Managing the use of style guides in an organisational setting: practical lessons in ensuring UI consistency

This paper explores the use of Corporate Style Guides as a mechanism for ma naging consistency at the user interface. The software design community is becoming increasingly aware of the value of Style Guides in promoting consi stency and usability in designs. Style Guides form a valuable reference poi nt and management tool, and can offer particular advantage in cases where d istributed or outsourced design and development groups exist. Style Guides also fill a gap in the development process, providing advice more specific than the guidance contained in published standards, and more general than t he design specifications of a single system. They provide opportunities for the improvement of group design activities and overcoming the limitations of an individualistic approach. Style Guides can be shown to deliver tangib le financial benefits to organisations through the promotion of consistency of design. However, it is recognised that the process of managing the use of Style Guides is not well defined. This paper draws on lessons learned fr om a range of projects concerned with providing Style Guides and Style Guid e management processes in commercial and industrial settings. (C) 1999 Else vier Science B.V. All rights reserved.