Wireframes!
This week has been a flurry of homework as I’ve been sketching and Sketching. The software program, Sketch, isn’t too difficult to learn since a lot of its functionality seems to be based on software I already know. But dang, do I have a lot of wireframes to make! 21, and I have yet to do the landscape versions…
This week was a lesson in the importance of sketching on paper before putting things onto the computer. While sketching, I realized that my initial navigation concept didn’t work. I added a hamburger menu and simplified the floor navigation. I didn’t have to change much of my earlier sketches (since the navigation is either hidden or a minor aspect), and yet it would have been a pain to change that on the computer!
Another big help was seeing how others in my class tackled these problems. If I did this project over again, I would do marketing research and examine other apps. Not being a parent, I didn’t have previous exposure to school lunch apps like others. One of my (parent) classmates tackled the information architecture very differently and, in a lot of ways, I think it works better than my approach. Although, in other ways, I like my approach better. This is another lesson in the fact that… no idea is perfect. And your first idea is not always the best. User research helps us hone these things.
This assignment is taking a lot of time, but fortunately it’s a lot of fun time. I’m looking forward to making an app prototype in the weeks to come.
Note: This blog was written during IxD week 3.
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