When I talk to software product development shops, discussions on user interface (UI) design encompass a wide variety of principles—perhaps ten to a dozen interrelated ideas that help to create a functional and enjoyable experience for the user. However, there is another reason to focus all the more intently on a great UI: product marketability.

Products don’t just need to be usable—they also need to be marketable. Usability, marketability, and UI design intersect properly only when the UI leads the customer to assign value to the product.

Emotions in Technology Purchasing Decisions, As Affected by the User Interface

Both designers and developers can forget that that purchasing decisions are often strongly influenced by emotions. While we like to think of the software purchase/subscription decision as being a shrewd comparison of features and benefits, it is in part an emotional transaction. (How much emotion comes into play varies dramatically from customer to customer.)

A good UI helps customers to bridge the gap between their current needs/aspirations and a new reality of knowledge and capability, and this results in a greater value being assigned to the product. Potential customers need to feel intellectually and emotionally rewarded through the product experience.

Moreover, designers need to remember that customers may arrive at product testing with strong emotions created by outside factors. A good example: upsetting past experiences using “unintuitive” and “unhelpful” software to perform critical tasks. This may not only have limited the customer’s ability to get things done, but may have contributed to frustration and anxiety about team/individual performance assessments.

The customer will push the “panic button” early in product testing if the “next move” isn’t immediately obvious. So which “panic button” will the user choose to push? The marketability of the product may depend on it; the value that the customer assigns to the product may be going down by the second.

One Way to Control the Panic Button: The Help System

An area of good UI design that is critical to building positive user emotions is the Help system. It is very important that the customer feel supported throughout the product experience. UI designers can control the panic button by placing Help system cues at appropriate locations within the system. (Hiding a small question mark icon in an over-cluttered toolbar barely counts.)

In my observation, over the years designers have become better at placing help cues throughout the interface. Developers have become better at making help systems respond intelligently by providing information relevant to the context in which the user is attempting an action. But there is still a lot of room for improvement in the location of Help cues, the presentation of Help information, and the content of the information itself.

If the struggling user is able to access the Help system quickly, get the instructions/explanation needed, and get right back into the game, the sense of panic or frustration can be turned into accomplishment and appreciation. What might have been a threat to marketability becomes an asset.

The Wrap Up

Many user interface design decisions are hotly debated, and only so much time and budget can be spent on the design process. Often, design decisions are the result of some type of compromise.

However, software development shops need to have some conception of how the UI is influencing perceived product value and overall marketability. Otherwise, you risk increasing the marketing budget and decreasing return on investment for both the product’s development cost and its marketing expense.

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There is nothing subtle about a big, yellow, school bus. They are designed to be highly visible for the sake of the precious cargo they carry. But, an international bus manufacturing company wanted their big yellow buses to “say” more than “watch out for me, and drive safely”. They wanted to communicate the subtle, behind the scenes, qualities of their product.

VALUE in the manufacturing process, a LEGACY of quality control, and RELIABILITY of performance were the three key qualities the brand wanted to emphasize in their business to business communications. It was decided to do this visually by digitally “building” buses out of the letters that make up those key words.

Trinity Consulting Art Director, Chris Pelicano, worked up rough illustrations to demonstrate the strength of the visual concept. The client bought into the approach. The roughs were sent to photographers who shot the buses according to the angle, composition, and perspective in the illustrations. The digital manipulation team then applied the 3-D text treatment to the images to achieve the desired effect. The result was an eye-catching series of trade publication advertisements that highlighted the subtle message behind the big, bold, yellow buses.

Oh, yeah, the buses still say, “watch out for me, and drive safely!”

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A good graphic design process focuses intently on the client's need to communicate its message, mission, and unique benefits to its target audience.

The concept development and layout stages are considered the most "creative" aspects of the design process, because they are usually the most visually dramatic. These stages begin with conversation and end with the presentation of visual layouts. From that point, the delivery of finished art is usually a matter of subtle refinement.

It is easy to regard the delivery of the finished graphics as the end of the "creative" process—and the completion of the work. However, the implementation of all that wonderful, finished art still lies ahead!

Let’s use cattle ranching as an example. The ranch owner has big plans to make his beef known throughout the territory. He builds his ranch, buys and breeds his cattle, sets up his distribution chain, etc. He hires some creative cowboys to come up with a name for the ranch and develop a brand symbol. After exploring a number of options, he settles on a great name, a memorable symbol, and has a perfectly crafted set of branding irons made. There it is. He is done. Right?

Wrong. He has just started the implementation stage; he still has the hard, time-consuming work of applying the brand to hundreds, perhaps thousands of cattle on the open range (or pasture) and in packaged form, on the way to market. Not to mention the trucks that haul the packages, the drivers who represent the ranch and its products, the sales force, the buildings, the business cards, stationary, newsletters, price sheets, ads, etc., etc., etc.

The bigger the rancher’s operation, the more implementation there is. And, big or small, implementation is an ongoing task.

If you have something to say—and you want to be both heard and remembered—you have to say it, say it again, say it again, and then keep saying it. Implementation puts the creative work...to work! Implementation is where the real effort and expense is put forth. But, if you have invested in a good creative team to craft your identity and message into a perfect symbol, then it is worth the work to spread it far and wide.

So, when you decide to engage the graphic design process to package your uniqueness, remember that your creative investment won't begin to pay off until you put your design to work—or in other words, until you implement it.

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When I was working for Trinity Consulting (CEO, Peter Mirus) The Aerospace Industries Association commissioned our team to create a new logo design for their SUPPLIER MANAGEMENT COUNCIL, an important membership subset organization.

Initial conversations with the client suggested that the new SMC logo could utilize the simple "wing" element and similar fonts as found in the existing AIA logo. (seen above right) The letters S-M-C, used as a monogram, might also be appropriate for the new logo, since the council would most certainly be referred to its initials. Graphic shapes resembling the fins of a jet turbine might also be a valuable ingredient in the final SMC logo recipe. Finally, to a lesser extent, the new SMC logo could also emphasize the "council" aspect.

An initial set of design thumbnails (shown above against the graph background) were created. They demonstrate how the designer quickly explored the merits of building the new logo on some of the key elements mentioned above. These thumbnails were too rough to show the client. Nevertheless, they are an integral part of the design process. They allow the designer to select the best design concepts for further refinement. The refined designs are then presented to the client for careful consideration.

Client feedback lead to additional refinement of ONE of the designs. Resulting in a logo concept that is a unique combination of jet turbine fin shapes integrated into a monogram of the letters S-M-C overlaid with a simple "wing" shape contained within a chromed ring. The finished logo artwork was finally rendered in three formats: a 2-color version in blue and black and two 1-color versions in black.

The set of finished logo files was delivered to the client along with a 3-page Logomark Usage Guidelines document which detailed the specific ink colors, display sizes, and file formats that would help ensure consistent use of the SMC logo and build brand equity. The client immediately introduced the new logo to its members as well as the wider aerospace industry through its normal communications channels.

As the new SMC logo accrues "flight hours" it grows in familiarity and consequently in value ... justifying the modest investment associated with updating and implementing a new corporate logo.

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A previous blog post introduced you to "thumbnails" as a visual language "spoken" by artists and designers, allowing them to explore, convey, and evaluate concepts quickly. The examples given were thumbnails leading up to the finished graphic design of a logo for Family 911 Media. This post introduces you to the "thumbnails" of illustration, known as rough sketches.

Rough sketches (roughs) explore illustrative concepts and compositions in much the same way that thumbnails explore logo designs and layout concepts.

Above, you will see four roughs for a book cover illustration depicting Don Juan of Austria. Each rough leaves room for the book title to display prominently at the top of the composition. Since the book is biographical, the cover art could depict any number of important moments or events in the main character's life.

As you can see, three of the roughs depict Don Juan as a dashing soldier on a horse. The forth rough shows him on the bridge of a ship. Since the climax of the story involved his leadership of the multi-national armada that won the sea battle of Lepanto, the publisher chose to pursue the ship captain approach. The finished painting is similar to the fourth rough, but the setting became a formal portrait rather than a live-action scene.

Illustrative roughs deal primarily with composition, the placement of large story-telling components. Details are overlooked in the ROUGH SKETCH stage … they are attended to later. The use of rough sketches facilitates communication between artist and client, which facilitates communication between client and customer via the finished product.

Communication is at the heart of the Trinity Consulting design process. We employ the language of ROUGH SKETCHES, when needed, to help our clients to "tell their story".

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Most designers and illustrators I know still think with a pencil (or digital stylus) in their hand. They brainstorm and concept by doodling and roughly sketching the ideas that come to mind. This simultaneous process of thinking and sketching allows creative minds to meander productively ... recording bits and pieces of ideas that will later be developed into finished designs and illustrations or set aside as mental stepping stones for future brainstorming sessions.

I find this process fascinating and very organic. It is like watching free-range thoughts ... or more often, half-thoughts, or maybe bits and pieces of thoughts. As such, thumbnail ideas are both intimate and dangerous things: intimate, because they may be connected to personal convictions, beliefs, and memories ... or dangerous, because, in their unrefined state, they can be provocative or polarizing. In either case, they are the raw product of a mind allowed to explore ideas without the constraints of self-criticism and censorship ... which is naturally applied later.

Thumbnail sketches communicate preliminary thinking. They are an integral part of the design process. They are not about style or drawing ability, they are about content, and most often only nascent content ... the beginnings of an idea. As such, thumbnails are not usually for public consumption or for showing to clients. They are a crude language that can only be spoken between people whose thought process leaves plenty of room for further improvement and refinement. But, among those who speak thumbnail, they are great for exchanging a variety of concepts quickly.

My intention is to offer our readers an ongoing sampling of working thumbnails (or rough sketches) and their corresponding finished products. I will post them without much explanation, allowing them to speak for themselves. At times the thumbnails will show a definite progression of thought, development, and refinement. At other times, it will be more difficult to see the connection between the rough idea(s) and the finished art. In either case I hope you will find them interesting.

Who knows? Over time you may learn to speak "thumbnail". Enjoy!

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Recently, I received two Microsoft Word documents containing the manuscript for a couple books I was about to design and typeset.  The author had obviously spent a great deal of time and effort to use several fancy fonts and varying point sizes and colors.  The entire document was center justified.  It was an elaborate attempt by a competent author to engage in amateur typesetting.  All the fonts, sizes, colors, and paragraph formatting was counter productive to the purpose of copywriting, which is to write good, compelling, error-free copy (content). Writers should concentrate on ... you guessed it ... writing.

Graphic Designers and typesetters, on the other hand, are responsible for taking good copy (content) and formatting it so it is both legible and aesthetically compelling.  This is best achieved by starting with unformatted plain text ... copy that is accurately key-stroked but has a minimum of typestyle formatting.

There are four main reasons for submitting copy in manuscript format (MF):

1. Copy Editing - Only approved, proofread, and edited copy should be typeset. MF facilitates easy proofreading and editing.
2. Typesetting - Minimal formatting allows the typesetter to keystroke or scan the manuscript with fewer errors ... or flow the electronic MF file into the typesetting layout with fewer chances of formatting conflicts and fewer extraneous features to remove.
3. Word Counts - Most book publishers need to accurately estimate the space that the final text will take up in the published version of a written work. This involves counting characters, (spaces, lines and characters per page) not just words. MF facilitates easy character counting by using monospaced fonts sized at 12 pt and set at a line length of about 60 characters.
4. Manuscript Handling - This is a workflow and working method issue.  It recognizes that many editors and typesetters (as well as proofreaders and designers) prefer to work with hard copies of written work as their source material for electronic typesetting/formatting. MF has a proven track record as a professional "industry standard" that should not hastily be set aside.

To learn more about submitting copy for designers/typesetters do a internet search for "Manuscript Format". For starters, I suggest the article below. Happy copywriting!

"Proper Manuscript Format" by William Shunn

http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html

For an example, see the "Manuscript Format" version of this article.

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Graphic Design is the ordering and arrangement of informational and decorative elements (content) according to a rational concept and theme, in order to communicate the theme/information to a specific audience and move them to a desired response. If you accept this definition, you can see why effective and efficient graphic design DEPENDS on a well thought-out CONCEPT and complete and accurate CONTENT.

Many clients approach graphic designers with requests such as, “I need a new logo!”  or, “I need a promotional brochure!” Requests for tangible deliverables like this are fine, but only address the second half of the reality. Why a logo/brochure is needed, and what message it is supposed to communicate, is the first half. A well thought-out CONCEPT answers / solves / addresses the “why” of the need and CONTENT satisfies the “what” of the need. CONCEPT and CONTENT are the “stuff” to which graphic design is applied. Graphic Design is “how” the CONTENT is delivered according to the CONCEPT.

CONCEPT

The CONCEPT is an idea, approach, or strategy that is devised to answer the big picture need a client wants to address ... to which graphic design services will be applied.

For example: the CONCEPT may be that a company is getting lost in a crowd of faceless commodities. It needs a face and a voice to stand out and be remembered ... it needs a mascot. ( ... it needs a small green lizard with an Australian accent ) And that mascot needs a single, simple message ... save people money on car insurance ... for example.

CONTENT

The CONTENT is guided by the CONCEPT and contains the details of what the message is —what needs to be communicated.

CONTENT includes:

• ALL the text/copy that needs to be communicated (compelling headlines, subheads, body copy, copyright notices, endorsement quotes, fine print, etc.). You need to know what you are going to “say” BEFORE you craft how you are going to say it. CONTENT precedes design.
• ALL/Any necessary pictorial elements (photos, artwork, logos, bar codes, mascots, decorative graphics, etc.) ... the main visual elements that support the CONCEPT.

The scope of a client’s need for Graphic Design services/solutions may be large or small, but it really begins at the level of CONCEPT and CONTENT ... not at the need for a deliverable. CONCEPTS can be determined during the course of a few short conversations or may be hammered out over a longer period of time. Either way, time spent on developing a solid CONCEPT is time well spent, because it guides the subsequent steps toward tangible deliverables.

Well thought-out CONTENT for EVERY communication piece that is subsequently designed is a must. It makes no sense to design layouts when CONTENT is missing. The “size” and design of the layout depends on the amount and kind of CONTENT.

The real world of Graphic Design process is often more rough than the ideal that is outlined here. But, experience teaches that even a modest concentration on CONCEPT and CONTENT prior to the creation of graphic design layouts can eliminate misunderstandings, and cut down on unnecessary revisions and costs—and improve overall project performance.

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Graphic Design involves the organization, prioritization, and presentation of ideas, concepts, and information at the service of a defined purpose. If the ideas are many, the concepts are complex, the information is vast, and the purpose is multi-phased—then the scope of the Graphic Design services could be enormous. The cost would be commensurate with the demand.

But, what if the scope was small, limited, and specific? Then the need and application of Graphic Design services would also be small, limited and specific ... and the cost would follow suit.

Graphic Design is scalable. First it is tailored to the size and complexity of the problem it is trying to solve and the timeframe in which it needs to effect solutions. But, it is also scalable in that a small, limited, specific design solution can be applied on an enormous scale. Branding is a perfect example of limited graphic design solutions applied on enormous scales. A simple logo can spread a company brand message/identity worldwide if it appears on millions of soda cans, or burger wrappers, phone screens, trash bags, etc.

Companies need to realize that they can engage Graphic Design services in such a way that they capitalize on the advantages of scalability. The key is to see Graphic Design as problem solving. Graphic Design creates solutions that can have wide ranging applications. In future blog posts we will explore the two main phases of engaging and applying Graphic Design solutions ... exploiting their unique scalable potential.

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"We will get a huge circus tent , with open sides on both ends to usher in and out the hundreds of guests that will attend. We will put our highest performance vehicles on display so visitors can touch and feel the quality. We will have mounted engines, chassis, cut-a-way models, accessories, performance charts and graphics, racing vehicles, performance tests, resource libraries, driving video games, give-a-ways, and live entertainment as well as high powered presentations and music."

Can you picture all of this?

Most people cannot ... without some help.

Jackson-Dawson Marketing turned to Trinity's Art Director, Chris Pelicano to help bring this complex concept to life. He created detailed concept renderings to replace the thousand words that would otherwise be needed to show and sell Ford on the promotional event. Below is one of the renderings and some larger detail views.

Concept renderings are invaluable selling tools for projects of any size. Trinity Consulting knows this and is prepared to help you and your clients to visualize creative solutions in a variety of formats ... from napkin drawings to full-color renderings. Let us help you show your clients what they cannot yet imagine.

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