UX - First steps

Hello everybody.

I'm Giampiero Dalai, and I'm a graphic and interface designer.
I work for Alpaca, a cooperative of graphic designers who work for the public benefit, based in Ferrara.

For the Open Hospital project I'll be the one in charge of the interface design of the web-based system (together with my colleagues of course).

This morning I had a call with Alessandro, and we defined the first tree steps to take in order to start building the whole interface for OH:

1. It's essential to define who the main contact persons for the project development are. It should be enough finding 2-3 people who take the decisions and who are the "heads" of the communication for the project. Once these contact persons have been found, it will be easier for Alpaca to design all the interface, because we'll have to contact only the people in charge of the communication.
   It can be a good thing to find these persons among the current development groups: ISF, Gavioli, ecc, in order to make them the "bridge" with their organizations. I can be the reference for the Alpaca group, and Alessandro for the ISF group.
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2. It's necessary to define what the functions of the OH system are. A map (diagram, list, whatever) should be created, in order to design the whole information architecture which lies at the basis of the system. The core functions and the accessory modules have to be defined.
   Alessandro told me that at least for this first time, the functions can be the same as the previous versions of OH. But we have to map them, otherwise we can't design anything.
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3. We have to define the structure of the interface design (what kind of metaphors are better for grouping the functions? It's better using tabs, labels, divide functions in different pages or not, ecc). This step can be taken only after the previous ones, and it's the basis for all the subsequent development. During this process, Alpaca will think about some wireframes for the interface.

These three tasks have to be carried out before doing further development. The quicker we take care of them, the faster will be the development.

• Find main contact persons;
• Map OH functions;
• Define interface structure.

I hope to hear you soon, and start working together as quick as possible!