We’ve long stated that an intranet shouldn’t look like the poor cousin of an organisation’s public website. It reflects poorly on an organisation’s professionalism and its level of care and regard for staff. Creating a great design is easier said than done, however. The previous article, What to look for in a visual designer provides tips on finding the right design partner. This article provides several tips for when it comes to briefing them. It also assumes you’re providing the visual designer with user-tested wireframes of the site, which we recommend.

Understand the role of the visual designer

A visual designer’s role is complicated. A designer will want to demonstrate their creative skills on the design and expand the client’s own creative horizons, while also meeting the design brief. Additionally, creative input may be limited by:

• how the underlying page templates and wireframes have been created
• the technology involved
• whether a user-centered design methodology has been used
• whether user testing and usability testing on prototypes has already been conducted.

Similarly, the client must provide enough prescription in the designs, while also being clear that a level of creativity is required.

[March article by Alex Manchester, read the full article]