C H A P T E R 3
Gathering Branding Requirements
What's In This Chapter?
- Key Questions to Ask
- The Value of Referencing Other Designs
- Things to Watch Out For
- Generating Creative/UX Discovery Briefs
- Estimating Effort Level and Time Required
In this chapter you learn what you need to do to prepare yourself for creating the visual design. Branding requirements are very different from standard business or system requirements. Design direction might come in the form of imagery, tone, and even fingernail polish colors. The process of gathering design requirements usually starts after the wireframes have been defined and approved. Figure 3-1, step 4b, shows the beginning of the Design phase. The designer (see the previous chapter for a definition of that role) is the primary person tasked with information gathering. The Discovery and Definition phases (steps 1–4) are important components of the user-experience process but since they are not focused around SharePoint branding they will not be covered in full detail within this book.
Figure 3-1. Step 1: Gathering branding requirements
As you learn the details involved in gathering branding requirements, it is important to understand all of the roles involved in the decision-making process. The visual designer holds the lead role in conducting the design sessions. The internal marketing or corporate communications team fills a key supporting role, as owners of the current visual branding. The team should be able to provide any existing style guides or documentation relating to the overall corporate brand, and, in most cases, will serve as the final approvers for the visual-design direction.
This chapter provides a variety of resources to help you with defining the visual design. These include a set of questions to ask your stakeholders and marketing teams. It also includes reference designs for inspiration, terms to watch out for, and definitions of a creative brief and why you need one. The last part of this chapter covers different levels of branding that can be applied and ways to estimate how long it might take to create.