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Each focus area in the final UED is associated with an interaction design pattern to be
used to present the function. The organization of content and function within a focus area
isanother aspect ofstructural design: the structure of the interface .Structural design ofthe
interfacelooksattheorganizationofthefocusareasandcommunicationbetweenthem,the
layout of each focus area's interface, and how a person interacts with it.
If a design supports multiple devices, focus areas in the UED may be specific to a
device.TheUEDneedstoshowhowanactivityflowsacrossdevices,supportedbythesys-
tem. This is best done by showing interfaces on different devices as separate focus areas,
even when the function overlaps significantly. The interaction design patterns associated
with each focus area allow the team to scan across the system and ensure that the interac-
tion isconsistent everywhere. It'sbest toprint outthe focusareas andspread them outona
table or wall—this allows the designers to scan across the whole system easily. Then they
can redesign and tune the system structure and interaction design patterns used across the
system for optimal use both in each focus area and across the system. It allows developers
to look at the functions of each focus areas to be sure they can deliver the function, auto-
mation, and data needed to support that place.
Figure 5.5: A UED for an online grocery shopping system. This UED map shows just the focus areas and
connections between them supporting flow through the system.
To create a UED, the team walks the storyboards and pulls out the implications of what
the system needs to do to support each cell, defining focus areas and functions as they
go. As the implications of storyboard after storyboard are rolled into the UED, the team
starts to see the best way to structure the system—whether delivered on the Web or on the
desktop, as a set mobile apps or one monolithic system. When storyboards show activities
crossing different platforms, the UED reveals how each platform may share structure and
function with other platforms or may provide unique variants suitable to that platform.
DocumentingtheproductdesignwiththeUEDprovidesaroadmapthatcanlater—after
validation—be used to create Agile releases, user stories, prioritize roll out over multiple
product versions, or hand off to different groups to work in parallel.
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