![]() It’s a simple overview.Īnnotated Wireframes – This is essential and one of the hardest parts of the process because it involves a lot of detail in communicating the functionality of the interface. But, I generally spend a little time in this section telling the user what I am going to show and what I will tell them in the remainder of the document. If you can’t succinctly outline the problem the design solves, you might have another sort of problem. Outlining the problem is important for me because I have found myself working on marketing projects more than once where there was no problem. Introduction – This is where I usually outline the problem this solves for the user. Remember: First impressions are lasting and you want to have a professional first impression. Including a title page just gives your document a polished and professional look. Title Page – You should have a title page and while this might seem a no-brainer, many designers I work with will omit or forget to include it relying, instead, on the title of the file. So let’s go over the 4 Essential content items for UX Specifications with a few bonus items thrown in. UX Specifications Example – Personal Fine Tuning For that, I used a flow diagram and included it as an appendix in the specifications. But, I recently worked on an entirely new feature requiring us to understand the flow of the users. A site map is not necessary in our specifications and we need only know where the new feature fits into the existing navigation. For example, I currently work on a platform where I design new features for that platform which is well into its third major version. Site maps, conceptual models, personas and the like are truly only necessary when the project is self-contained. For me, it really depends on the project and what the document needs to communicate to the developers and stakeholders. But, you can include a lot more such as flow diagrams, conceptual models, site maps and user research conducted prior to or during the design process. The 4 essentials are a title page, an introduction to the feature, annotated wireframes and a version history. How you structure your specification documents will largely depend on the client or organization you are working for. ![]() But, it doesn’t give you much in the way of tools in putting these documents together. Chapter 8 of that book is an excellent overview of the documentation process. ![]() It is now in its second edition, but 4 years old and due for an update (hear that Dan?). What should they include? What should they look like? Most importantly, what should you use to build them? The best coverage I have found on this topic is Dan Brown’s book, Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning. UX specifications and documentation are not very well covered topics in our profession. ![]() For the sake of argument, let’s suppose you are in organization where these deliverables are expected. But Lean UX is a topic for another forum. That is, our deliverables are often seen as evidence of our work and justification of our existence in an organization – despite the fact that most of our deliverables are thrown away by the time development is in its final stages. (GN ReSound produces Hearing Aids, which are considered medical devices and FDA regulation requires stringent documentation.) The other problem with leaning out your process is the lack of visibility. As much as I would like to get away from updating a set of UX specifications 9 times, I really can’t because my company is regulated by the FDA. But, many organizations rely on these documents as part of a formal or even regulatory process. Now, there is the whole idea of Lean UX and spending less time on these deliverables. I can always judge my own specifications by whether or not I can understand the design 3 months later when a developer comes to ask me a question. Indeed this last point is most important. They communicate your design to the developers, the stakeholders and often yourself after you have moved on to a different project. This is why your specifications document (or documentation) is so important. I have written about this before in:įive essential elements in presenting UX design You can have what seems to be a perfect design, but if it is not well communicated or you simply cannot explain and justify decisions made, you will sink your design in the space of a single meeting. Indeed, it is as important as the design itself. Now what? What do you do with all that work and how do you communicate your design?Ĭommunicating design is a critical part of the entire design process and often where things go wrong. You might even have developed a prototype and conducted a little usability testing on the fly. So you figured out your design, met all the requirements and managed to create an interface that not only solves the end-users’ problems, but is also aesthetically appealing.
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