Three of our most experienced designers, Michael Angeles, Billy Carlson, and myself (Leon Barnard), have written a book called Wireframing for Everyone with A Book Apart.
The big news we want to share with you today is that pre-orders are open!
What's in the book?
The first half of the book is about how to think about wireframes and better ways to make them. The second half focuses on using them with your team and incorporating them into a repeatable process.
Here's a sneak peek at the table of contents:
- Why Wireframes (Still) Matter
- Exploring Ideas
- From Ideas to Interfaces
- Design Principles for Wireframes
- Wireframing as a Team
- Establishing a Feedback Process
- Crossing the Finish Line
Why did we write a book?
We wrote this book to fill a gap that we saw while comparing existing books with our real-world experiences. There are plenty of books about software product management, user experience design, and programming, but there are hardly any that recognize the interplay and amount of work that happens between these roles.
There are also plenty of books that mention wireframes and why you should use them, but they rarely dedicate much space to talk about the process of wireframing, how to do it well. Making a wireframe is easy, you don't need a book or even a manual. But wireframes, like any product can be 'good' (i.e., effective) or not.
Who is this book for?
One of the misconceptions about wireframing is that it is a technique for designers. We feel strongly that it shouldn't be, which is why the 'for Everyone' in the title is so important. The target audience for wireframing (and our book) is someone who doesn't consider themselves a designer, but who participates in the design process, which applies to a lot of different roles these days.
Whatever your role on a software team, you make suggestions, ask questions, and make decisions that all affect the end product and the experience of using it. You may not have anyone on your team who is called or even thinks of themselves as a designer. Regardless, the product you work on has been designed. The experience that your end user has with it is a direct result of decisions that your team has made. It works as it was 'designed' to work, whether those design decisions were intentional or not.
What you’ll get out of it
The intimidating tools and terminology of the UX world shouldn’t prevent you from contributing to better design. Our book uses wireframes to help teach you how good designers think, without getting too in the weeds about the details you don’t need to know.
Rather than an in-depth curriculum on UI and UX design, our book offers a basic introduction to each in real-world contexts, as well as tips and tricks for saving time and collaborating more effectively.
Note: This book is not a guide on how to use Balsamiq Wireframes but it will definitely give you insights and techniques to help you use it better.
