This presentation, done for the Drupal Business Summit in 2012, covers factors that must be considered when planning Drupal implementations of medium to high complexity.
2. Dani Nordin
• UX Designer and
Strategist
• Specialize in Design
Strategy for Drupal
teams
• Founder, the zen
kitchen
• Author, Drupal for
Designers series
(O’Reilly, 2011–12)
• Twitter: @danigrrl
• Email:
dani@tzk-design.com
4. Discovery
• Understand the client’s specific functional needs
• Get clear on the client’s marketing and business goals, and
how this project fits in
• Get a handle on resource issues, time investment and other
practical considerations
• Research the client’s competitive landscape and audience
5. UX/Architecture
• Get an understanding of the site’s target users
• Map out how users will flow through specific key tasks, and
what information needs to be there to support them
• Find out what content exists for the current site, what needs
to be created, and how the content will be organized
• Come up with a set of assumptions, and standards that will
govern the project as you move forward
6. Prototyping
• Start setting up initial Drupal architecture, and laying in
content to see how it works in “the real world”
• Test task flows and assumptions with real users, and see
where you need adjustments
• Refine functional requirements and understand what needs
to be done to finish the project
7. Prototyping
• Start setting up initial Drupal architecture, and laying in
content to see how it works in “the real world”
• Test task flows and assumptions with real users, and see
where you need adjustments
• Refine functional requirements and understand what needs
to be done to finish the project
8. Visual Design & Theming
• Sets up visual standards that will guide the site’s look and
feel
• Applies those visual standards to the templates that will
output the site’s content
9. Functional Implementation
• Often happens concurrently with visual design & theming
phase
• Takes the knowledge gained in the UX, Architecture and
Prototyping phases and works it into a more finalized
version of the site
• Can be the longest—or the shortest—part of the process
10. Testing and Launch
• Moves the site from development to staging
• Makes sure that everything is working correctly in the
new environment
• Makes last-minute updates to modules, content and
other customizations
11. Project Wrap-up/Retrospective
• Takes a look at what went well, what needed tweaking, and
assesses the client/design team relationship
• Creates documentation and understanding that will help
make future projects easier
• Identifies new areas for iteration, improvement or growth in
the future
13. User Research
• Who are the site’s users?
• Customers/potential customers
• Content admins and editors
• What are their goals at the site?
• What is the context in which they’re visiting?
• Who are the major stakeholders in the project?
• What business goals do you need to achieve?
• Increased signups?
• Purchases?
• Contact requests?
14. Content Strategy
• How much content exists?
• Is the content on brand/message?
• Is there any new content that needs to be created?
• What types of content?
• Videos?
• Image Galleries?
• Articles?
• Who creates content?
• Does content have expiration dates or deadlines?
• Is there an approval process for publishing?
15. Information Architecture
• How is content organized?
• What “basic pages” (i.e. marketing pages) exist?
• What pages will involve listings of content (blog posts, news
items, etc.)?
• Are there specific tags, categories, or sections to consider?
• What does each type of content look like?
• Extra fields?
• Images?
• Video or audio?
• File downloads?
16. Requirements Gathering
• Who gathers stakeholder and user requirements?
• How are requirements delivered to the development team?
• Spreadsheet?
• Project management software?
• Who keeps the team on schedule?
• How are deadlines structured?
18. Hosting and server configuration
• Hosting
• Which provider?
• Shared hosting, private, cloud?
• Server configuration
• Integration with external APIs or software?
• Integration with other tools (advanced search, CRM, etc.)?
19. Users, Roles and Permissions
• Who has access to log in to the site?
• What types of access are required?
• Content editors
• Site administrators
• Site visitors/commenters
• What information is collected in the user’s profile?
• Should users be able to contact one another?
20. Content Entry, Migration & Display
• Does legacy content need to be migrated into the new site?
• Who will enter and manage new content?
• How many database queries (Views), i.e. blog listing, news
feed, etc. are required?
22. Visual Design
• Do brand standards exist or do they need to be created?
• Are there any special elements (callouts, advertisements,
etc.) that need to be accounted for in the design?
• Who will create the visual design?
23. Theming
• Who will apply the look and feel to the site’s theme?
• Are there any dynamic features that need to be created?
• Does the design need to work on multiple devices in
multiple contexts?
24. Responsive Design
• In what contexts do users visit the site?
• How do those contexts impact:
• Content served?
• Navigation?
• Interactive features?