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

Tue May 13 20:32:00 UTC 2008

For question 1:  One more goal we haven't explicitly included that is  
very important is creating a shared language.   When we all know  
exactly what we mean (or can go to the pattern for clarification)   
when we say "lightbox overlay" it sure makes the conversation more  
smooth.  I actually think in a diverse  community like ours that this  
might be one of the biggest benefits we get from the library.

More comments in-line with Paul's...

-Daphne

On May 13, 2008, at 11:07 AM, Paul Zablosky wrote:

> 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.
This is a really good point!  Although we want to design the patterns  
in a way that is helpful to more junior designers (assuming if it  
works for them, it will also work for Senior Designers), we don't have  
to be explicit about that in the goal statement.  +1 for removing  
those terms.
>
>
> 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.

I agree and would also like to see the library useful to both  
designers and developers.

I do have some concerns about whether 1 version of a design pattern  
will work for both audiences though.  I think I mentioned on the call  
that it might be useful to have a couple different levels of pattern.   
This is generalization but I'll use it to express my point.  Designers  
want to understand why this is the right pattern, who else has used  
it, what other design considerations do they need to think about when  
using the pattern, etc.  They want interaction consistency with some  
flexibility for innovation and different contexts.  I think many  
developers want it to 'cut to the chase', "just tell me how to solve  
this interaction problem" or "tell me how to implement this solution,  
don't give me a bunch of different options" -- much more  
prescriptive.  They are also going to want to have code examples or  
actual code to use.  Additionally, the 2 disciplines search strategies  
may also be quite different from one another.

I can't outline all the distinctions right now but my gut tells me we  
have 2 primary personas for the OSDPL:  1) Junior Designers (more  
experienced designers are secondary because their needs will be met by  
meeting the Junior Designers needs) and 2) Developers / implementors.   
Each primary persona needs their own interface so in this case they  
need their own form of the pattern.  This doesn't have to mean 2  
completely different patterns.   I think it could be as simple as a  
full version and a stripped down version.
>
>
> 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 
>> <mime-attachment.gif>, 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
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> fluid-work mailing list
>> fluid-work at fluidproject.org
>> http://fluidproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-work
>>
>
>
> -- 
>
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>
>

Daphne Ogle
Senior Interaction Designer
University of California, Berkeley
Educational Technology Services
daphne at media.berkeley.edu
cell (510)847-0308

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