Sketching revisited

The white sheet of paper torn from a sketchbook can be just as intimidating as the blank screen. It reminds me of my creative writing class back in college. While other students could write gobs of pages that needed to be thinned out, my writing was anorexic and in need of fattening up. The internal organizer and perfectionist in me can’t stand messiness.

It is possible to have UX block? Perhaps. But just like writer’s block, we need to remind ourselves that this isn’t Rocket Surgery™. And even when it feels that way, there’s a book for that.

“Sketching wireframes by hand is like writing the shitty first drafts of a story.”

When you have an assignment or an idea for a wireframe, it’s actually not ideal to head straight for Visio, Omnigraffle, Balsamiq, or whatever tool you use. Ideas that go straight from your head to the wireframing program are less malleable, and it may make you less inclined to make needed changes due to all the time you spent sitting at the computer. Using paper and a pen or pencil is much more liberating. It may help to think of sketching along these lines: Sketching wireframes by hand is like writing the shitty first drafts of a story. (Even if you’re not a writer, Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird is an excellent book.) The sketching stage where you want to make your mistakes and get all the kinks out. The last thing you want is a major gaff to patch up at, say, the prototyping stage.

You have to keep yourself and your deliverables pliable to mold into the shape you need in any given situation. Now’s the time to step away from the comp, tear out that blank sheet – unless it’s a pricey Moleskine – and scribble away, even when your internal organizer is cringing. Doing so will make you more proficient, and your deliverables will get better.