what software do people prefer for IA/UX deliverables?
I’m interested in peoples experience with different software when producing information architecture/User experience deliverables (wireframes, site maps etc.)
Good Answers (1)
Greg R.
Internet Technology Advisor; Rage.Net
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Yellow Legal Pad & a Pen.
A close second is a whiteboard.
I don't prefer tools more complex than those.
You won't really learn how the interaction on a site works with real users until you have something real for people to play with.
Doing anything more complex in the beginning takes attention away from actually building the site. It entrenches what may have looked like good choices in the design phase which turn out to be poor choices once testing begins.
Cheers,
-- Greg
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Betsy K.
Webby Award Nom. Interactive Producer - Executive Digital Strategist - Creative Technologist
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Hi Ben,
Great question -- I look forward to hearing responses from others. I have found that some companies use their own custom applications (interesting uses of Excel and such), and some use Visio.
Personally, I prefer Adobe Illustrator for IA tasks such as wireframes and diagrams, and Photoshop for all other visual mockups. Exporting designs as PDFs is also ideal since many clients have trouble opening proprietary Visio files.
For detailed content planning such as site maps or categorization, I use Word -- easiest way for me to get my thoughts down, to reorganize information, and to share it out with clients for revisions.
Scott S.
Web Developer
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Omnigraffle on the mac. It puts word, illustrator, and visio to shame. One of the best pieces of software ever written. It is just a hair slower than paper and pencil and a lot easier to change/update.
I prefer OmniGraffle Pro. Wonderful, rapid development of wireframes, site maps, and flow maps. Missing a lot of the prototyping and connected-object functionality of Visio, but it's simply a joy to use.
Links:
Barbara B.
Mobile Strategist and User Experience Architect
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I use Omnigraffle Pro, Keynote, and Pages. Okay, I'm a Mac geek, but when I was working on Windows I used Visio, PowerPoint, and Word.
AND, perhaps more importantly, white boards, sticky notes, and a digital camera.
Holger D.
Lab Manager at YouIsNow Startup Incubator
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I found mind mapping tools like FreeMind quite useful to get started.
I can also recommend using MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) and sometimes Visio.
