Collaborating in web design

When tasked to design a concept for either a website, app, or campaign for a green gaming initiative, in a group of 4 it was easy to give ideas and concepts which were valued by the group even if not used in the final idea. Although I went into the project feeling like my ideas wouldn’t be good enough, no one pushed away ideas but instead built from them and were able to create variations or expand on them. This meant that we were able to gather a collection of ideas to work with to see which worked best. We agreed that an app would best suit our vision, so then created a list of everything that could be a feature and adapted it to fit into one larger, cohesive idea.  As seen in this example, I had drawn up a sketch of my initial idea with other members then creating prototypes including different colour schemes and versions. Because we didn’t have a dedicated leader, it was a case of everyone doing their own part, asking for feedback, then sharing their result. This seems like it would have been more effective than having a leader, as we could see different visions firsthand and then work with whichever we agreed worked best.  While the others designed logo mock-ups, I started a rough app design. This was purely to experiment with possible layouts and functionality within the app to find what could fit without making it too confusing to a user. When doing this however, it wasn’t adhering to official app guidelines, which would be good practice to do next time I’m doing a similar thing. It would make it look a lot more professional and genuine even if it is only for a prototype, as these guidelines would need to be used for the final design anyway.  The first version was a basic low-fidelity design, as this allowed other group members to mention possible ways to lay out sections and include different things. No section had any real visuals in them but gave a rough overview of possible page layouts. These were then incorporated into a mid-fidelity design that gave a better idea of features which lead to badge designs being created by other members of the group.   Overall, I felt that the group was able to work seamlessly together without any conflict which allowed us to maximize all our productivity without anyone having to bear more work than another. The lack of a dedicated leader allowed us all to express our creativity and adapt our skills to help one another. I was able to learn from it that even if I feel my ideas aren’t that good, there’s no point in pushing them away as something can always be created and expanded on.