In the world of web design and development, there’s a powerful tool that’s often overlooked but can significantly streamline the process of creating a great website. It’s called Priority Guides (PG), and it’s become a standard of our website process.

What is a Priority Guide?

A Priority Guide is a design tool that helps establish the goal for a page and determines what should go on the page to serve that goal. It’s a method of content-first design that focuses on the core purpose and content of a website before the visual design or layout.

The widespread convention is to start with wireframes, but the issue with that is wireframes have too much of a impact on layout – potentially hampering the creative solution process by informing the design before the priority and intent of the page or section have been decided upon.

Why Use Priority Guides?

1. Tackling the Hard Stuff First: By using Priority Guides, you address the most challenging aspects of creating a site right at the beginning:
   • Deciding on site and page priorities and goals
   • Determining website structure
   • Creating actual content up-front, informed by the intent of each section
2. Purposeful Design: Each iteration of the design becomes more intentional, and the subsequent design rounds are more streamlined as feedback relates to aesthetics, not purpose and function. Instead of jumping straight to layout, you first figure out:
   • The goal for each page
   • What information you want on it
   • The relative importance of that information
3. Better Alignment: Priority Guides foster collaboration between designers, developers, and stakeholders. They serve as a communication tool, ensuring everyone is on the same page about the website’s objectives and content priorities.
4. Improved Final Product: By focusing on content and purpose first, Priority Guides ultimately lead to better, more effective website designs.

The Priority Guide Process

When creating Priority Guides, here’s a general process:

1. Define Overall Goals: Start by listing the overall goals and objectives of the website, and prioritise them.
2. Identify Target Audience: Determine who your target audience is and what actions you want them to take on the site.
3. Create Site Structure: Develop a site map to visualise the overall structure of the website.
4. Develop Page-Specific Guides: For each key page, create a Priority Guide by:

• Defining the purpose of the page
• Listing all content that should go on the page
• Prioritising this content
• Noting the intent for each piece of content

The Challenge and Reward of Priority Guides

It’s important to note that there is no perfect way to go through the Priority Guide process. This can make it challenging to schedule and estimate the time it will take. The process often involves discussions, revisions, and collaborative decision-making, which can be time-consuming.

However, the payoff is significant. By investing time in Priority Guides upfront, the subsequent steps in creating a site – from wireframing to visual design to development – tend to run much more smoothly. This is because the fundamental decisions about content and purpose have already been made and agreed upon.

Conclusion

By tackling the hard questions early and focusing on content before design, Priority Guides set the stage for smoother project execution and better final results. So the next time you hear someone say, “What the hell are Priority Guides?” you can bang on about their value in creating purposeful, effective web designs, just like I do 🙂