UX for Beginners

Chapter 58. What Isn’t a Wireframe?

When most people think of UX, they think of the lines-and-boxes diagrams we call wireframes. Unfortunately, many people also think that doing wireframes is the same as doing UX.

A wireframe is a planning document. It is a technical instruction document for the “builders.” Wireframes allow us to say insightful stuff like, “Oops, I forgot the main menu!” in the same way an architect could say, “Oops, I forgot the front door!”

Still, many people have a broad misunderstanding of wireframes and use them incorrectly. The following is a list of what wireframes are not. See if you recognize yourself in any of the Top 5 unforgivable (!) wireframe sins:

1. Wireframes are not a basic sketch.

   Often we treat wireframes like a quick and dirty sketch, or like step 1 of the design. “Just make a wireframe for now!” They aren’t. Wireframes specifically exclude design, to show how the site/app will work, not how it will look. Those napkin drawings you (and I) make at the beginning are important for sorting out our thoughts, but they’re not wireframes.

   Explain early concepts/thoughts in words and pictures, not with wireframes. Show flows as icons, hand-drawn sketches, site maps, slides, or user stories instead; they’re better, faster to make, and easier for the client to understand.

2. Good wireframes take time.

   I know they look basic, but there is a lot of thinking behind those empty rectangles. Every little piece must be planned and placed carefully on a specific page. Every ...