Like All Great Masterpieces, We Start With Pencil and Paper
We start with research, ideas, inspiration and pencil and paper. We follow the idea of user-centered design to create meaningful experiences by following our own modified version of the 5 plane approach as originally introduced by Jesse James Garrett. The 5 plane approach covers strategy, scope, structure, skeleton, surface phases as aligned by the ideal brand experience.
-
Phase 1: Strategy
Strategy helps define the goals of the site through research. It defines the needs of the business, the needs of users and the needs of the brand experience. The strategy starts with research and leads to clearly defined goals.
-
Phase 2: Scope
The scope helps to define how the brand conversation is had and how it functions as a site. Those features, functionality and conversation needs define what the scope is. It’s the blueprint of what is needed to build a successful conversation between the brand and the customer.
-
Phase 3: Structure
The structure is the map of everything that’s included in a site and takes into consideration all possible questions a user might have. It’s the organization of information and answers that a user might have and how a user would get to that information and where they can go from there.
-
Phase 4: Skeleton
The skeleton of the site is the placement of the buttons, tabs, photos and blocks of text. We tend to put this information into a functional specifications document that helps put a visual to the page requirements to help provide a complete brand experience. This clearly defines the organization of information and requirements on any given page.
-
Phase 5: Surface
The surface is made up of the visual elements of a page. The surface determines what the experience feels like, how information, content and interactions look and their stylistic and physical relationship to each other on the page. This is where the conversation takes on life and how it gets conveyed to the consumer and the brand takes on a user experience.
