UX Patterns and Guidelines Revisited - Experience Design Strategy

Is there only one way to create patterns and guidelines?

In an earlier post, I talked about the difference between user interface standards, patterns, and guidelines. Since then, I have been thinking about what makes a good set of patterns or guidelines. Is there an approach that works best? Are there some key elements that must be included?

There are many pattern resources available on the internet such as the one that Yahoo provides. Many companies also create guidelines which are widely available. Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines and Microsoft’s User Experience Guidelines are two good examples.

You might be considering creating UX patterns or guidelines of your own. Before you do, you may want to consider a few questions.

- What are your goals? Are you trying to ensure a consist brand or experience across multiple products? Or, are you trying to provide some inspiration or best practices to get projects started?

- Why will anyone read or use your guidelines? How are yours different or better than others? Are you planning to enforce consistency in some way?

- Are you creating a complete set of patterns and guidelines or will this be delivered as a work in progress? To what extent do you plan to collaborate with others and change these over time? If you make changes, how will those be rolled into products that were early adopters?

How detailed will you be? Are you planning to provide complete interaction and aesthetic details? Will you provide code samples or templates?

Two things I have found that help in getting guidelines adopted are

1. They need to be easy to adopt

They need to be backed up with data

In terms of easy to adopt, you need to provide an easy to read summary along with more implementation details. Provide templates for OmniGraffle, Visio, or whatever tools your designers use to create wireframes. Ensure your recommendations are easily implemented in the developer’s tool of choice. Ideally, provide them with all of the settings they will need to implement the pattern correctly.

In terms of data, ensure you can demonstrate why you made the recommendations you did. You can’t expect people to read every usability report that may have been created or remember the details of every prototype you tried. Provide a clear and concise rationale for those that want to learn more. One of the best examples I have seen from Luke W published on A List Apart titled Inline Validation in Web Forms. This example includes short descriptions and recommendations. The best part is that it includes short videos that demonstrate what to do and what not to do in your design.

Keep in mind, if you are just trying to provide ideas and inspiration, you may not need to create your own set of guidelines. One alternative is to find published patterns and guidelines that are appropriate for your environment. You can create a set of links that enable your team fast access to the best resources that are already available.

Have you tried creating a pattern library or a set of guidelines? How did it work? What would you differently? Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment.