Designing for Your Objectives - Six Revisions |
| Posted: 26 Mar 2014 03:00 AM PDT Whenever I’m working with a new client, the first question I ask them is what they want their website to do for them. Often, they don’t know. They just think a website is something they should probably have. Because other businesses have them.
But a website is an investment, of both time and money, and from a business perspective, it won’t be a smart one unless you know exactly what to expect out of your investment. Knowing what we need a website to achieve right from the start is crucially important to the entire project. It helps us maximize our conversion rates. It helps us develop a unified design direction. It helps us make good, logical decisions throughout the entire process. It helps us communicate our message more clearly with our teammates, our clients and our site users. In this article, we will talk about objectives-driven design. Types of Website ObjectivesWe could classify site objectives into two types:
These objectives must be identified at the start of website projects. Identifying High-level ObjectivesHigh-level objectives are the things you want to get out of having a site. How will the website contribute to the bottom line of the business? Examples of high-level objectives can be:
High-level objectives will drive the entire website production process. Identifying User-interaction ObjectivesAfter we identify high-level objectives of a site, we are ready to develop specific user-interaction objectives. User-interaction objectives are specific things we would like people to do on our site. Our user-interaction objectives should be purposeful. They should, directly or indirectly, lead to the achievement of our high-level objectives. We can categorize user-interaction objectives into two types:
Primary User-interaction ObjectiveA primary user-interaction objective is any interaction that will almost always count towards achieving our high-level objectives. For example, a user clicking on a "sign up" button is a primary user-interaction objective because it is a direct action towards our high-level objective of acquiring more users. Supportive User-interaction ObjectivesSome people might not be ready to perform primary user-interaction objectives. They might need to see more persuasive content in order to get them to sign up, for example. That’s where supportive user-interaction objectives come into play. They are like a safety net for us: If the person isn’t ready to take the primary user-interaction user-flow, then we provide them with alternative options that may eventually lead to it. An example of a supportive user-interaction objective is a person to clicking on a "learn more" link where they can read about the features of the product, key benefits, see a demo video and other persuasive material that may eventually lead to them clicking on the "sign up" button. Examples of User-interaction ObjectivesHere are a few examples of user-interaction objectives:
How It All Ties TogetherHere is how all the types of website objectives work together: Objectives-driven Design in ActionLet us look at some objectives-driven designs to gain a better understanding of the concept. In each example, see how specific design techniques like color choices, object sizing, visual hierarchy, groupings, and so forth inform us clearly what the objectives are. Example 1: Dropbox
Example 2: Barack ObamaBarack Obama’s site is another example of an objectives-driven design.
Example 3: TreehouseTreehouse is a site that provides online web design courses. Let’s see how objectives-based design is achieved in this example.
Example 4: InvisionWe can see the same design pattern we saw on Treehouse’s site on Invision’s home page.
Example 5: Keep SA RealKeep SA Real is an online store that sells apparel.
Implementing Objectives-driven DesignWe have gone over the basics of objectives-driven design as well as a few examples where we can see the idea in action. Now, let’s go over some of the things you can do in order to use the concept in your projects. Integrate an Objectives Identification Phase in Your Design ProcessA good project workflow should always start by identifying key objectives. And when doing so, give it the time it deserves. Make the identification phase an official part of the process and have guidelines that will help you tease out objectives. Then get sign-off from all the people involved so that everyone’s on the same page. Write down the key objectives and regularly refer to them. Use them to back up your design and development decisions. If you need some ideas for this, read the following:
Use Objectives-driven Design Methods to Your AdvantageThere are many tricks-of-the-trade techniques you can use to help you design with objectives in mind. Most of them will help you better arrange your layouts in order to emphasize on your key objectives. Here are some design techniques and concepts that help with objectives-driven design:
Keep It SimpleA basic principle that should be followed throughout the process of objectives-based design is to keep it simple. Simplicity ensures that we don’t clutter our layouts with things that can derail our users from our key objectives. In addition, too many options can lead to decision-paralysis. Look back to the examples we discussed to see how keeping it simple works for objectives-driven design. They all have a limited set of actions you can take. These articles on the topic will help you keep things simple:
ConclusionHaving clear objectives of what you want a website to do for you is a critical step towards its success. Once you know what your objectives are, you can design the entire site in a way that helps fulfill them. Related Content
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