Design guidelines for software products: a common look and feel or a fantasy?

A Common Look and Feel or a Fantasy? tfo gh corporations would like all of their products to look and feel as if they belonged t?J t e same corporate family, often that is not the case. Large corporations are like large clti s: there are many diverse groups or divisions working within the corporation, each ~ own agenda, its own market segment, its own goals. The result is that products developed in one division frequently do not resemble the products developed in other divisions. For example, the marketing group in one division defines its market segment and its customers, and then prepares a product plan. The development group designs and produces the product. The documentation group ensures that the customers are not left to find their own way through a maze of technology. Surely if no corporate-wide guidelines are in effect none of these groups can afford to take the time to confer with