A client I am currently working at has a problem with inconsistent designs.
I have identified the causes and one thing I notice is the lack of a proper language shared by all stakeholders to identify the different UI components in a design.
The size of the organization adds to the severity of the problem and makes it harder to share the vocabulary amongst stakeholders.
The team responsible for UI design re-uses components, but they are not in a repository and do not have a semantic meaningful name. For example: a call to action button is called “the big blue button”. The team members are responsible for presenting the visual design deliverables to the stakeholders when the implementation phase initiates.
My goal is, together with this team, to create a common shared vocabulary to talk about designs and make sure it will be used persistently by all stakeholders throughout the corporation (business, designers, developers).
What are the best practices to approach this?
- Creating the vocabulary itself
- The things it should contain
- Introducing and maintaining the language over time.
Keep in mind we have multiple different channels accessible by our clients that have their own elements and also share many common elements.
I have done this before but never in such a large scale corporation. Anyone else has some experience he/she can share with me on this matter?