Whats Your Web Design Process?

I have been trying to find a great new Word Press theme for this blog but it hasn’t been easy. Everything just blends into one, and there are so many people using them. My budget doesn’t allow for a premium theme, let alone a Word Press theme!

I haven’t been successful in getting themes done in the past, but I went over what I had done wrong and realized that it was due to lack of planning. I tend to be impulsive when I do things but in actuality, I work better when I have deadlines and actions mapped out.

I have gone over several design and blogging websites and have made up a guideline for myself, by following the outline that Matt Brett talks about on the ProBlogger blog. I have also integrated my own little steps so that I can create a good custom theme, in a good amount of time. I am toying with the idea of creating posts for each individual step.

Write down some of the features that I want in my theme. This one should only take a day or less.
Sketch outlines of what I want the design to look like. This should only take a day or two.
Decide on a color scheme. This one should only take a day or less.
Use PhotoShop to begin the design process by creating a rough outline of where the header, sidebar, content, etc. will be. This should take a day or two.
Use PhotoShop to begin graphical work. This will be done bit by bit. This should take me about 5-7 days.
Finish up the design by neatly slicing everything for self-organization. This should only take about a day or two depending on the complexity of the design.
Download the xhtml/css starter kit from WPCandy.com and code my design into xhtml/css. This should take me about 4-7 days.
After having completed the xhtml/css, I will locally install Word Press either on a demo site or in a local Word Press installation and import the sample data that is provided at WPCandy.com. This will take less then a day.
Start converting the xhtml/css template into a Word Press theme, using the demo or local installation. This should take me about 5 days.
After the conversion is complete, I will make sure that each page validates. This will only take less then one day.
After that, I will install the theme onto my blog, and then I am done!

Now, this is just off the top of my head so I am open to suggestions on changing the process so that I can make it work better, and faster.

What design process do you follow, and what should I change in my process? Let me know and I may share your comments in another post with a link back to your blog.