Flow Charts
Purpose and Suitability of a Flow Chart
A flow chart is a pre-production document that breaks a problem or process down into separate stages. Each stage is shown as a step, and the decisions taken by organisations, people or programs are included so you can see which route the process takes.
When a flow chart is appropriate
A flow chart is mainly used where a process needs to be shown, rather than to plan a media product directly. It suits any process where the order of steps and the choices along the way matter.
| Type of process | Why a flow chart suits it |
|---|---|
| Organisational process | Shows the stages for sorting lost property and the decision about whether an owner is named. |
| Instructions for a process | Guides someone through using a self-service kiosk, including a check for whether the book has been scanned. |
| Website algorithm or process | Shows the checks a website makes before confirming a click-and-collect order is ready. |
| Computer game character algorithm or process | Shows how a game character decides whether to offer the player a side quest, including a check for whether the player has already completed it. |
| Work process | Shows the order for opening a café, including a decision about whether the till has been counted. |
When it is less suitable
A flow chart is less useful for directly planning a media product such as a poster or magazine cover. Those products depend on layout, colour, images and typography, and a flow chart cannot show where elements sit on the page or what the visual style looks like. A storyboard or visualisation diagram is a better fit for those decisions. A flow chart can still help plan a process around a media product, such as how a poster design is approved, but it does not plan the product itself.
Practise this
OCR Creative iMedia · Flowcharts