Although I am primarily a developer, I do so love to try my hand in design whenever possible. So heres how I would handle it
1) Select a color scheme/concept 2) Develop my primary navigation area 3) Create Mock up pages for every page that the application will have. 4) Figure out how best to minimize the use of graphics to help increase load time, without loosing the design. 5) Create my style sheet as best I can before coding the html 6) Start coding 7) rework css/design layout in various browsers 8) hand over designs to developer, have developer add all required controls (forms, repeaters, etc...) and code behind 9) fix any issues the developer encounters with their layout. 10) recheck usability in all browsers 11) Open site for beta (only informing a few users about it) 12) fix any issues beta users find. 13) Launch site officially.
Thats pretty much the quick and dirty on how I would handle it....but then again, who am I? :o)