I’ve been giving a lot of thought to our design processes lately. I don’t think we can design the way we used to. If you equate it to a math equation, there are just too many variables out of our control. That’s kind of a scary thought isn’t it? But I don’t think it has to be a bad thing. This new approach to design will actually be better for our clients and us. We’ll be able to show our clients the true value of what they are paying us for.

So what is this new approach I’m talking about. Well it’s the idea of prototyping. I know you’re all sitting there saying, “Well that’s not a new idea”. You’re right it’s not. It’s just taken me a while to come around to it. I’ve read the articles for and against designing in the browser. I’ve listened to the leading age speakers in our industry talk about the pros and cons. I’ve had full on healthy debates with coworkers on the idea. But never really saw the true benefit of it. Too me it always felt like I was missing a step if I went from wireframe to browser layout. Something was missing.

What was missing was my standard desktop view staring at me. But we can’t rely on a standard PSD or PNG (if you use Fireworks) to show us how our users are going to interact and view our work. No we aren’t even giving our clients a proper intention of how they might view our work on their computer screens. I actually have a funny story about that which I’ll share with you. Yesterday, I was in a meeting with a client that we had finished a realigned site for. We had gone through the process with them of showing wireframes, statics, beta sites, alpha sites, etc. We finally got the thing to launch. We brought the new shiny site up on our big screen yesterday and the first thing the client said was “Wow that looks different on every screen I’ve seen it on”. I decided to dig a bit. She had been testing the site or watching her customers view the site on various devices that at the time we hadn’t accounted for. She also still had the static mockup idea firmly cemented in her mind that actually looks significantly different than the live version.

For me this was my “Aha” moment. It probably seems weird that is it something so insignificant but to me, I truly understood that my team and I had done a poor job of managing this client’s expectation and in accounting for the various screens and devices that users are using these days. It wasn’t that we hadn’t researched and discussed the various views a user might see but as part of our client’s learning we didn’t show her what we meant.

Showing her is only possible through showing a working prototype. If we sat and tried to show enough device screens or even standard breakpoints, we would have been wasting budget and time. I think if we focus on moving from well structured and managed wireframes to focused prototypes we can better achieve client objectives and simple user interfaces. It also helps when you hand a project off to a developer because sometimes articulating a function through a static mockup doesn’t work. Sometimes you have to show them exactly what you mean. Showing these functions really is where you see the blur between Designer and Developer. Believing that designers should be able to code is not new to me. I’ve always felt that the best designers can code at least a little bit. You have to understand what you are designing and best articulate that to others. If you can’t do that then your designs might be falling short.

There are lots of resources out there to help you learn, as well as lots of frameworks to help you prototype quickly. One of my personal favorites is 320andUp. But this isn’t the only one. Twitter Bootstrap is great too.

So I leave you with one thought. Work at being the best in our craft. If you don’t know how to code then learn and help our clients understand the value behind what we do.