Wireframing with Fisher Price | Brit Mansell :: Life's Influence on Design

category: Design

Wireframing with Fisher Price 0

It was Christmas Day, 2008. My wife, 2 year old daughter and I were all around the Christmas tree opening gifts. It was my daughter’s turn to open hers and she picked up one of her presents. As soon as she opened it, I knew this one particular toy could play a major role wireframing. Huh? Wireframing with a child’s toy??? I’ll explain.

First of all, it’s no longer a “toy” since it has been requisitioned as a “tool”. Henceforth known as the “tooly”.

Enter the Fisher Price Doodle Pro

There are a few points about this toy that make it perfect for wireframing:

It’s a toy – Wireframing is one of the last parts of web design where I feel creative. This creativity is spurred by the bright colors and the thought that I’m back in preschool playing with toys again. Design should be fun and this tooly helps with that.
It’s a toy – Wait. I just covered that.
No detail – It’s very hard or nearly impossible to put any type of detail into these drawings. In some parts of design, detail is very important, but in wireframing, detail can be the downfall of the process.
Easy to erase – Iterations are the key with wireframing. It will, most likely, take many attempts to get your layout just right. Using this tooly, you can quickly jot out a layout. If it’s worthy, snap a photo of it with your phone or camera for later analysis. Then, wipe it clean and start over taking into account the good parts and the bad parts of previous iterations. Hopefully, soon, you will have the perfect layout on you new tooly.
Inexpensive – $18.00
“Eco-Friendly” – Since everything else is getting bonus points for being green, why not this tooly? No wasted paper. No discarded, dried up markers. Heck, it doesn’t even need refills.
Dimensions – The width and height (when turned 90 degrees) are about perfect for a “normal” size web page. This helps keep things in proportion while still allowing for content to be below the infamous “fold”.

Example:

I have yet to take this tooly into a client wireframing meeting, but you better believe I will when the need presents itself. After the client(s) get over the initial shock of me plopping this down onto their big conference room table I think it will be well received and the benefits will become apparent.