[Sigia-l] The fuzzy line btwn IA and Design

[Mark Hines]

> Dan Brown and I have been discussing for some time creating flowchart-type
> screen specs. All elements and their hierarchy are noted in a visual
> language, but not in one that dictates layout.

This is a great approach. When time permits I've found it very useful to
create extremely detailed process flows that speak to content, conditions,
and functionality. They are a very useful way to explore both functional and
hierarchical issues in a very integrated format. They become less useful, in
my experience, on the larger projects where the amount of detail,
conditions, and functionality tended to overwhelm the flow chart format.
Wireframes, in this case, were a useful way of providing an additional level
of detail.

> Why do we draw wireframes, or at least, why do we give these to people who
> are (at least theorectically) far better equiped to draw screens than we
> are? We do IA's make wireframes? I know it's easier for some, I know it's
> more fun for some folks, but is it truely the best way to articulate our
> solution in a team in which that is not our responsibility?

One explanation is that in a typical development cycle those "people who are
(at least theorectically) far better equiped to draw screens" (designers?)
and IAs are on parallel tracks with very different goals. Designers are busy
establishing the visual languages the project might require and IAs are
buried in the functional and technical requirements.

If we accept that wireframes are a visual extension/interpretation of the
requirements or use cases then it makes sense for an IA to create them.
Wireframes may not always be the most appropriate or efficient way to
communicate a solution but I've found that they often are. Particularly when
you're dealing with clients and team members who have difficulty making the
conceptual leap from flow charts or process flows to screens.

If simply "drawing screens" was really all that was involved in the creation
of a wireframe then there would be no reason for IAs to be involved.
Wireframes are, however no more a drawing than a designer's comp is. The
artifacts are very similar, a screen on a page (or perhaps the other way
around), but the "reasons" they ended up in their final form that is what
makes them unique.


      Mark Hines  .  twohundredtwelve°
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