Drupal.org - come wireframe with me!
There is a design game that I like to play when I’m working face to face with my client (and when there aren’t thousands of stakeholders!) which involves everyone on the project sitting down together and individually sketching up some wireframes that then get shared back into the group.
Aside from being good fun, it is also a really great way to uncover good ideas, common themes, and a whole raft of information and assumptions that haven’t yet surfaced in the project but that are important to us getting the design and information architecture right.
I don’t see why we should let our ‘virtual workspace’ stop us from playing this game, so, let’s do it. Let’s do some wireframing together!
Here’s what I want you to do:
- pick a page on Drupal.org - it could be the homepage, it could be your profile page, it could be a project page, it could be a page that doesn’t exist that you think *should* exist - just pick one that is important to you.
- have a go at sketching out what you think might go on that page. What are the content and functional elements, and which ones are the most important.
- post the page somewhere - if you’re using Flickr, you can post it to our Flickr Group, or perhaps you want to post it on your blog and put a link to your post in the comments here, or you can email it to me if you like and I’ll post it - whatever you prefer. You might want to add some notes as to why you’ve approached the page the way that you have or, if you’re like me, to decipher your handwriting.
You can use whatever you like to wireframe - I tend to use pen and paper to start with or sticky notes. Then I’ll use Omnigraffle a little later. You might prefer to sketch in code. Whatever works for you. As you can see from the example I’ve posted above, early wireframes are usually pretty rough (mine disintegrated into a list at the bottom!) and not so pretty. This is fine. It’s not about how they look or even whether they’re right. It’s about getting ideas down on paper - to paraphrase the old saying - a wireframe is worth a thousand words.
Don’t spend too long on it - try to spend no more than a few minutes on a wireframe. If you’re not happy with it (and you probably won’t be at first!) just put it to one side and start fresh. You don’t want to labour over them too much at this stage.
Don’t think you have to be a designer or a UX person to participate in this exercise - this is all hands on deck. Even if you’re not an experienced Drupal user and you were flummoxed by your experience of Drupal.org - what did you *want* to find on the homepage?
I know there have been lots of discussions over the years about various parts of Drupal.org - let’s roll up our sleeves and get stuck in! Yay!
http://img.skitch.com/20080911-1kp86j4r2gx6j2i45ddan8t76s.jpg