Comments on: Colouring Clickables in Wireframes

By: Structure Juxtoposed Wireframe › Wireframes Magazine

Structure Juxtoposed Wireframe › Wireframes Magazine — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:12:05 +0000

[...] Colouring Clickables in Wireframes [...]

By: Coloured Interface Sketches › Wireframes Magazine

Coloured Interface Sketches › Wireframes Magazine — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:14:58 +0000

[...] Colouring Clickables in Wireframes [...]

By: Jakub Linowski

Jakub Linowski — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 11:52:14 +0000

If the client has trouble misunderstanding that the use of colour has a functional meaning assigned to it (and not for aesthetic or branding reasons), perhaps this can be communicated verbally or inside the wireframe legend. I think that's an interesting point being raised here of justifying this more clearly. I do believe strongly though that denoting actionable items with colour outweights an almost effortless mention about why it has been used. In the long run, not only is it useful for the designer him/herself to look back and see what can be acted up but also representing clickables by the use of a monotone colour can make it easier to evaluate wireframes in front of users. During paper prototyping this technique could also help participants understand what can be clicked and what is simply text – increasing the authenticity of an evaluation session. My 5 cents.

By: Christopher W. Jones

Christopher W. Jones — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:42:27 +0000

I like the concept of color wireframes for an aesthetic reason. I think the functionality of the wireframe though is to help the client understand the usability of their site and basic layout. And for that purpose, I think color should stay away from the wireframes from what Tony Chester said. Clients will just have one more thing to get caught up on and I think it might be tough to get them off of that. Maybe leave the color for the first design comps.

By: Tony Chester

Tony Chester — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:42:13 +0000

I like the concept of using color in a wireframe but you'll really need the right client to understand it. The main reason for going non color is to keep the client from focussing on the color saying "why is it that shade of blue, we don't have blue anywhere". If you can get clients past that issue then color is a great tool.

By: gaby

gaby — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:59:24 +0000

I do use blue for all links in visio and clickable objects in Visio. Helps me know what I've made clickable, and helps the client know what is clickable.

By: Jakub Linowski

Jakub Linowski — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:23:25 +0000

Hey Juarez. I'm not planning to turn this magazine into an Illustrator tutorial site. I think there are plenty of sites out there like that already. Did you have a look on delicious already? http://delicious.com/search?p=illustrator%20tutor...

By: juarezpaf

juarezpaf — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:24:56 +0000

Hey Jakub… I understand your point and this magazine is AWESOME. I think if you'll make screencasts or workshops online about it will be pretty Nice! :)

By: Lucas Sant'Anna

Lucas Sant'Anna — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:26:00 +0000

I prefer to use underlined blue for text links and a blue border for buttons or other clickable areas, but I've found your solution to be very smart because red is so much more noticeable than blue… My only concern is that the standard in html for links is blue… It would be interesting to evaluate the impact of using red in wireframes, but it is just my 'user testing centered' mind speaking here… Nice site!!

By: Jakub Linowski

Jakub Linowski — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:12:25 +0000

Hey Juarez. I'm not planning to turn this magazine into an Illustrator Tutorial site. I think there are plenty of sites out there like that already. Did you have a look on delicious already? http://delicious.com/search?p=illustrator%20tutor...