requirements definitions of the geospatial web oct27 v1 mm
TRANSCRIPT
REQUIREMENTS DEFINITION OF THE GEOSPATIAL WEB
ENVS 4522
In order to understand requirements we need to
take a step back…
What makes a good website?
IntuitiveTransparentEfficientWell organizedRelevant Timely Content
A website that is good is usable.
What is usability?
A good website isn’t a mistake.
Functionally correctEfficient to UseEasy to learnEasy to rememberError tolerantSubjectively pleasing
Why is usability important?
A Highly usable website is the result of careful consideration on many different levels. When peeled away we see layers of this user experience.
Duality of Web Design
Application DesignInformation
Distribution and Retrieval
Human Computer Interaction
Information Architecture
Interaction Design
?
Knowledge Management
Strategy Plane
We are concerned with Defining the Requirements and therefore focus on
The target Audience The Site Goals The User Needs The Business Goals
Site Objectives
This helps us ask several key questions: Who are we designing for? What is the purpose of the project? How will it be useful to our user audience?
Tools of Requirements Definition Use Cases Personas Competitive Analysis Defining Business Goals
Persona Example
A persona usually includes:
a name and picture Demographics (age, education, ethnicity,
family status) Job title and major responsibilitiesgoals and tasks in relation to your site environment (physical, social,
technological) a quote that sums up what matters most
to the persona with relevance for your site
Use cases
Describe how a particular user will perform a given task on your website
These are usually narrative in format and define through the story the steps a user must take to perform the task
Each use case captures The Actor (who is using the Website) The Interaction (what the user does) The Goal (the user’s purpose)
The Scope Plane
The focus becomes less abstract as we look at the functional specifications
Technical Specifications Content Requirements
Tools
Often Creative briefs are used in this phase
This defines the conceptual approach, genres, metaphors, and imagery is to be used.
Ie. Comic approach - fun or serious These are often used for strategy to
make something memorable to the user audience.
Structure Phase
Conceptual design begins as designers begin to determine how information is organized and the system behaves
Typically this is called Interaction Design and Information Architecture
Tools
Information architecture is concerned largely with taxonomies
Interaction design is concerned with User flows
The Skeleton Plane
Elaborates on the information Architecture and Interaction Design through Wireframing
Wireframing concerns itself with the placement of content pieces without concern for the look
Can be done in a variety of applications including Photoshop, Visio, Illustrator, OmniGraffle etc
The Surface plane
Elaborates on the information Architecture and Interaction Design to create a visual treatment of the site
Visual designs are then used to tie everything together
This includes such things as style guides and design mock-ups
Final result
The final result is a site that is designed which considers all user interactions in an intuitive manner
This design process is similar to what you will be creating in the final assignment.
Resources
http://www.usability.gov/ http://www.boxesandarrows.com/ http://www.useit.com/ http://blog.jjg.net/