Why I hate wireframes
Exploring, thinking, creating and connecting are just a few things that we designers do to solve problems and make things look good at the same time. It’s fun, challenging and keeps us on our toes. Sadly there’s another part of our job which tends to slow things down, bringing creativity to a halt and bogging down our brains. That other part is something we all hate, but have to deal with. That something is wireframes.
Before we dive in, it’s probably a good idea to explain what they are to any non-designers out there. Basically, wireframes are the outlines of a design, where the viewer can see how things may be organised and laid out. They consist of plain lines and shapes, having no design or graphic behind them. Kind of like blueprints for a building they’ve been used for decades by designers and agencies, but as technology improves wireframes have remained. Well, it’s time to move on.
With wireframes we/I spend far too much time:
- Explaining to clients how to interpret them
- Explaining our intentions to developers
- Creating plans based on fuzzy specifications
- Swearing, drinking coffee and chain-smoking
Bland, boring, blah
What’s so bad about them? They don’t do the job they’re intended for and can instead makes things more cloudy rather than clear.
In order to understand a blueprint you need to be an architect, so sending wireframes to anyone other than an architect (or designer) is not going to get the message across. This means that decision makers are less likely to fully understand what they’re approving, which can lead to issues down the line.
Having tried every way under the sun to make them a little more visually engaging and self-explanatory, it still feels like there is a long way to go. How can we better communicate design decisions in a way that truly allows the expertise to shine?
Let the designers design
The problem is that wireframes have no soul. Using words, skinny lines and boring boxes as the primary means of expression is hardly going to inspire a client about a concept.
Imagine you had a really cool animation when transitioning between sections of a website — do you think that saying ‘the box expands and wipes to the left before dissolving’ will paint as good a picture as seeing it in motion? Why draw lines to show what buttons and menus look like when it’s actually easier to demonstrate through a prototype? Why spend hours of creating fake data when API integrations can be applied to Sketch files?
All these questions and more are what plague designers. Funnily enough we are at our best when we are designing, not documenting.
This is where prototypes and mockups come in handy. Prototyping tools are our best friend and makes the handover to developers and other collaborators that much easier, giving great design the chance to show its potential immediately.
What can we do about it?
There have been some very interesting changes in the designer toolkit over the last year including Adobe XD, UXpin, Axure, Principle, but my personal favourite is InVision, a platform that helps designers create beautiful mockups and prototypes .
With InVision, I avoid a lot of the pain that comes with using multiple platforms as they all play nicely together. Being able to manage the complete workflow from design and testing through to handover within one space saves me a lot of time and anguish.
But, let’s face it, prototyping is not the challenge — the challenge lies in getting organisations to adopt a less spreadsheet-based approach and let go of “documenting” in favour of “making”. Never mind the normal tips and tricks on drawing boxes. Shortcuts and hacks can only get you so far. It’s time to ditch the documents and embrace the persuasive power of prototypes!
Just imagine: a blueprint that comes to life giving the recipient a real sense of how things will look at feel. Animations will flourish, functionality will be forthcoming and most importantly, designers will be able to express their vision and give it a much better chance of being accepted. That’s the dream, so let’s make it a reality.
Have you managed to change the way your organisation or team communicates designs? If so, let me know so we can do the same. Us designers need to stick together!
