Conventions are the common or best practices for carrying out tasks. These will change depending on the work that is being carried out.
For example, when designing a website, the Convention is to use wireframes to create the layout. Another Convention is that navigation (on English-language sites) is typically placed at the top of the page or on the left. When developing a video game, you may use models to plan out the level layout and employ a standard keyboard (WASD) or controller movement scheme.
- Entity-Relationship Diagram
- Film Genre Conventions
- Game Design Conventions
- Grey Boxing
- Naming Conventions and Naming Schemes
- Object Relationship Mapping
- Scale Drawings
- Schematic Diagrams
- System Block Diagrams
- Visual Hierarchy
- Web Design site maps
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Entity-Relationship Diagram
Think of an ER Diagram (Entity-Relationship Diagram) as a blueprint or a visual map for a database. Just like a floor plan shows how rooms in a house connect, an ER Diagram shows how different pieces of information in a System connect to each other. If you were building an app like Spotify, Instagram, or…
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Web Design site maps
Website site maps are useful for helping search engines locate the different pages that exist on your site. Check out the Wikipedia article on XML sitemaps for a more detailed explanation of their use and how to create one.
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Visual Hierarchy
Visual hierarchy is all about the layout and positioning of content on a page or screen. The placement of fonts, images and shapes is important as is the use of colour as it draws the users attention to the required areas. Find out more:
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System Block Diagrams
A block diagram is a type of flowchart that displays how a System works at a high level. It will not show how all the inner workings operate but the processes that are carried out and the order that they occur. diagrams.net provides an Online tool for creating System diagrams and flow charts. It has…
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Schematic Diagrams
Schematic diagrams can change depending on the type of Outcome being designed. For web Design they could be wireframes. A version of a wireframe could also be used to Design a Heads Up Display (HUD) for a video game. It could also be a Unified Modelling Language (UML) diagram to show classes and how a…
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Scale Drawings
Small scale mock-ups of larger designs can quickly give the impression of what a complete System might look like. A low poly Model of a vehicle would give a decent impression of the final product without taking a significant amount of time. In gaming this could include greyboxing a level.
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Object Relationship Mapping
Object relationship mapping shows how different objects or classes of a program are related to each other. These maps help us to understand the Data that is to be stored or used in a System and allows us to develop ways to convert Data between two different storage types. For example an object orientated approach…
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Naming Conventions and Naming Schemes
File management and naming is absolutely essential to the success of any Project. Files should be saved in logical locations with appropriate file names. For example doc1.docx does not tell the user anything about the file. Cover Letter.docx is more appropriate. This shoud be stored in a folder called Letters or similar. If using a…
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Grey Boxing
Grey boxing is a term used when developing a Prototype Environment or Component for a video game. The terms is due to the fact that before textures and materials are applied to an object the default colour is often grey.
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Film Genre Conventions
This relates to the technical language used when recording and editing the film using digital technologies as well as the language used to Describe the film in the planning stages. See TKI English Online for more information on Genre and Conventions. Common terms used include:
