We all know that wireframes are great for communicating design concepts and rationale before a pixel is ever pushed in Photoshop or a bezier curve is laid out in Illustrator, but I was wondering if anyone has ever considered how wireframes make people feel? This curiosity extends to both the people building the diagrams and the people taking in all the ideas being conveyed through wireframes.
As a wireframe-type guy, I can only speak to my own personal emotional response to the process and final outcome of building wireframes, so that is where I will start.
Ross, tell us how you really feel…
I’ve been building websites for over ten years and I’ve done everything from concept models, to visual design layouts, to writing client-side code line by line. The biggest thing I’ve learned is not to get too attached to ideas or concepts because there is a good chance they will be changed, edited or rejected at some point. Throughout my career I’ve had clients who have loved my design work and other projects where it’s been flat out rejected; it’s the nature of the business and my skin has grown thick over the years. But even now, I find myself much more anxious about reviewing visual design concepts when compared to reviewing wireframes and the reason is really quite simple: emotional investment.
For me, drawing boxes, arrows and lines in varying shades of gray does not create the same kind of internal emotional response when compared to designing the visual look for a project. When I’m wireframing, I have my analytical hat on. I’m thinking about the page’s functionality, the primary objective of the page, making sure blocks of content are located in a logical place for the user, etc.; it’s hard to muster emotions when you’ve got the analytical hat on. When I do visual design work the emotional hat replaces the analytical hat. I am much more focused on colours, shapes, depth and creating an overarching visual theme. I am still aware of the logic behind the wireframes but because more detail is being given to the visual design, and those details are intended to trigger emotional responses in users, I find myself getting much more connected and attached to my work.
How many times have I felt crushed, dejected and forlorn if a client comes back with some harsh criticism of a wireframe? Almost never. That is the one of the strengths of wireframes which is often overlooked; it’s hard to get upset if someone tells you your box is the wrong shade of gray. Wireframes keep me emotionally distanced from my work. This is not to say that I don’t take pride in what I do, because I do, but emotional distance has, time and time again, provided me with a clear head and sharp focus for solving problems without bogging down on how I am internalizing criticism or feedback. More often than not, my ego remains intact and the client ends up getting a great solution.
I was working on project recently which had many, many iterations and the wireframes for one particular section had turned into a bit of a moving target. One evening, I realized that I was not getting nearly as frustrated or overwhelmed as I could be given the circumstance. After some self-reflection, I came to the conclusion that I was not emotionally attached to what I was doing. But this was not a negative feeling, it was actually liberating and somewhat empowering. I simply thought about the feedback I had received and started to form a few different options for solutions. No hurt-feelings, no ego, just focusing on the solution; I love wireframes!
For part 2, I will try to get into the head of a client and see how they are reacting to and internalizing the process of wireframing.