Overview topics are meant to be a navigational page that provides a high-level outline or summary of a subject. These topics introduce key concepts, processes, and objectives and help users navigate to other relevant topics. Progressive disclosure is necessary for overview topics to reduce the cognitive load and ensure a clear user experience.

The following is a capture of an overview topic that I composed for Data Product Hub. The topic guides data producers (editors) on how to create a data product. To view the published topic, see Creating a data product overview - IBM Documentation.

Design Thinking Process

  1. Empathize: Research your users’ needs

    • Audience: Data producers who are creating a data product for the first time

    • Research: Producers want to know all the methods to create a data product, the advantages of each method, and guidance on which method to choose

  2. Define: State your users’ needs and problems

    • Problem statement: I am a new data producer and I need to learn how to create a data product to fulfill a consumer’s data product request. Since the creation process is long and involves many decisions, I need a page that outlines the procedure and guides me through the decisions I must make.

  3. Ideate: Generate ideas and elements to include

    • Topics to include:

      • All available methods for creating a data product

      • Unique benefit of each method

      • Guidance on Access level

      • Common steps for completing a data product

    • Elements to include:

      • Tables

      • Ordered lists

      • Hyperlinks

      • Prerequisites

  4. Prototype: Create solutions

  5. Test: Try out solutions

    • Usability:

      • Invited Data Product Hub developers to test the topic

      • Invited non-Data Product Hub designers to test the topic

      • Solicited feedback from clients

    • Quality assessment: Reviewed by lead content strategists and IBM’s D&UX team