Web design can sometimes feel a little like mind reading–clients trying to express abstract ideas about what they want, you trying to divine what they mean, all of you hoping to land on some kind of common ground. But the design process doesn’t have to be such a scary leap into the unknown.

Expert user experience designer Daniel Ritzenthaler has broken down a few simple strategies for taking the guesswork out of design over at A List Apart. His exercises are a great way to add some structure to the creative process and get the clients involved in a productive and meaningful way. Check out some of his best suggestions:

1. Set clear goals.

You can’t move forward unless everyone is on the same page about where you’re going. Ritzenthaler recommends using a simple statement to produce less ambiguous goals:

We want to __________ because ____________ so that ___________.

For example:

We want to update our header because it needs to be more SEO friendly so that we can get more search generated leads.

2. Organize the website’s pages.

Sometimes the best way to organize is to go low-tech. Ritzenthaler uses old fashioned index cards. He marks each one with the title of a page, then lays them out on a table, rearranging until the flow of the content makes sense.

3. Nail the layout.

Ritzenthaler suggests taking the mystery out of layout by sitting down with a client before the designing starts. Together, assign weight or points to each piece of information or item on a page, and sketch it out on a plain piece of paper accordingly. For example, a really important registration button might take up 50 percent of the page. The least important item would only take up 10 percent of the space.

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