Prototypes in Web-Site Design — Representations with Political Agenda

Abstract

Throughout the design of an e-business site, a variety of representations are used to communicate design ideas between different stakeholders — clients, users, graphic designers, software developers, etc. These representations range from hand drawn sketches through to working web pages and are developed using a variety of tools. In this chapter we present two case studies of the use of such representations in the design of interactive web pages for large multinational companies. In particular, we consider the politics of different stakeholders’ use of such representations. We follow this through by elucidating the lessons we have learnt from this experience, and moreover, how we and others working in web-site usability might use such representations in the future.