Wireframing
Fail fast
This article wraps up my first experience in wireframing.
I started by reading a lot on this topic — it was a completely new one to me. The more I read, the clearer it became. In the process of wireframing one has to keep it plain and simple. Fail fast, do it again. It has to be cost and time efficient. I have to say that, as a Financial & Operations Director for the last 5 years, these words were music to my ears.
The main goal of wireframing is to recognize usability issues early on in the design journey. Therefore, one has to put the creative veins to sleep and focus on the essential — structure and strategy. No styles, no colors, no images.
Okay , seems easy. — I, presumptuously, thought.
Then, questions began to appear and uncertainty covered my brain. What should I include, how should I include it, what should I definitely NOT include, how do I create visual hierarchy, how can I make it clear?
Less thinking, more doing. I chose an app and a flow to work on, grabbed my pen and paper and started drawing lo-fi wireframes. It was so much fun and intuitive! I think I’ll get the hang of it after a while.
After that I did a little more research on wireframe kits, UI elements, icons & buttons to evolve from a lo-fi version on paper to a mid-fi one on Figma. Once I’ve started I got immediately stuck: how detailed should it be?
I’ve decided to share my frustration with my boyfriend (frontend developer & artist). His inputs enlightened me — I needed to ask myself if the elements were crucial for the user flow I was working on and, after grasping their importance, prioritize each one of them, thus creating a visual hierarchy.
It took me quite a while to finish my screens (6) but I’ll blame it on being the first ones I’ve ever made. However, I was very happy with the result (and so was my boyfriend).
One piece of advise: google, articles, books are the best resources but expressing by vocalizyng your doubts/concerns with someone else is the cherry on top. It is perfect to unblock your thoughts.
I’ve learned some fundamentals on wireframing but I still have a long way to go. As Anton Chekhov once said ‘Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.’
tg.
