttons, and the printer studies it to see if the inking is correct. If not he or she will press a button below the under-inked bit on the page, and because the button corresponds to that physical position in relation to the paper rushing through the press, it will affect the colour on the next copy pulled from the press . . .

Hmm, geek, me?

Anyway, it was exciting on all counts. Guardian Weekly looks and reads great. I am very pleased with the GW team for handling the new design so well, and more than satisfiedwith how it has turned out.

Lets hope some berliner presses get up and running in the US and Australia in the not to distant future, and the quality of printing and all-over colur can be seen around the world!

Are free newspapers destined for the dustbin of history?

London is getting sick of the enormous amount of litter generated by the 2 newest free newspapers available every day on our streets, according to MediaGuardian. I don't travel by tube train myself, but have heard from friends how they find themselves wading through a dirty carpet of newprint . . ironic though, that in this time of anxiety over the future of paid for newspapers, due to migration of advertising money - and changing reader habits, that free papers should come unstuck by their very physicality . . .