Building a Plan: The 5 Planes of Design
The Strategy Plane: What do you want from your website and what do your users want? Are you expecting users to be experts or new to the content you plan to present?
The Scope Plane:Defining the scope plane is like creating a workout plan. You determine why a good workout plan will benefit you and then you create a plan to execute the process in a way that makes sense not only for you but for the other people in your life.
The Structure Plane:If we continue to use the analogy of a workout plan, the structure plane relates to what are the requirements for a workout plan? What is needed to make the plan happen? A gym membership, a physical from your primary care physican, workout gear, water bottles, and a diet plan are some examples.
The Skeleton Plane:By the time we've reached this point, we are mostly ready to start working out. Moving back to the concept of webdesign, our plan is taking shape but we need to understand how users will navigate around the site and if the information design is functional for users. Wayfinding is imporant here too "helping people understand where they are and where they can go."
The Surface Plane:How the site looks, what colors, images, and fonts will be used. How will your content visually appeal to readers? Are you creating an identity, a brand, if so, think about how colors and images correspond to your vision.
