P6.4: Presenting Information

The quality of the options testing process will depend heavily upon the way the information is presented and illustrated. A range of formats may be required to address the needs of a range of different audiences. For example, technical officers and certain statutory agencies will require technical analysis and justification, while non-professional stakeholders will require easy to read imagery and a non-technical summary. This will need to explain the concept as a whole, where it has come from and what the outcome would look like.

Design teams should be encouraged to use a variety of graphic tools to express ideas and understand impacts of the development. Physical or 3D computer modelling and perspective drawings can help in evaluating options and understanding their height, massing and alignment, and how the proposal would sit within theist existing context.  If design solutions are not clearly expressed or impacts uncertain additional material or alternative formats may need to be prepared – sometimes difficult or unresolved issued can be misrepresented and therefore misinterpreted by poor drawings.

More information concerning the outputs and the tools available to generate them from the design process are contained in the ‘Achieving Quality in Urban Design’ Topic Paper.