Ben Darlow — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:14:38 GMT

The one reason to use wireframes that isn’t merely for the benefit of the designer is that of communicating purpose to the client without distractions. It’s an interesting idea to use colour and make a pseudo-wireframe for usability testing, wireframes still have a very important role in an earlier stage of design, when proposed solutions are still being mooted.

This is especially important if the new proposed designs are very different from an existing design, as differences in colour and typography may be sufficiently apparent to the client that they end up becoming a focus, when really they have less significance than the layout of the page and UI elements. Going straight to a prototype means that early decisions about colour, branding and typography have to be made at a stage when really they shouldn’t be allowed to cloud the subject matter.

That all said, I think there is some value in having these chrome parts visible once you get to the user testing stages. Perhaps it would be an acceptable alternative to just use a generic stylesheet at this point?

Boxes and Arrows: Comments by Ben Darlow