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

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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/