Book of “Communicating Design”

This book has two parts: Design Diagrams & Design deliverables. This classification itself is interesting and reveals how much discussions and thoughts are behind it.

The two parts cover:

• Design Diagrams: Personas, Concept Models, Site Maps, Flowcharts, and Wireframes. Each of these is a separate, stand-alone diagram that needs a document around it to provide context.
• Design Deliverables: Design Briefs, Competitive Reviews, Usability Plans, and Usability Reports. These are multi-page documents that tell extended stories, incorporating diagrams from the first part of the book.

The book goes into detail of each artifact, including anatomy, tips on creating and presenting. I enjoy the clear definition and supportive visuals given for each artifact, for example:

Site map is avisual representation of the relationships between different pages on a web site. Also known as a structural model, taxonomy, hierarchy, navigation model, or site structure.

Some visuals for explaining sitemap: the visual explanations in the book are very practical

When creating, I now learn the lesson: create for your audience, avoid being self-indulgent.

The greatest misuse of a document is to create it for its own sake, and not to ensure its contribution and value to your project, your team, or the end product.

When presenting, Dan recommends a basic flow that can be applied and adapted for all kinds of artifacts:

1. Establish context
2. Describe visual conventions
3. Highlight major design decisions
4. Offer rationale and identify constraints
5. Point out details
6. Communicate implications
7. Solicit feedback
8. Provide a framework for review

I find this flow helpful to reflect on my own work, especially how to think ahead the potential risks of the design solution and communicate clearly the implications to stakeholders, and how to better plan for feedback or “homework” part (review after the meeting).

原文：https://minchen.medium.com/notes-from-dan-browns-books-b9f6e065bca9