article

Department of Multimedia

30 de maio de 2019

Visual design is the tip of the iceberg

It's safe to say that every professional in the creative industry can agree that visual design does definitely play a huge part in the design process. But, are visuals the main aspect of the process?

The User Experience Design Iceberg is a metaphor created by Trevor Van Gorp as an illustration to explain the 5 Planes theory presented by Jesse James Garrett in his book "The Elements of User Experience". According to Garrett, these 5 layers of the design process are responsible for a good user experience: strategy, scope, structure, skeleton and surface. Each layer is supported by the next and so on, building up from the most abstract to the most concrete one.

Strategy: The first plane, deepest in the ocean, is an abstract step. This is all about the user needs. Why are we developing this? Who's going to use this product? Why will they need this? These fundamental questions can be answered with strategic research, interviewing users and studying the market competition.

Scope: This is the part where we define both the functional and the content requirements. Now that we know our product's goals, it's time to ask ourselves: "How are the users going to achieve this?". This step is also very important to plan the value of the product based on the project's size and time.

Structure: This layer is divided in two smaller components that define the interactions of the user with the product, the way the product responds to the user, how the informations are shown and how are they prioritized.

A. Interaction Design: How does the user interact with the product? How does the system respond to the user?

B. Information Architecture: How are the contents organized? Is this organization understandable to my target audience?

Skeleton: This phase is responsible for the visual arrangement of all the functionalities of the product in the form of an interface. Wireframes are often used to express the interface, navigation and information design. "How does the user navigate my product?", "How is the content presented on screen?".

Surface: And finally we reach the surface level! This is where visual design goes and it's the sum of all the work and decisions made in the previous layers. The colors, the layout, typography and general appearance of our product.

Like the structure of a building, for example, each layer is dependant on the layers below. You can have the most amazing penthouse apartment in the world, but if your building has no structure, your apartment is inevitably going down. The same goes for visual design in the user experience design process.

Source: Garrett, J. J. (2011). The elements of user experience: User-centered design for the web and beyond. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.

Starlight Software

By Guilherme Lima

Department of Multimedia

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