Laying It Out
Because I like to see all the components at one time.
It’s all right there on my wall, in front of me…
The steps the user will go through when using my product have been close to finalized for one component. In order to really ’see’ it, I printed out each page/step and then put them on my wall in the order they will be seen by the user. There is something about looking at the full story, printed out and in front of me that gives me a sense of what changes need to be made. I love looking at each step and analyzing how it can be made more simple, less cumbersome, more intuitive.
It’s so much more ‘tangible’…
The other reason I love to do this… I can really ’see’ my product coming to life. It always feels more real when I can look at my wireframes all together. It’s a satisfying feeling… to see all the work done in front of a computer screen in a more physical way.
Then I take my pen out…
And I edit, and edit and edit some more. I find all the little things that were missed, don’t need to be there, don’t make sense. I determine where copy will be needed, where error messages may be needed, where there are unintentional road blocks.
For me, it’s a fun process and is one that works for me.
Would love to hear how you go about product looking at your product specs and making changes during development!
I actually work for a tech company and go through a similar process of printing out the prototype and cutting things out that don”t need to be in there. I also do this BEFORE creating the prototype. I get a white board and make a list of the steps that the user will take to use my product. Then, I make a list of what features are “nice to haves” and what features are “necessary.” Anything in the “nice to have” category gets tossed out–for now (I may revisit it later) and i include only the necessaries on the prototype. When I look at the hard copy of the prototype, I evaluate whether I need to add back in a few nice to haves.