[Design Patterns] OSDPL Questions of the day - Goal & Audiences

[Paul Zablosky]

I have some thoughts that bear on QotDs 1 and 2.  To my mind, the OSDPL 
is a setting down of a portion of the /body of knowledge/ that expresses 
the principles of good design. As such, it should serve as a reference 
work, as well as a repository for study.  While it may be used more by 
junior/new designers, I think it sends the wrong signal to explicitly 
target them in the goal statement. Those new to any area of expertise 
always refer more frequently to the reference works of their trade, but 
the reference works are generally aimed at the whole profession.

As for target audience, it is my hope that the OSDPL will be accessible 
to both designers and developers, and its contents serve as a focus for 
common understanding between them. I'd like to see this expressed 
somehow in the goal statement.  Roughly, it could say:

    The primary goal of the design pattern library will be to promulgate
    design patterns as an approach to the creation of usable,
    high-quality user interfaces.  For the purposes of the library, a
    design pattern is defined as "a proven solution to a common problem
    in a specified context".  The library will have a practical focus:
    as a common source of design inspiration and examples of best
    practice for both designers and developers, as well as serving as a
    focus of discussion for their collaborative efforts.

That could use some polishing, but it covers the cases I'm thinking 
about. Of course, I could be missing the point about all of this.  I'm 
interested to hear what other people think.

Paul

Allison Bloodworth wrote:
> Hi folks, 
>
> A couple folks missed the question of the day I sent out Sunday night, 
> so I'm resending it along with the second question of the day for the 
> Open Source Design Pattern Library. Please feel free to either respond 
> to this email thread and/or add your answers to this wiki 
> page: http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/OSDPL+Discussion+Questions+and+Answers
>
> 1. At 
> _http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/Design+Patterns+Library+Proposal_, 
> our proposed goal reads:
>
> "The primary goal of the design pattern library will be to introduce 
> design patterns as a way to design usable, high-quality user 
> interfaces in specific contexts ("a proven solution to a common 
> problem in a specified context"). The library will have a practical 
> focus, intended mostly as a tool for junior/new designers as well as 
> developers. It will not focus on creating a complete pattern language, 
> or describing patterns in a more academic sense."
>
> Is this the best statement of our goal? Can we add to this and flesh 
> it out more?
>
> 2. Who is the audience of the OSDPL? Are we trying to serve too many 
> different audiences, and if so, should we try to pick a primary 
> audience to serve? Is it possible to pick a primary audience to focus 
> on where if we serve their needs, we will end up serving most of the 
> needs of our other audiences? (This is a similar concept to picking a 
> primary persona on whom to focus a website or application's design. In 
> this situation we also try to meet the needs of secondary personas, 
> but never to the detriment of the primary persona's experience.)
>
>     * See:http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/Design+Patterns+Library+Proposal for
>       some initial ideas on this.
>
> Looking forward to getting your feedback on these important issues -- 
> see you at our next meeting Wednesday, May 14th, 10am PDT on Fluid's 
> Breeze server: http://breeze.yorku.ca/fluidwork (no login required, 
> just enter as a guest and turn on your camera/microphone). Feel free 
> to add additional discussion items to the agenda on this 
> page: http://wiki.fluidproject.org/x/0Ywk.
>
> Allison
>
> Allison Bloodworth
> Senior User Interaction Designer
> Educational Technology Services
> University of California, Berkeley
> (415) 377-8243
> abloodworth at berkeley.edu <mailto:abloodworth at berkeley.edu>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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