Showing posts tagged ux

Read the annotations to get the best value from wireframes!

Pay attention clients - you need to read those notes! Yeah, you know, those things in tiny writing down the side of your wireframes. They mean something, and they can help you get the best out of your new website.

Not only do they help you understand what’s going on (that’s the idea), but we UX people also tend to use them as a place to flag issues up.

Along with detailing complicated functionality, in a typical wireframe deliverable, you’ll come across important notes, like these from a real project:

“…strongly recommended to include these wherever possible.”

“Current POS asset not sufficient, new image needs to be sourced/cropped.”

“Exact content awaiting completion of the content audit.”

Why should you read them? Aren’t these just all things that we, your agency, should have under control?

Well, yes, perhaps. But if you read them you can then say to your project manager or product owner, “Where is that asset?”, “Who’s job is that?”, “Why has no-one thought of this?” etc. That way you’re going to make the most of the all the resources at your disposal. You’ll know where there may be problems, often before we get into the later design and build stages.

And hence you get more for your money!

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Keep teams to 2-pizza size
Cool and quick presentation about UX team anti-patterns by Bill Scott, via Ian H.

3 Ways to Make Your Wireframes More Useful

Excellent 5 minute prez by Steve Cable at UX Bristol, not necessarily for the tips (which, of course, we already do!) but more for his reasoning, and user testing insights. In summary, to improve your wireframes remember:

  • Visual priority – communicate insights through to the design team by using shading and bold text.
  • Data (real content) – add labels to navigation, titles, icons, and add example copy – to make sure everything fits , and for creating believable pages.
  • Images – show the type of image that you want to see – this could be sketches (extra effort), or just adding descriptions to your image placeholders.

ReadWriteWeb: "New Delicious is a Bitter Disappointment"

It’s true. For all the new features (which I probably won’t use), they’ve made it so much more difficult to scan through my bookmarks or even to add new ones. Where is the search for a start? The UX seems to have taken a step backwards.