Setting the Purpose and Identifying Key Factors - Data Visualization: A Successful Design Process - page 40

Here are some of the most important factors to consider and to evaluate their
potential impact:
• The aim : As we have seen already, there are different origins and triggers
for a project. We mentioned the self-initiated ones as being almost free
of external constraint and essentially framed by our own capabilities and
intentions. The important thing worth reinforcing here is the need to take
responsibility when a project involves a brief, commissioned by a client or a
colleague. You must demonstrate excellent communication skills to ensure
you seek and gather as much of an understanding as possible of what it is
they are aiming to achieve. Sometimes, you might be provided with a very
open brief because a client may not even know what it is they are seeking.
In these situations, your responsibility needs to extend to assist them in the
scoping and requirements of the work. On other occasions you will be asked
to create something that goes against your general practice (for example,
the subject matter or requested style) or it might even be simply impossible
to deliver (perhaps due to the desired design or available resources). Here
again your communication skills are going to be required to manage the
expectations. It is easy to be shy and delay asking vital questions but this will
only cause you pain later.
• Time pressures : Common to just about every commissioned design
project will be the pressure of time and deadlines. Most projects have
clear timescales, from in-day quick turnaround pieces to longer-term
grand projects. The challenge of maintaining objective creativity in the
face of diminishing time is something that will severely test designers
of all experiences. Whatever your situation, you have to use your time
effectively and that's where value will come from following the tactics in
this methodology. Plan your work and create a balanced layout of the things
you need to accomplish, so that you avoid disproportionately spending
time on tasks that are less important than others. Often you will find
yourself undertaking a visualization project in parallel with many other
commitments. Not only will your capacity be limited, the momentum and
duration of your focus will be impacted. This is where project management
skills come to the fore as well as a realistic appreciation of what you should
and shouldn't commit to undertaking. It also highlights the importance of
keeping notes so that you can move seamlessly between projects and not lose
track of your thoughts, ideas, or progress.
• Costs : The issue of financial resource will unquestionably emerge, especially
for large-scale projects. Costs will significantly influence the time you are
able to commit to a project, the scope for bringing in additional collaborators,
and the range of tools or technical resources you might be able to utilize.
Once again, the planning and preparation stages will be invaluable to surface
all potential issues around financial matters.