Funny enough, I draw faster on paper than I do online, and I feel that
paper really stretches tremendously more than the screen does. Maybe
my monitor is too small (22" doesn't even begin to give me the room to
expand), but I have a 24x18" sketch pad on which I draw most of my
first inklings of a design. I can fill an entire page with variations
on a theme, or use several sheets to draw (quickly) one page design
after another.
One of my biggest problems with drafting CONCEPTS on the computer is
my own tendency to need to make it look perfect. I tend to lock into
one design faster on the computer than on paper, which isn't the goal
of ideation. The reason is because although I know how to use Visio
and Fireworks pretty well, they both excel at representing one solid
idea in a file - go much further beyond that and you encounter
performance problems. For instance, I've created several "concept
slide" files in Fireworks over the years, and they quickly get into
the 30-40 page realm. You can't view them side by side (easily) or
work on them simultaneously, and the CTRL-C/CTRL-V/adjust-position-
with-mouse thing is just much more slow than re-drawing an element on
diagram 3 that you liked on diagram 5.
As others have mentioned, once I've narrowed concepts down to 1-3,
it's off to the computer to see how it really works. Even then, I
pretty much get the graphics down then move straight into DHTML
prototypes as soon as I have what I need.
Regarding the environmental front...I'm a recovering pack rat, so one
of my few remaining pack-vices is that I have never thrown out a
single wireframe or sketch. I have piles of sketch pads at home going
back 15-20 years or so. I don't do everything on paper, so it takes
me about a year to go through a 150pg pad. I tend to use both sides
of each sheet when I can.
By the way, if you have tried sketching before and didn't like it or
didn't feel it was creative enough - bigger paper is one of the best
ways to open up your creative side and really get moving. There's a
tremendous difference between sketches done using your whole arm, as
opposed to sketching with just your wrist or fingertips.
Bryan Minihan
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Jun 20, 2008, at 6:28 AM, Bryan J Busch wrote:
Paper refuses to stretch for me, either horizontally or vertically, in
the way that Web browsers do. I suppose if there's a particular piece
of an interface that you're imagining, and want to show someone,
paper is okay. But not an entire page.
My practical answer is that I am much faster using a computerized
tool to mock something up. And if I'm mocking something up with
HTML, then I end up with something that can be used in future phases.
Also, pencils have an unfortunate smell about them. But that might
just be me.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30390
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