Documenting a design decision

A design file retains sizes, positions and colours. The reason for choosing them can be left out. When someone changes the content or adds a page, that absence forces them to infer the rules from what they see.

What is worth recording

Record decisions that affect others: the priority of an action, reading order, the relationship between language versions or the treatment of an image. A small variation already covered by a shared rule does not need another justification.

The note can contain:

• Problem: what the person needed to understand or do.
• Decision: what was chosen and what was left out.
• Reason: which information or constraint influenced the choice.
• Review: which change would justify discussing it again.

Keep the note near the component or guideline it explains. A separate document can work if there is a link and people know where to find it. Its usefulness diminishes when it preserves an older version without identifying that fact.

When to revisit the rule

A new headline may not fit the space provided. Before shortening it, establish whether the rule was intended to encourage brevity, visual balance or quick reading. The problem may lie in the text, the composition or a constraint that no longer applies.

Documentation helps distinguish those possibilities. The agreement may be to retain the rule, allow an exception or replace it. Recording the reason lets the next change begin with that information instead of repeating the discussion.