| At Harry Tennant & Associates
we approach the challenge of Web site design in three perspectives:
Information Design, Interaction Design and Presentation Design.
It is handy to think of the three categories as a series of steps,
but in practice designers keep all three in mind throughout the
design process. After the initial design and implementation a
fourth step comes into play: Evolution and Redesign
Information Design
What are you trying to do? This is the most basic question about
your Web site. It's answer involves what information or experience
you want to convey and the various audiences you expect to serve.
The primary results of Information Design are the Project Plan
and the Information Structure.
Interaction Design
How will it work? Interaction Design addresses the degree of
control the Web site visitor has, how she becomes oriented to
the site, how she'll navigate and the usability of the site. Interaction
Design concludes with the production of a Storyboard of the site.
Presentation Design
How should it look? Presentation Design addresses the style and
appearance of the site, how pages will be layed out and what common
elements of structure, control and media will be used throughout
the site to give it coherence and consistency. The results of
Presentation Design are the Functional Prototype and Design Guidelines.
Evolution and Redesign
Perhaps the most striking difference between publishing a Web
site and publishing nearly any other type of product is that all
the cost is involved in design and implementation. There is no
production cost...page accesses are free. That means that change
is cheap. And that means that change is mandatory: the competition
will be changing, so must you.
This process is an adaptation of that described
in Kristof and Satran, Interactivity by Design, Mountain
View, CA: Adobe Press, 1995. |
