As UXers, and specifically Interaction Designs, most of us are comfortable and in control up until the point where we hand over wireframes to Visual Designers. At that stage, things can get a little tricky. How do you keep control of the design? How do you prevent client stakeholders from steering it in weird and arbitrary directions? How do you even brief the Visual Designer and then provide meaningful critique as they progress the design? We have some answers. Borrowing from behavioural psychology and leveraging Bipolar Emotional Response Testing (BERT) we've devised a method that draws out a design brief directly from users and solves many of the problems often encountered when moving from wireframe to finished visual design. We detail this method and illustrate it by way of a recent mobile app case study. You'll leave with practical tools that you can use on your project to give your wireframes the best chance of becoming fantastic visual designs that meet the specific desires of your users. Oh, and stakeholder reviews will be a breeze.
Turning Wireframes Into Polished Visuals - UX Australia 2017
1. Visual
Design
Chart 1 the chart
Wireframe
Turning Wireframes into Polished Visuals
…Developing a singular, focused visual design brief
while reducing stakeholder meddling.
Matt Morphett - User Experience Strategist
Jack Hsu - Visual UX Designer
@mattmorphett
@jack_ak_hsu
2. 1. Visual design not a User Centred process
2. Visual design not data-driven
3. You lose control of the visual design
Problems we’ve observed - UX designer
3. 1. Design brief is usability based only
2. Brand-guideline + personas are not enough
3. Visual attributes in a successful design?
4. Visual attributes users find desirable?
5. Business or product stakeholders often provide feedback
that they are unqualified to provide
Problems we’ve observed - visual designer
12. Bipolar Emotional
Response Tests or BERTs
are a method of
determining people’s
subjective response to any
designed artefact by
plotting their feelings
about it along a range of
dimensions.
BERTs
15. • Stick to between 5 and 10 dimensions
• Use terms that your audience will understand
• Cover the gamut with continua
• No overlaps between continua
• No negatives, no positives
• Leave room for designer interpretation.
Suggestions
21. Intricate Minimal
Traditional Avant Garde
Professional Casual
Natural Engineered
Warm Cool
Passionate Clinical
Subtle Bold
Customer
preference
Moodboard
DNA by the
Designer
22. Intricate Minimal
Traditional Avant Garde
Professional Casual
Natural Engineered
Warm Cool
Passionate Clinical
Subtle Bold
Moodboard
DNA by the
Designer
Customer
preference
23. Intricate Minimal
Traditional Avant Garde
Professional Casual
Natural Engineered
Warm Cool
Passionate Clinical
Subtle Bold
Moodboard
DNA by the
Designer
Customer
preference
40. Stakeholders…
Stop asking for drop shadows
Trust the design process and people
Start saying “I don’t know, what do our customers say?”
Users…
Encounter products that feel like a natural part of their lives
Designers…
Receive clear direction
Know when their design is working
43. Thanks
Special thanks to
Shane Morris
Mario Boutet
Victor Rodrigues
David Thambiratnam
Robert Southwood
Saji Maruthurkkara
Akhila Baht
Erika Hillemacher
Matt Morphett - User experience strategist
Jack Hsu - Visual UX Designer
@mattmorphett
@jack_ak_hsu