What a Wireframing Weekend!!

I spent most of my 4th of July weekend sketching possible web application layouts for a large-scale client project on various scraps of paper. And boy, has this concept sketching has been an exercise! It’s one that’s challenged my web design brain cells as perhaps brain cells would and should be challenged by any crossword puzzle or Rubik’s cube. Why? Because although the web layout sketches are driven primarily by creative instinct, implementing the sketched out concepts do not always translate 100% when wireframing a prototype.

Still, you have to start *somewhere* and I find my web page doodles to be a fun starting point, despite whatever challenges they may present. Also, the rough concepts on paper sure are easier to work with than spending hours wireframing a concept without a guide of some sort.

The large-scale project influencing all this pre-prototype work is as vast as it is deep and requires much forethought before any web design effort is implemented. But don’t let the size of the project fool you. Even the smallest of web projects can (and often will) benefit from some sort of pre-wireframing sketches and wireframing as well.

What this pre-web design activity allows the designer to:

• determine how content will be orientated;
• how users can or should navigate around specific content areas;
• prevent various client headaches since this pre-design work helps to mitigate misunderstandings on how things should look and will appear on the screen;
• and how the brand will be presented and positioned online.

Clients also greatly benefit from this preliminary design work. Just like you wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) build a house without some kind of architectural blueprint, concept sketches and wireframes allow clients to have:

• a solid, introductory vision into what their web site and/or web applications can ultimately look like without the expense of immediately building out a design that may not be as effective or intuitive
• the ability to test layouts and content arrangements from hand sketches and wireframes numerous times before any build out work is initiated
• immediacy … clients can enjoy the piece of mind of *knowing* what a site project can look like in a relatively short amount of time
• an idea of how their site’s content, resourceful information and/or database transactional activity will be showcased and positioned and how individual components of a web site are tied together seamlessly

Web developers also *greatly* appreciate receiving wireframe work; it removes all the guesswork and relieves them from the pressure of design details as most developers and programmers are far more talented with coding than they are and could ever be with layout, usability and color details.

Surely there are many other benefits I haven’t listed above but clearly, you get the point. My advice for anyone seeking web design or development services is to NOT overlook this very critical step in the web site and creation process. It will save so much time, effort and budget in the long run.

Prospects and Clients: If you are out there evaluating web proposals, be sure to check for this activity or process in any web vendor’s project methodology. What you are looking for includes pre-web design work such as storyboarding and wireframing. Often, vendors who include this step in their process will limit the effort to 1-3 rounds of revisions depending on your budget and project time frames.