On Gathering Visual Design Requirements

When approaching the visual design of a given project, I've found the following framework to be helpful in gathering requirements. Non-functional Specs

• e.g., Screen resolution

Technical Specs

• Technical limitations
• Framework
• What technologies/interfaces are users familiar with?

Messages

• Key attributes
• User expectations
• Look/feel

Standards

• Existing corporate standards
• Find common ground, establish new standards
• What are users familiar with? (layout, color, visual cues)
• How much branding of content?

Relationships Get landscape relationship of elements:

• Level(s) of users
• Different experience for each user?
• Parent/Child Relationship? Equal? Powered by?
• Sense of place
• Data relevance
• Organizational integrity (for ea. group)
• Site to site
• Site to application
• Data owner/source

The goal of the requirements, of course, is to drive and inform the visual design. We collect information such as key attributes to translate them into sets of criteria which become underlying principles for the visual design. Getting a landscape relationship of elements is important because it helps us to create visual hierarchies, which essentially creates meaning for users.