Article Idea:
Wireframe Deliverables For Key Stakeholders
suggested by joe gannon on 2007/05/21
You’re ready to present the IA vision to key stakeholders. In some cases they’ve been there during the design process. In other cases, they’re just interested in seeing what you’ve come up with. To move things forward you need their approval. Clearly, showing the high level navigation and page mockups are an important step in getting them to sign-off. So, you bring the comps to the meeting, then all the sudden they begin to question the structure. One thing I’ve often seen missing from deliverables is a high-leve explaination that in a nutshell explains and accounts for the concept behind the design. I’m not talking the gory techie details, but rather a summary that presents the vision for the benefits. The document uses the basic wireframe mockup and encapsulates the strategy behind each content element, and more importantly how it benefits the company and the user. I’ve used this document successfully in helping provide a brief synopsis of how the page content elements deliver a successful user experience. Consider this, the screen real estate is an investment—you need to explain how its going to benefit them, rather than explain how it works.
I don’t know what to call the document since its never described in IA circles. But, I do know that I’ve used such a strategy since 97, in part based on my training as an MBA from a (3rd tier school).
I recently used the same approach for a Fortune 100 client, who wanted to sell a page concept to the CEO. The CEO obviously don’t have time to deal with the gory details of the page layout—they want to know what it’s going to do for the company. And I needed to justify the concept just in case they start to question why the content elements are there, or why. Is it an IA document, content management or what deliverable I dont know. But it needs to be explained.
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6 people said yes. | 1 person said no.
Lois Lewis
0 Reputation points
Posted 2007/05/21 @ 20:42PM with
I do the same thing you’re talking about here – I call it design rationale. Often I map it back to paper prototyping results or user requirements. I’ll highlight a feature or interface mechanism – identify the rationale and the benefits of adding it to the design and also identify which requirement it maps too. I’ve heard that a few of the rapid prototyping tools support this concept too – I’m thinking specifically of Axure – I saw a demo of it and I think it has some functionality for mapping design elements to requirements.
Kyle Soucy
72 Reputation points
Posted 2007/05/30 @ 07:41AM with
I’d be interested in seeing examples of wireframes that present the concept/rationale behind the IA. I’d like to see how it’s incorporated into the wireframes without getting mixed up in other interface notes, comments, etc.