Design Standards Platform
A Digital Ecosystem for Architectural Design
Client
Design Standards Platform
Year
2019 - Present
Expertise
- Database Design
- Laravel
- Information Architecture
- UX Design
- UI Design
Over the past few years, we’ve been involved in a series of website projects that maintain architectural design standards and guidelines for physical spaces such as stores and office layouts. Architectural projects involve various moving parts, requiring extensive documentation to keep track of meticulous design specifications.
While no two projects are the same, we have found that the teams involved have a common problem: they need a more intuitive and flexible way to share and keep track of their unique set of standards which evolve over time.
Why this project was a success
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1
We create ecosystems where users can find the most recent information needed and explore archives from different points in time.
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2
We take a UX-focused approach to building navigation systems that organize vast amounts of information and help users find what they are looking for.
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3
We offer a space management view where users can visualize their space and its specifications including dimensions, lead times, drawing sets, and related products.
Creating a Digital Ecosystem
If you are using documentation that consists of hundreds or thousands of pages, it can be cumbersome to navigate them through a variety of static PDFs that have been collected over the years.
With our versioning technology, these pages can be easily accessed and navigated in one place. It allows the users to quickly view the standards at a specific point in time that is relevant to their work.
An Intuitive Interface
We begin every project with a discovery phase that consists of researching and gaining a deep understanding of all content to adequately adapt it to the web.
The design of the site considers users at all stages, ensuring they can see and understand how and where various versions of all documents are stored, as well as how to conveniently find, search, and access them.
Plank’s Unique Versioning Technology
We think of an ecosystem as a web platform where information is centralized, organized, and easily accessible to all teams and partners. For most, if not all organizations, their requirements and standards are constantly evolving, requiring teams to follow the latest standards relevant to their specific project.
We create web platforms that capture and store information in real time while tracking the collection of changes. This ensures that users are looking at the appropriate content and empowers them to quickly find what they need.
Photo of conference room by Nastuh Abootalebi on Unsplash
Images in this document are generic examples
About the client
Plank has been honoured to work with a leading global technology company and a large FinTech company to implement these processes. The global technology company sought to design and develop an internal web application which standardized the way that documentation was shared among teams when growing and updating their vast network of locations. Meanwhile, the FinTech company required a series of guidelines for new offices being developed and older ones revamped, while offering the flexibility to let local design teams and architects create unique spaces.
