Taming the Beast: UX for Large Drupal Projects

tzk-design.com • Twitter: @danigrrl • [email protected]

TAMING THE BEAST: STRATEGIC UX FOR LARGE DRUPAL PROJECTSDani Nordin, the zen kitchen

mailto:[email protected]




Dani Nordin• UX designer, writer

and teacher• Specialize in UX and

Interaction Design for Drupal teams

• Founder, the zen kitchen

• Author, Drupal for Designers series

• Mother of this adorable little diva to my right ->





UX DESIGN IS DIFFERENT WHEN BUILDING LARGER SITES





Smaller Project UX• Fairly predictable• Can do in small teams or solo• Easy to see patterns in functionality/content• Blog• News Page• Events, etc.

• Often dealing with 1-3 stakeholders• Sites are often promotional, with limited functionality





Larger project UX• Generally unpredictable—or predictable in really

annoying ways• Team dynamics are important, but messy• Patterns constantly shift• Decisionmakers, stakeholders and client contacts

constantly shift• Sites involve increasingly complex functionality and

content





MAKING IT WORK





HAVE A VISION AND A PROCESS.





DISCOVERY IS EVERYTHING.





SKETCH. OFTEN.





PROTOTYPE OUTSIDE OF DRUPAL.(WITH VERY FEW EXCEPTIONS).





CONTENT STRATEGY: NO, REALLY, IT’S A THING.





CONTENT CREATORS ARE USERS, TOO.





AND THEN…





THERE WILL BE BAD DAYS.





THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A NEW STAKEHOLDER.





PICK YOUR BATTLES.





KEY DELIVERABLES





PROTOTYPES





DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOPS





SPECIFICATION DOCUMENTS





ARCHITECTURE DOCUMENTS





ROUTINE SANITY CHECKS





YOU AREN’T CURING CANCER, YOU’RE BUILDING A WEBSITE.


