5 Reasons to Build Your Idea Visually

Wireframing, it is not at all a new concept or a practice. Humanity has been “wireframing” for

centuries. Whether it is drafted design of building construction, sketches of an innovative

idea or vast networks for communication and travel. Each wireframe is a blueprint of a page

in system, along with overall description of the page, elements and its functionalities used,

linking of elements and pages and numerous things involved in a project development.

Requirements are somewhat fluid by nature and some uncertainties will remain at this stage

in the project but the key to reducing costly amounts of re-work is to minimize these

uncertainties to the fullest extent possible by talking through the approach with team

members. I’ve found that wireframes engage the customer far more effectively than long

lists of “The system shall…” statements.

Here are some of the reasons why wireframing is so imperative:

1. Clear and precise understanding

Writing requirements is not an easy task, no matter how well you know the business and

system needs. We all read the same document but each of us has different imagination.

With Wireframing we can have a visual representation of the requirement and solution we

wish to offer. When client can actually see the design come to life as a prototype and interact

with it himself, the bridge between ideation and application becomes much easier to cross.

For a business analyst the biggest hurdle is to grab the attention of the clients and

stakeholders while explaining the complexities and details of the project and keep them

engaged through it. And ultimately there biggest satisfaction comes when they simply put

forward their points and watch the clients experience their ‘Eureka’ moments.

2. Platform for UI and UX Design Patterns

When it comes to designing for a particular software solution, client will always have

suggestions about changing color of the button or choice of image, but these changes are

easy to discuss and decide on.

When it comes to deciding about interactions and functionalities, its like pulling your teeth.

Prototypes help you to present various options for interaction and functionalities for the

elements of the application; the review process becomes much easier for stakeholders

resulting into enhanced timeliness and quality of the feedback, ultimately resulting in better

user experience.

3. No more surprises

It’s difficult to judge how customers will feel about a design and solutions until they have it in

front of them. With prototypes in front of them customers can easily interact with it and

provide required change requests, which will ultimately result in very few iterations and

smooth development cycle.

Generally final product always seems a little different than what you had in mind, and adding

more text and static images into the requirement just might push the developer over the

edge, Instead if we prototype out the use cases and add notes to detail the functionality, the

developers know exactly what you want.

4. Common platform binding up different groups

The major hurdle when building an application is communication, it might be from a designer

to developer or project manager to client.

We work on projects with colleagues around the world, even a minute miscommunication

can lead to rework and missed deadlines.

But prototypes serve a common platform wherein all the stake holders can communicate and

share the details, designs and notes just by sharing a prototype link. Not only this but you can

update the prototype if required and the updated prototype will be seen by all the users

having the link.

5. What can be a better way to sell an idea to client?

Consider you have a great idea for your client and its getting tough to sell. Powerpoint slides

and sketches are not being that useful to convey your thought process.

In such cases instead of investing your time in creating presentation slides and documents,

you can create a wireframe wherein you will not only provide a visual presentation, but allow

client to interact with its features and play with it.

Along with presentation it also helps greatly in calculating the effort estimate in least

possible time. While presenting the idea in front of client you can also provide him a genuine

effort estimate.

For more information, visit our reference wireframes:

1. http://design.azilen.com/J1DNUB/

2. http://design.azilen.com/F99XWP/