Hopefully we all know the benefits of wireframing? Time saving, finding possible usability issues early, preventing rework and saving precious development dollars. I’m going to take it a bit further and talk about going a little deeper into a wireframe detail-wise to get “buy-in” on an excitement level based on aesthetics.

Wireframes are FAST, cheap and if the designer knows what they’re doing can not only work towards an emotional connection for the intended audience, but can also make a connection with decision makers. By taking a little extra time in the process of designing, a wireframe can get some potentially “missed” enthusiasm from leaders by letting them see a more polished product. We don’t need to use color, or even spend a lot of time artistically, but rather giving the “hum-drum” typical designs a little more completeness. After all, we are tasked with using some psychology to persuade the audience to use our product, and have a good experience doing so,  why not take that same thought process in communicating the designs at a pre-launch executive level?

The idea is not to put a finished product in front of them, but rather to make the wireframes more “agreeable” to those that wouldn’t normally see a white box with an X inside of it and think “image goes here”.

Here are 2 simple concepts that aren’t really new, and are certainly not my ideas, but nonetheless I try to implement when I have the little bit of extra time needed to do it.

1. Use real text not Latin/Greek

“Lorem ipsum” is great when you have no time, or have no idea what the area is trying to accomplish, but for me anyways, most of the time I have a fairly solid understanding of what I’m trying to communicate and when I do use Greek text I try to go back and use real words. As you can obviously see by my blog, I’m no word-smith. But I know that…

“The recipient will get their gift card by email within 24-48 hours.” is better than… “Nunc nisi arcu, euismod quis porttitor quis, interdum vitae nulla.” when you’re trying to communicate what your wireframes are trying to say to the user.

 2 Make things look like things

Willy Wonka said it best…

The snozberries taste like snozberries!

Ok, perhaps not the best explanation… What I mean is it’s easier (and FASTER) for someone to distinguish an element such as a button or an image, if it looks like a button or an image. Therefore, the extra effort put in early will help speed up the process of functionality and flow. Sometimes yes, the viewer can get hung up on what the image is, or how glossy the button is or isn’t, but these hurdles are, from my experience, often less distracting than the alternative.

 Conclusion

By spending a little extra time on the wireframes that you plan on presenting early on, can get easier approvals and move the project forward faster and with more support.