Multimedia & Website Development Initial Planning

A plan is needed Before you start the design process, you need a clear idea of the requirements A team effort involving –Members of the design team –Programmers –Infrastructure or IT people –The customer (internal / external)

Basic Questions What are you trying to accomplish? Why are you building the site/product? Who are you designing for?

Process Overview 1. Define a statement of purpose 2. Identify user groups 3. Define feature set 4. Create architecture maps 5. Produce final deliverables

Software Development Later in the module… Examine the process of designing

1.Statement of purpose

Goal If designing a site was a game, the Statement of Purpose sets out what we need to achieve to win A reflection of the business rules for the site Explain how the site supports an organisation’s business model

Business objectives Can have a number of objectives including… –Technical support –Building brand awareness or loyalty –Direct sales –Entertainment –Providing information Let’s look at some examples

Benchmark for success Examine the basic needs of the users of a web site Indicate the specific features set needed to satisfy the specified users in order to be successful Keep to general terms at this point, will refine later in the process

Example: SiteDev SiteDev is a start-up software company selling a software application aimed at construction companies working on medium to large projects Company consists of one programmer (a former construction manager) who has worked on the software package in his bedroom for ten years Customers are very large companies, not used to dealing with one-man start-ups

SiteDev Statement of Purpose The SiteDev web site should communicate effective marketing messages to individuals at several levels of the client organisations in order to support the sales process. Technical and procedural information should be presented to likely users of the software to encourage them to champion the product. Cost benefit and financial arguments should be presented to a management audience. The site must convey the impression that SiteDev is a professional and stable company with a great future.

2. User Groups

Who are the users? An essential question for any new site or redesign project Once users are identified, their needs can be accommodated

Groups of users Departments can help the design team to identify categories of site users Users are grouped according to similar needs Groups can be broken down into subclasses according to appropriate criteria such as Age, technical experience, musical taste Bolton Institute as an example…

Specific user groups Begin to make technical decisions based on likely user profiles –Bandwidth availability –Browser choice –Screen size Develop use case charts –Identify steps needed to complete an objective –Keep the steps broad and high-level at this stage

Later stages User groups help… –Identify key audiences –Make technology decisions –Provide a framework for navigation Use cases help… –Clarify the tasks the site must enable –Sites are ultimately task-oriented

SiteDev Users Site Users Investors New Customers Senior Management Project Managers IT Department Existing Customers