On the Surface — Thinking Design
We have now come to the final plane of Jesse James Garrett’s The Elements of User Experience. So far we have looked at:
- The Strategy Plane — balancing the objectives of the site with the user needs — The Strategy Underpinning a Website
- The Scope Plane — functional and content requirements — Understanding Your Website Potential
- The Structure Plane — interaction design and information architecture — Information Architecture — Solving Your Website Content Puzzle
- The Skeleton Plane — Interface, navigation, and information design — Sitemaps, Wireframes, and the Marketing Funnel
Lastly, we cover the Surface Plane — the sensory design. Besides ensuring each plane begins with the letter S, Garrett points out that design can cover, the way we arrange and present the skeleton can appeal to multiple senses. This is true depending on the product. For our purposes though, we are really concerned with visual design.
Design needs to be thought of in terms of what looks good vs what works well. It is of no benefit to any benefit to having the best looking website if users can not find the information or products they are looking for in as shortest path as possible. Therefore the design needs to support the strategy. The design needs also to convey the identity of the business…
