Web Design Inside-Out

Whenever I start a new web project my first instinct is to start with the home page design. It’s fine to design that way for a brochure site, but when confronted with a dynamic website that will host a great deal of content, or a web application, I find that what works best is to design from the inside out.

The web is non-linear by nature; a designer is able to nudge the user towards viewing certain page elements (by using nothing less than sorcery, I assure you) but ultimately the user is in control of what page she wants to go to next on your site.

I found that the most logical design method is to start applying my design concepts to the “deeper” pages first, the pages that will contain the most content. That way I can tell from the start whether or not a design will work with the content that I have, and if not I can figure out sooner how to make it work.