During my time as a UX professional, I’ve worked on a number of new products. All of these products began with an idea, and when we were smart, we spent some time defining and refining that idea to build clarity and to make sure we were all on the same page. But a good idea alone wasn’t enough. We needed a vision – a picture of how this product would make the world a better place for our customers (and for us).
But what is a vision? Visions are nebulous – unlike wireframes or comps or specs or code, they don’t have a clear form. There’s lots of advice out there on what qualities make up a good vision (Simplifying! Engaging! Unequivocal! Unifying!) but not much on what you need to actually make.
Great product visions are usually composed of three types of artifacts. They are the business case, the proof of concept, and the context scenario. Usually, all three are required for a successful vision.
