I was reading Justin Kistners’ blog, Metafluence, and came across his post “In search of a better way to design.” He makes the argument that wireframes are bad when it comes to creating interactive design. He then introduces the idea of page description diagrams originally introduced by Dan Brown at Boxes and Arrows. A page description diagram is basically a text-based description of the site breaking down the priority of site elements on the page. It is used by some as an alternative to wireframes.
My thought is why not use both? Include a page description diagram as your first page of your site wireframe and use the page description diagram as a way to create your site wireframe. I don’t see why the two can’t be integrated successfully to provide a better overall picture of what the designer is thinking for the site design.
My name’s Jen; I’m a cynical, sarcastic, ex-drummer who is fond of dark humor. I've held way too many factory & retail jobs but finally found my calling one Christmas holiday in a dark, musty basement. I am now a CSS & XHTML web standards looney and can be found daily—when I’m not at my Mac—at the local fair-trade coffee shop buying an iced-soy mocha no matter the temperature.
I am also the owner of Pop Stalin Design specializing in CSS & XHTML web design as well as custom WordPress themes.
Justin, first I just want to say great original post and very thought provoking.
I can’t even begin to tell you the issues I have with requirement gathering, wireframes, etc from my last full-time gig. It was not pleasant to say the least. Of course, there were way too many chefs in the kitchen trying to have a say in the final design. There was scope creep before the wireframe phase ever came into play.
Anyway, I find that my clients like the visual of having a wireframe but I also like the idea of using the page description diagram along with the wireframe to indicate the importance of content. It, I’m sure, helps the client think about what’s important as well.
I think you could do both as you suggested where a designer uses the page description diagram to create a wireframe. All of my designs start as sketches and that means wireframing. My issue with wireframes comes from working in a larger design studio. Wireframes were made by account managers during the formulation of the site’s information architecture. I didn’t like that designers were being forced into layout decisions from the content planning stage. Even with a designer at the helm during the content planning stage, I still don’t like wireframes as a tool because clients begin to bond with layout decisions before content is fully developed, which complicates managing their expectations.