Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning

 $IBQUFSG4DSFFO%FTJHOT

Enter wireframes. If they’re done correctly, the wireframes will be an inventory

of every functional element and content container on the site. If you create a list

of all these elements and then select pages that have a mix of all these elements,

you can address all the design needs. In order to illustrate a comprehensive user

experience, however, you may need to mock up a few extra pages.

1SFTFOUJOH4DSFFO%FTJHOT

Treating screen designs as a deliverable means more than just putting together

a comprehensive document. It also means getting smart about how you present

the designs. Gone are the days when we could paste paper printouts of screen

designs to a board and go into a meeting like we’re ace advertising creative

types. That kind of show doesn’t cut it anymore. Web sites are becoming more

sophisticated, and so, too, are the working sessions where design teams present

the fruits of their labor.

.FFUJOH1VSQPTF

Most meetings about screen designs fall into one of three types. If you’re not

asking for final approval on a design, then you’re either seeking feedback or ask-

ing stakeholders to choose a direction.

1SFQBSJOHGPSBDMJFOUQSFTFOUBUJPO

Before presenting designs to stakeholders and clients, you can hold an internal

meeting to prepare for the discussion. Sounds like a lot of meetings, I know.

But think about it this way: A little preparation before showing designs to

stakeholders can avoid longer client meetings later down the road. By refining

the designs and getting your stories straight, you prevent unnecessary back and

forth in client meetings.

4PMJDJUJOHGFFECBDLPOEFTJHO

Once you’ve gotten your stories straight, thought through the designs, and

refined them within an inch of their lives, it’s time to get feedback from the

people footing the bill. Your stakeholders play a strange role in this process,

especially since nine times out of ten, they’re not the site’s target audience,

but they still need to approve the design. Even in this day when user-centered

design is so prevalent, it’s a rare client who asks, “How did the design perform

in testing?” Mostly, if they don’t like the background pattern, it doesn’t matter a

lick how well it tested.

There are two kinds of feedback, good and bad, and I’m not talking about posi-

tive and negative. Good feedback is meaningful, constructive, and actionable.

It clarifies the design problem or offers direction without compromising the

integrity of the overall vision. Bad feedback—well, that’s the kind we dread to

hear—entails stakeholders offering criticism based on personal taste, without

rationale or a nod to the system’s target audience.

As facilitator of this meeting, your job is to get all the feedback into that first

group, even if it means taking meaningless critiques and reframing them into

something designers can sink their teeth into.

Table 11.2 offers examples of comments stakeholders might make about the

health insurance site from Figure 11.1.

5BCMF

5VSOJOH.FBOJOHMFTT$SJUJRVFTJOUP.FBOJOHGVM'FFECBDL

5IFZTBZ :PVSFTQPOE

5IBUDPMPSCMVFJTVHMZ 8IBUEPOµUZPVMJLFBCPVUJU )BWFZPVTFFOBCMVFUIBUZPV

QSFGFSSFE

*EPOµULOPXXIBU*µNMPPLJOH

BUIFSF

8FMMXIBUXBTUIF¾STUUIJOHZPVTBXPOUIFQBHF

5IFQBHFUJUMFJTUPPCJH 8FXFSFSFTQPOEJOHUPVTFSSFTFBSDIUIBUTBJEVTFSTOFFEUP

LOPXXIFSFUIFZBSFJOUIFQSPDFTT*TUIFSFTPNFUIJOHFMTFPO

UIFQBHFUIBUEFTFSWFTNPSFQSPNJOFODF

*EPOµUUIJOLPVSVTFSTXJMM

MJLFUIJT

8IBUUISFFUIJOHTXJMMDBVTFBOFHBUJWFSFBDUJPOJOVTFST 8IBU

EPZPVUIJOLVTFSTXJMMEPXIFOUIFZFODPVOUFSUIPTFUIJOHT

*EPOµUMJLFUIFDVSWFT 5IFZXFSFNFBOUUPUBLFUIFFEHFPGGSFNBJOJOHQSPGFTTJPOBM

CVUFNQIBTJ[JOHGSJFOEMZ%PUIFDVSWFTFWPLFTPNFUIJOHFMTF

UPZPV 8IBUGFFMJOHTIPVMEUIFEFTJHOFWPLF

Have someone at the meeting capture the feedback. If you can record the audio,

that’s even better. By having a good record of the meeting, you protect yourself

from scope creep—attempts to make the project bigger than its original param-

eters. Of course, such a careful record of the meeting requires you be clear

about how you will respond to their suggestions, because they will hold you to

1SFTFOUJOH4DSFFO%FTJHOT 