Many sites lock down code and design, only to recast the user to fit later. Users are invariably both dumb and smart, inexperienced and expert, all in accord with decisions which were made earlier and now too late to change. Thus designers are often called in, as the saying goes, to paint polkadots on an Edsel. No small wonder design is often seen as a superficial afterthought.

Take the interactive animation above. It works as a static image alone, even though clicking on the silhouette reveals more. In essence a surprise bonus in reward for exploration, but no serious penalty should the user not click.

Writers often achieve ‘good design’ by writing to one person rather than the audience or disembodied market. In similar fashion, it may make sense for you to sketch out a specific user to design for. Work on a rough outline, which can then be filled in before you draw the first pixel of the interface.

Try to rephrase design decisions in terms of what you have decided on as your target user.