I’ve had several discussions and comments regarding a previous post about wireframes and prototypes. So let’s continue the conversation.
I’m not saying that wireframes are bad. I’m just saying that as strict component and navigation dictators, they’re growing obsolete. They simply fail to communicate the emotion and story necessary to deliver creative experiences.
Let’s look at an example: Google. Looking at Google.com, it could be wireframed like this:
It communicates the Google brand and a search mechanism.
What if we took the idea of search and represented what people would gain from using Google:
This represents a shift from search function to result. “People don’t usually buy drill bits. They buy holes.” I can’t remember what book I read this quote in, but it speaks to the difference. People aren’t looking for a search engine, they’re looking for knowledge… where to buy something, information about a destination… pretty much anything and everything. People care about the result, not the function. The function, or technology, should be transparent.
Now, what if we took this idea that Google to the next step… how it makes you feel.
Google makes you feel smart. You were looking for something, you typed it in, and you got results. You, my previously ignorant friend, just got smarter. Google tells you this every time it directs you to results. “Oh, you wanted to find out the best price for that cell phone and where to buy it? Let me show you how smart you are by giving you thousands of results.”
The end result is the same: usually more links than you’ll ever visit. But each of the wireframes above communicates different ideas of what people will experience at Google.com. There are plenty of search engines out there. The ones that concentrate on how people feel as opposed to how their search engines work are the ones that will be successful and popular. Google has used the idea of emotion to continually adjust and improve their knowledge brand. They’ve added filtered searches for images, videos, news, shopping, maps… now I’m not only smart, I’m smart about specific topics. And you can customize your Google page to make you feel even smarter about the weather, the joke of the day, your horoscope…
Things can get more complex when multiple feelings or emotions are being communicated on a page. Then add in multiple stories to communicate different feelings. Finally, you have what people want to accomplish on the site (their goals), and how these goals relate to the emotions and stories.
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