This article reinforced that my design process isn’t way out there. I’ve been digging into the UI for Con In A Box lately. I’m sketching each screen on grid paper. I use a pencil, and I have a separate eraser. At first, I tried to start mocking up directly in Fireworks. I get far too distracted by colors and fonts too early in the process. Sketching lets me focus on the structure of the page or screen.

I also love that the sketches serve as an informal paper prototype. I can sit down with a user and walk through the basic flow of the interaction. This has led to some great feedback. Mike Rohde is right - people are much more open to providing feedback to a sketch. When I showed the team the completed mockup, I did not get a lot of feedback. People were much more tentative in asking for changes or even just asking questions. A sketch clearly isn’t finished. Several team members commented that the mockup had required a lot of work. With the sketches, they jumped right in to understanding the interaction and comparing with their previous experience. 

I’m going to keep right on sketching, even if I am blowing through grid paper at an amazing rate right now. 

(Source: twitter.com)

I’m currently really enjoying listening to the podcasts from the IA Summit earlier this year. Boxes and Arrows is putting the podcasts up, for which I am grateful. 

Testing Content: Early, Often, and Well 

This is a great podcast discussing how to test content. There is specific discussion of what is similar to testing design, and what needs to change in practices when testing content. This is a practice that needs to grow. We can have an amazing design that gets people to where we want them to go, but if they don’t care about what they find, we’re dead. 

It’s a new twist on making sure you are providing the experience your users need and want.