Five Planes
The Strategy Plane
By determining product objectives and user needs, the decision process in building a Web site is determined.
Product objectives uncover what the product is meant to do, and what users want to get out of it. This is done through business goals, brand identity, and success metrics. Business goals and product objectives go hand in hand because it helps decide what the end product should do. Brand identity uncovers a set of conceptual associations or emotional reactions through the users' interactions with the product. Success metrics is an indicator that can be tracked after the product has been launched to see whether it is meeting the objectives and users' needs.
User needs need to be carefully analyzed as there is a broad range of users. In order to identify user needs, we need to understand who they are and what they need. User needs can be broken down into manageable chunks through user segmentation. This divides the audience into smaller groups based on demographics like gender, age, education level, marital status, income, and so on. Based on the goals of the web site, demographic factors can be very specific, or general. Another way to look at users is through psychographic profiles, which describe the attitudes and perceptions that users have about the world or about the subject matter of the site.
Another way to approach finding user needs is by conducting usability and user research. User research collects data needed to develop understanding what the user needs are. This can be done through surveys, interviews, focus groups, user tests, or field studies.
The strategy plane really focuses on finding the basis for your project and what you hope to accomplish with your product.