Once a design has been approved, a Jira task is sent to a designer. There will be a total of 2links that need to be created and provided to developers to successfully hand off a design. The 2 links are called "Design Specs & Notes" and "Assets". 

Design Specs

Design Specs can be considered a layered approach to design elements. It gives developers access to hex values, shadows, text attributes and dimensions all with a simple mouse click. Start with the approved design. The approved design can be found in the project folder's Revisions folder with the latest date. A sample path can be found below.

Example path: Sharepoint/Documents/City or County or Other/Design/Revisions/rev - XXXX(latest date)

To create your Design Specs link, please click the share link and "Share for Development." 

There will be a progress circle showing the creation process and then an option to open & copy the link. 

Open the link in your browser and check to see if items like, text, shadows, angles, groups, masks and images are prepared correctly. All items should be clickable. The initial Design Spec view will show all screens. Start with the first screen by clicking it. Next, check every screen to see if all clickable items have been separated out and display the proper details once selected.

If you need to make any changes to the .XD file, save the XD file and update the share link (in XD). Next steps include copying the share link and adding it to the Jira task's description area. For example:

"Design Specs: https://xd.adobe.com/spec/285c85b2-48d2-4851-7c6f-38ddf8bb9903-5e6d/"

If you find that items aren't clickable you will need to make adjustments or add notes in the Comments. One way to ensure that items are clickable, is to properly prepare your comp for Design Specs explained in the following section.

Preparing Comps for Design Specs

Once you open the final file, there are a few items that you should double check before you create design specs. Please view the following:

1. Text
2. Shadows
3. Angles
4. Groups
5. Masks
6. Images

Text 

Separate out text that varies in size. For example:

1. The caption box with large title text and smaller body text should be separated.
2. Event dates like NOV 30. If the text is different sizes separate the text fields so that devs can select each one to get individual sizes/styles. 
3. Event boxes with titles that are always larger than the time (8:00pm). Separate the two.

If an item doesn't follow the previous rules above, please make a Dev Note itemizing the size, font type and color or separate out the text.

Shadows

If you have images that are masked by a shape, that also rests on top of another shape that has a shadow applied, devs cannot access the specs of the shadow because it's not clickable. The masked photo on top of the shadow shape is the only item that can be clicked. Please add shadow details to Dev Notes.

Angles

Pay attention to the type of angles that are in your design. If you have a 90 degree angle please include the degree of all angles in your design specs or export them in your assets folder for maximum accuracy and increased reproduction speed.

Groups

Devs can only select smaller grouped areas with ease. For example if you group a button, the text and the button background can be selected with ease. However, if you group ALL hovers or group items that aren't related (on opposite ends of the art board), devs will have difficultly drilling into the group and selecting items like text etc. Please apply transparency to the item and not the group! Design specs wont pick up group transparency. 

Masks

Do not mask areas like a spotlight section or a call to action section. Devs will not be able to select text or icons because the mask shape is on top, restricting access to the specs you want devs to access. Masking works best for images or creating style tile elements. 

Images

Dev Notes

Dev Notes allow designers to add notes that can't be reflected in the Design Specs. If there are shadow specs that can't be selected due to an image that's on top of the shadow content area; add it to the Dev Notes. Notes that were made for design review (yellow notes made in invision app on the initial design) should be placed in the Dev Notes too. Interactions, hovers, text line count & image behavior should be listed in the Dev Notes. 

Important notes to add:

1. If the same logo is used for all screens (desktop, mobile, sticky) there should be one single asset. Devs should be able to click on the Dev Specs and get dimensions there, or you may write dimensions for each in the dev notes. If the logos are different, export every variation. **Convert all text to paths for .svg logos, otherwise it will still read it as live text.
2. Call to action button icons should have a max height and width recorded in the Dev Notes.
3. Please add the height of the hero image for 768px screens with a 668px fold. Add the shortened height to the Dev Notes
4. Make sure all hover items are present
5. Be sure to export the favicon into the assets folder
6. Finish styling the regular interiors and mobile art boards and export those screens
7. If you have any svg elements that are cropped/masked (ie. part of the backgrounds) make sure to export it full, un-cropped size, and add a note about the masked dimensions

To make Dev Notes, toggle to the comment screen on the already created Dev Specs link:

You will only need to provide one link in the Jira task, for example:

Design Specs & Notes: https://xd.adobe.com/spec/285c85b2-48d2-4851-7c6f-38ddf8bb9903-5e6d/ 

If you made any changes to the .XD file, ALWAYS save the XD file and UPDATE the share link.

Assets

There should be an assets art board containing all elements that need to be exported for developers. If there isn't an assets art board, please create one. If there is an assets board present in the design, please double check the design to see if any icons, images, patterns or graphics that may not have been added to the assets art board and add them. If you made any changes to the .XD file, save the XD file and update the share link.

What to export - Most shapes can be programmed with CSS, so we don't need to export those as png files. For example, circles, squares, even trapezoids or hearts. The same applies to borders/strokes and gradients. 

SVGs vs. PNGs graphics that can't be changed by the client should be SVGs. Next arrows, search icons, logos, footer title icons can not be changed by clients. The previous icons can be SVGs. Clients are able to change call to action icons and social media icons so they should always be PNGs.

Delete all 1x pngs and leave the 2x files in the assets folder for developers. 1x = normal size & 2x is double the size (dimensions) for retina display

Social Media -  If the background color for the initial state is the same for all icons, only export the white icon. If the background color for the hover state is the same for all icons, only export the white icon. Export the icon with the background (together) when the hover or initial colors vary. 

JPGs - All photos that do no require transparency should be exported as a jpg file. Export photos as JPG>100%>Design>Export

• Check for imagery and icons that need to be purchased and purchase them.
• Please include enough hero images to rotate through (so if there are 4 scrolling dots, please export 4 images). Make sure these images export into the assets folder.

**Don't forget to export the favicon into this folder too**

Next, share the link for the assets folder:

After the link is copied add it to the previous links in the Jira task. The 2links that you've been sharing and collecting should look like the following:

1. Design Specs & Notes: https://xd.adobe.com/spec/285c85b2-48d2-4851-7c6f-38ddf8bb9903-5e6d/
2. Assets: https://visionts.box.com/s/pf248ishts68435re3t1yuh56nigc6yj

Save all changes in your XD file and make sure that all links are the most up to date. When the previous 2links are shared, you've completed the Dev Specs process.