Design Requirements for Communication-Intensive Interactive Applications

Online interactive applications call for new requirements paradigms to capture the growing complexity of computer-mediated communication. Crafting successful interactive applications (such as websites and multimedia) involves modeling the requirements for the user experience, including those leading to content design, usable information architecture and interaction, in profound coordination with the communication goals of all stakeholders involved, ranging from persuasion to social engagement, to call for action. To face this grand challenge, we propose a methodology for modeling communication requirements and provide a set of operational conceptual tools to be used in complex projects with multiple stakeholders. Through examples from real-life projects and lessons-learned front direct experience, we draw on the concepts of brand, value, communication goals, information and persuasion requirements to systematically guide analysts to master the multifaceted connections of these elements as drivers to inform successful communication designs.