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Within Adobe XD, a designer only needs to click on Share and then Publish Design Specs to generate a public link of an interactive prototype. This link can be shared with a developer via email, Slack, or other communication channels. A designer can also make changes to the prototype and update the new design specs to the same URL, or create a new one.
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Digital Tools for PDS Creation
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A free online prototyping tool that can create wireframes or highly interactive prototypes in just minutes. Uploads design files from Sketch, Figma, Axure, Photoshop, and Adobe XD into our design handoff tool. If they are working on a responsive website or mobile project, they can download assets tailored for all devices and platforms, such as Website, iOS and Android devices.
Encourage Specific and Actionable Feedback
The most important thing to remember when writing a design specification document is that you are the only person who can fully represent your future product. Try to describe all the points in a detailed and clear way so that your team can easily bring your product idea to life. Based on the analysis that we described in the first part of our guide, you should describe your product’s functionality and work principle. This is a more technical part, but for design specifications, it is also necessary.
Avoiding Over-Constrained Designs
For most software products you will need a high-level architecture design, the user interface mockups, process maps for any changing workflow, and technical designs. You’ll also need to compliance with any relevant standards and regulations. In this guide, we’ll define what a product specification is and show you how to use product specs to drive better discovery, promote collaboration, identify problems, and validate solutions. Keyboard navigation is crucial for users who rely on assistive technologies or have mobility impairments. Design specs should include guidelines for keyboard accessibility, ensuring that all interactive elements can be accessed and used without relying solely on mouse or touch input. Additionally, specify visual focus indicators to help users understand which element is currently in focus.
Because of that, it’s normal during the development phase for the design to be lifeless, demanding tons of rework, countless call meetings, and unnecessary stress from both sides. Only simple questions have simple answers, and building products is not a simple endeavor. This might be the first time you need to amend the scope you set out based on what you learn. You may need to come back to stakeholders to check if their desires still stand in the light of this new evidence. In fact, if there’s no evidence a problem exists to solve, you may even decide to stop here. Usually, I start each new initiative with a kickoff session that involves all relevant stakeholders.
Test and Validate Design Specs
Under the approvals category, you’ll have all the features that were given the go-ahead by the client and other stakeholders, like the product manager. Versioning – Always document the version and what has changed in each version with a detailed list. This enables you to go back in future versions to determine what decisions were made, when they occurred and where they occurred on the project timeline. Houzz Pro is the all-in-one tool for marketing, project and client management built specifically for remodeling, build, and design professionals. Another component of maintaining realistic expectations is in terms of price.
Specify the minimum color contrast ratios between text and background elements to ensure legibility for users with visual impairments. Incorporate font sizes and line heights that are comfortable to read for users with various visual abilities. Design specs should provide clarity on the design intent and any constraints that developers need to consider during implementation. Clearly communicate the expected user interactions, animations, and transitions to ensure that the design is faithfully translated into code.
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They should have access to it, understand the flow and its requirements, and ensure the design meets business expectations. Create a comprehensive style guide and design library as part of your design specs. A style guide outlines the visual and brand guidelines, including typography, color palette, iconography, and other design elements. A design library, on the other hand, consists of pre-designed components, such as buttons, forms, and cards, that can be reused throughout the project. These resources provide consistency and efficiency, especially in large-scale projects where multiple designers and developers are involved. Design specs act as a guidebook, ensuring that design elements are consistent across different screens, platforms, and devices.
This saves the designers time by reducing the tedious step of marking up the designs. Instead, a designer can spend more time considering the user experience, while a developer focuses on how to implement it. While writing all that down may seem tedious, it is the most important thing you can do in the early stages of the product development process. This is because what is listed in the product spec guides your entire scope of product development. The importance of design specifications in the design process is well acknowledged. A set of requirements is used to describe the desired solution in the specification document.
These notes could include anything from the type of stove you’re installing (gas vs. electric) to the mounting style of a kitchen sink or entertainment room speakers. These kinds of practical details will come in handy when you’re preparing for the installation phase and bringing your design to life. Mockplus makes everything online and says goodbye to the manual design spec era. As a software engineer, your primary role is to solve technical problems. Your first impulse may be to immediately jump straight into writing code.
A PDS (Project Development System) serves as a communication framework for all the stakeholders involved in product development. This way, everyone knows what's expected of them and what they need to contribute. A Project Development System (PDS) is a helpful tool for production teams. It provides more detail and simplifies the process of figuring out what they need to create a product.

In this article, I’ll walk you through how to write a technical spec that ensures a strong product. As we said, a design spec is a file or a set of files with the design aspects, assets, flows, and prototypes that are relevant only for the project you are working on. By creating a design spec before handing off your work to the developers. While you will have lots of ideas, you will need to gather some evidence that they will have the impact you expect them to have. This might involve creating a prototype and testing it with customers, experimenting with a technical proof of concept, etc.
Just as you would test your designs for usability, it’s important to test them for accessibility as well. Include accessibility testing as part of your design process and incorporate feedback into your design specs. Collaborate with developers and stakeholders throughout the process to gather feedback and address any concerns or questions. This collaborative approach ensures that the design spec accurately reflects the project objectives and requirements. By providing a clear understanding of the product's functionality, the product design specification reduces confusion and enhances customer satisfaction. A thorough product description is a vital component of any Product Design Specification (PDS).
Klariti’s 27-page functional specification document template comes in MS Word format. It helps you to define how a piece of software will function and how it will behave when the user provides it with certain inputs, or when certain conditions arise out of a specific situation. If the testing confirms your assumptions, then you start to write up your functional specification document so that your developers can code the end product. So imagine writing a piece of software into existence in code without planning! Your functional specification documentation serves as a roadmap for your developers. This is always a tricky topic because everyone has their favorite software and tools to use in creating UX specifications.
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