I take the design of a project very seriously and for want of better cliché; a complex Flash project is only as good as its foundations.

Flash is very good at Rapid Application Development; indeed it’s very easy to build a working prototype of an idea in just minutes.  Whilst this creative freedom has many benefits and can produce great results, it needs to be tempered once you come to formal design.

The vast majority of my project based Flash application work is AS2.0 class driven OO. For very large projects, I use tools such as Enterprise Architecture to create the overall design, which can be shared and analysed by the team.  Design patterns are applied where applicable and frequent code reviews keep everyone focused.

Certainly not every Flash project can be treated this way – common sense should not be ignored, but where applicable, such an approach ensures maximum flexibility and re-usability.