Video by Variant Studios

As designers we are often lured into the temptations of bad photoshop practices. We’re designing in the moment and don’t think about the consequences. But the reality is your clients’ requests to make a design more ‘edgy’ will lead to many extra hours of theming if not done right. The seemingly endless rounds of revisions caused by “I know it when I see it” type feedback, will take so much longer when you’re using the wrong tools. Following ‘The 10 Commandments of Photoshop Mockups’ will get you well on your way to eternal designer bliss.

In this session, I’ll stand upon my bully pulpit and evangelise the best practices for mocking up websites using Photoshop (Fireworks can come too.) Overall these techniques fall under the umbrella of The Two Mega Commandments:

Love Thy Self

It’s all about non-destructive Photoshop techniques. Giving you, the mighty designer, the freedom to flex your design muscles, while saving you loads of time on revisions.

Love Thy Themer

Somebody has to build it, right? This is either you, your co-worker or your client- in any case you don’t want them taking your name in vain when it’s time to make your design a reality. We’ll walk the path of the righteous designer as we look at ways to make your mockup transition smoothly to HTML.

And while I like to think what I say is infallible, we’ll definitely leave time for the group to share their own techniques.

This session is for those that design websites (not just Drupal) and the themers that make it happen. Previous Photoshop experience would be good, as there is much to cover and we might not have time to explain what a layer is.