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

Tue May 13 19:55:23 UTC 2008

Here's my pass at Question #1:

"The primary goal of the design pattern library will be to introduce design
patterns as a way to design usable, high-quality, and inclusive user
interfaces in specific contexts ("a proven solution to a common problem in a
specified context"). The library will be practical and foster collaboration
across disciplines, experience levels, and expertise. It will not focus on
creating a complete pattern language, or describing patterns in a more
academic sense."
Thought it was important to mention inclusive design and cross-discipline /
expertise collaboration.

As for Question #2:
It will be hard to identify a primary target audience since the OSDPL, by
its nature, will (and should) appeal to a broad audience. Developers who
need to design, designers who want to innovate and participate, "beginners"
looking for examples / guidance, etc. I think we'd want to keep the audience
mixed to be effective in advocating good design. So in short, I don't think
we have a primary audience (i know, not much of an answer :).

- Jonathan.

2008/5/13 Paul Zablosky <Paul.Zablosky at ubc.ca>:

> 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
> *<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
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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>
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-- 
Jonathan Hung / jonathan.hung at utoronto.ca
University of Toronto - ATRC
Tel: (416) 946-8312
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