Experience Design Wireframing

🌀 User journey maps often capture “perfect” journeys users never take. We need to stop designing paths, and start designing loops, especially in AI products ↓ We use journey maps to capture, understand and refine user's experience. However, these maps are merely an idealistic view of what users SHOULD be doing, rather than what they actually ARE doing. Linear paths don't consider detours, circling back and forth, abandonments and returns and shortcuts. In fact, our interactions with reality rarely follow a well-defined, structured script; they’re a series of adjustments and feedback loops — depending on environment, disturbances, decision-making and actions. Workflows shouldn’t be perceived as a rigid cage, but as an orchestrated loop. Matt Fick and Max Peterschmidt suggest to rethink the idea of designing paths and design loops instead, especially with AI products in play. We start with a goal, make decisions, sense what’s going on, study environment, take action and then keep checking again, and again, and again. It follows a simple structure: 🎯 1. Setting a goal First, we establish a goal: what is the user trying to achieve? Desired outcome is the foundation on which the product will ground all its actions and adjustments. We must help people articulate their goal — with slow prompting and better calibration (knobs, pre-prompts, buttons, sliders). 🌡️ 2. Studying the current state (Sensors, Environment) To improve something, we must understand its current state. We find the right sources and collect the right inputs to get a snapshot of the current state. Often there are many meaningful inputs, and often they are very difficult to predict ahead of time. 🧠 3. Making decisions (Controller) Next, we evaluate the data and compare it against the goal. We come up with meaningful actions and get recommendations, grounded in trusted sources. Mapping the reasons for recommendations is critical for building trust and confidence — with AI, but not necessarily with LLMs. 🚀 4. Taking actions (Actuator) Once we decide that an adjustment is necessary, we take an action, or we ask agents to take an action — directly manipulating the environment closer to the desired outcome. The actions are typically initiated or approved by humans, and that’s what we mean with “human in the loop”. 🧲 5. Studying and refining the new state We gather data about the changed environment, and then use these inputs to suggest the next batch of changes as output. With nested loops, when many people or AI agents are involved, output in one loop becomes an input in another and informs next decisions and actions there. An interesting and realistic model in AI world, matching the complexities of the real world better than journey maps often do. Indeed, workflows aren’t rigid cages — they are non-linear, cyclic and must be highly adaptive to be meaningful. They must sense, respond and learn — and loops do just that.

Data alone can often feel impersonal and hard to relate to but professionals have found an interesting way around it - at least in the consulting world. I found it interesting that Bain & Company tackles this by using "customer journey mapping" - an approach that transforms data into vivid narratives about relatable customer personas. The process starts by creating detailed personas that represent key customer groups. For example, when working on the UK rail network, Bain created the persona of "Sarah" - a suburban working mom whose struggles with delays making her miss her daughter's events felt all too real. With personas established as protagonists, Bain meticulously maps their end-to-end journeys, breaking it down into a narrative arc highlighting every interaction and pain point. Using techniques like visual storyboards and real customer anecdotes elevates this beyond just experience mapping into visceral storytelling. The impact is clear - one study found a 35% boost in stakeholder buy-in when Bain packaged its conclusions as customer journey stories versus dry analysis. By making customers the heroes and positioning themselves as guides resolving their conflicts, Bain taps into the power of storytelling to inspire change. Whether mapping personal experiences or bringing data to life, leading firms realize stories engage people and shape beliefs far more than just reciting facts and figures. Narratives make even complex ideas resonate at a human level in ways numbers alone cannot.

Great journey maps start from the intersection of user touchpoints. A customer journey map shows a customer's experiences with your organization, from when they identify a need to whether that need is met. Journey maps are often shown as straight lines with touchpoints explaining a user's challenges. start •—------------>• finish At the heart of this approach is the user, assuming that your product or service is the one they choose to use in their journey. While journey maps help explain the conceptual journey, they often give the wrong impression of how users are trying to solve their problems. In reality, users start from different places, have unique ways of understanding their problems, and often have expectations that your service can't fully meet. Our testing and user research over the years has shown how varied these problem-solving approaches can be. Building a great journey map involves identifying a constellation of touchpoints rather than a single, linear path. Users start from different points and follow various paths, making their journeys complex and varied. These paths intersect to form signals, indicating valuable touchpoints. Users interact with your product or service in many different ways. User journeys are not straightforward and involve multiple touchpoints and interactions…many of which have nothing to do with your company. Here’s how you can create valuable journeys: → Using open-ended questions and a product like Helio, identify key touchpoints, pain points, and decision-making moments within each journey. → Determine the most valuable touchpoints based on the intersection frequency and user feedback. → Create structured lists with closed answer sets and retest with multiple-choice questions to get stronger signals. → Represent these intersections as key touchpoints that indicate where users commonly interact with your product or service. → Focus on these touchpoints for further testing and optimization. Generalizing the linear flow can be practical once you have gone through this process. It helps tell the story of where users need the most support or attention, making it a helpful tool for stakeholders. Using these techniques, we’ve seen engagement nearly double on websites we support. #productdesign #productdiscovery #userresearch #uxresearch

So many designers hate wireframing. I'm not one of those designers. AI can generate high fidelity screens in seconds. Figma has auto layout, variables, components. The bar for a polished prototype has never been lower. Yet, I still love starting projects with a black and white wireframe. Even when I'm using AI to generate early concepts, I'll specifically prompt it to stay wireframe-only. No color. No shadows. No corner radius. Pure outlines. This is a psychological decision, not a technical one. When I show up to an early client review with even a partially styled UI, the conversation drifts. Suddenly we're talking about the button color or the font weight instead of the flow, the information architecture, or whether the core experience actually makes sense. Wireframes remove that distraction. They force the conversation to stay on what matters early: Does this work? Does the information make sense? Can a user complete the task? You can always add the visuals later. You can't easily undo a client who's already anchored on the wrong thing. Do you still wireframe, or have you skipped straight to high fidelity?

Why Wireframes Are the Real MVP You’ve seen the final UI. Polished. Smooth. Slick. But here’s what you didn’t see 👇 Before the beauty, there's the blueprint. Looks don’t lead. Logic does. And wireframes? They’re the logic in action. Here’s why this matters: Too many jump straight to “pretty.” Skipping the core: usability, flow, clarity. It’s like building a house without a floor plan. The common trap: Clients love visuals. Designers love aesthetics. But users? They love clarity. The fix is simple: Start with wireframes. → Low fidelity to test flow → High fidelity to polish visuals This keeps your design user-first—not ego-first. Here’s my visual flow: 1.⁠ ⁠Low-Fi Wireframe: → Sketch the structure → Focus on flow, not color 2.⁠ ⁠High-Fi Wireframe: → Add spacing, layout rhythm → Start hinting at branding 3.⁠ ⁠UI Design: → Build for emotion & interaction → Translate logic into beauty What this builds: ✔ Faster approvals ✔ Stronger UX decisions ✔ More effective designs ✔ Clients who finally get the “why” Design isn’t decoration. It’s direction. Every polished UI you see… Started as a black-and-white idea. What about you? Do you show your clients the wireframe phase? Or do they only see the final glow-up? Let’s talk in the comments 👇 Or save this post for your next wireframe flow.

As BA, our goal is to bridge the gap between business needs and technical solutions, ensuring that end-user requirements are met with precision. One of the most potent tools in our arsenal? 𝐖𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬. 🎨 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐖𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬? ✅ Clarity: Wireframes transform abstract requirements into tangible visuals, helping stakeholders see and understand the proposed functionalities without distractions. ✅ Collaboration: They facilitate meaningful discussions by providing a common ground for feedback from both technical teams and non-technical stakeholders. ✅ Efficiency: Early use of wireframes can significantly reduce the need for changes during later development stages, saving time and resources. 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: How Business Analysts Use Wireframes 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨: Imagine a project where a Business Analyst (BA) is working with a team to develop a new online booking system for a boutique hotel chain. The goal is to enhance user experience by simplifying the booking process. ✅ 𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 The BA conducts interviews and observation sessions with front-desk staff, hotel management, and surveys frequent guests to gather requirements. From these interactions, the BA identifies key functionalities like room selection, booking modifications, and loyalty rewards integration. ✅ 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐖𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 Using a tool like Balsamiq, the BA develops initial wireframes that outline the basic layout and interaction points of the booking system. These wireframes show the position of elements such as the room selection dropdown, date pickers, and special request forms. ✅ 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐳𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 The BA presents these wireframes in a workshop with stakeholders, including hotel staff and a few select guests. During the session, the BA walks through the user journey with the wireframe, discussing how each element meets the requirements gathered earlier. For example, showing how the loyalty rewards section provides clarity and value to frequent guests. ✅ 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 Stakeholders provide feedback on the wireframes, suggesting improvements such as adding a visual calendar view for selecting dates and a feature to compare room types. The BA iterates on the wireframes, incorporating feedback and presenting updated versions in follow-up sessions. ✅ 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Once all feedback is integrated and stakeholders are satisfied, the final wireframe is approved. It serves as a blueprint for the development team and a reference for further usability testing. 👥 Engage and Validate By engaging stakeholders with wireframes, we validate requirements early, adjust quickly, and avoid costly misunderstandings. It's not just about drawing screens; it's about drawing conclusions from user interactions and feedback. BA Helpline

“Do we still REALLY need wireframes?” I get this question from junior designers most of the time. My answer? Absolutely... Here’s why wireframing is non-negotiable: ✔️ It defines hierarchy and core functionality ✔️ It helps you visualize the full picture before designing ✔️ It saves you from expensive mistakes later Wireframes aren’t “optional.” They’re the foundation of every great design project. Here are my top tips for wireframing like a pro: ▶ Content — Focus on user tasks, not paragraphs — Label sections clearly instead of writing copy — Keep content blocks short to avoid visual noise ▶ Colour — Skip the colours; they pull attention in the wrong direction — Focus on hierarchy, not branding — Stick to clean greyscale ▶ Annotations — Add notes where visuals may confuse — Clarify your decisions — Never assume people understand your thinking ▶ Accessibility — Ensure all components scale well — Think about keyboard and screen reader paths — Prioritize simplicity to reduce cognitive load ▶ Wireflows — Show how screens connect — Highlight decision points — Map out the full user journey If you’re tempted to skip wireframing… don’t. The time you save later will surprise you. And just curious - does anyone here still sketch wireframes on paper? Save this post and share with others ♻️

We used to talk about the funnel. Now we talk about flows. Then journeys. Then loops. But most brands today? → Homepage → Add to cart → Buy (or not) → Goodbye Here’s how to rebuild an actual customer journey, one that extends beyond the sale. Use this map: Step 1: Intent → What made them search in the first place? Speak to that in your ad/email. Step 2: Decision → Don’t just describe features. Connect to what matters in their daily life. Step 3: Post-purchase → Reinforce their identity. “Smart choice” content. Setup tips. First 7 day support. Step 4: Connection → Let them see other users like them. Not influencers, real people. Step 5: Re-intro → Send a “You’re not new anymore” email. Show new features, upsells, community. That’s how brands go from “store” to “relationship”. Journeys aren’t dead. But yours might be.

Friday honesty: Customer-centricity is a lot harder to maintain than it seems. Even for those of us in Customer Success. The tendency is always to drift toward making our processes and focus company-centric rather than customer-centric. Don't believe me? Just look at one example of this: Customer Journeys. Many teams say that they have a defined Customer Journey. But rather than actually being oriented around the customer, for many the journey map is a list of activities from the company's perspective that are built around milestones the company cares about (contract signature, go-live, renewal, etc). I know about this, because I've been guilty of it in the past myself. I confuse my activity list with a customer journey and wonder why customers aren't as successful as they'd like. While important, that isn't a customer journey. It's an activity list. It's a rut none of us mean to fall into, but it's the natural drift because we live and breathe our own organization. So what do you do about it? How can you adopt a more customer-centric mindset in this area? TRY THIS APPROACH INSTEAD: 1. List out the stages your customers' business goes through at each phase of their experience with your product. Use these to categorize journey stage, rather than your contract lifecycle. 2. For each stage, list out what their experiences, expectations, and activities should be to get the results they want. Don't focus on listing what YOU do, but rather focus on listing what a customer does at each phase of their business with your product. List out the challenges they'd face, the business benefits they'd experience, the change management they'd have to go through, the usage they'd expect. Think bigger than your product here. 3. Then map what support a customer would need to actually accomplish these desired outcomes at each stage of the journey. Think education, change management enablement, training, etc. 4. Based on all of the above, you're finally ready to start identifying what your teams do to support the customer. ____________________________________________ Following a process like this helps build customer-centricity in 3 ways: 1. It causes customers to be the center of how you decide which activities are most important to focus on. 2. It empowers your team to become prescriptive about what customers should be doing for THEIR success. 3. It exposes what you don't know about your customers' business. And if you don't know something, just ask them. Don't make assumptions when you can instead talk to your customers directly. Avoid the company-centric drift, fight to maintain true customer-centricity however you can. This isn't just a nice to have in 2024. It's a business imperative that's important for any business to survive in this climate. But I want to hear from you! How do you guard your org from drifting to company-centricity? #SaaS #CustomerSuccess #Leadership #CustomerCentric

It's no longer enough to ask "Are we ranking?" Instead, the real question is: “Are we meeting the user at every point in their decision journey?” Most brands still approach SEO as a one-channel game, optimizing content solely for Google and hoping that visibility leads to conversions. But today's buyer journey is no longer confined to one platform, one format, or even one moment in time. People now move fluidly across multiple platforms: TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, Google, Amazon, ChatGPT… depending on their intent, curiosity, and trust in the medium. They’re not just searching; they’re comparing, validating, watching, reading, and revisiting before making a decision. Mapping the complete journey helps you answer that. For every stage: 1. Discover, 2. Compare, 3. Act, You need to identify three things: 1. what the user is searching for, 2. where they go to find the answer,  3. and what format they expect it in. In the discovery phase, they might start with a short-form TikTok video or an Instagram reel that introduces the product concept. They might click into a blog post that educates them on why something matters or how it works. As they move into comparison mode, they’ll likely Google branded terms, look for Reddit threads discussing real experiences, or watch YouTube reviews to hear honest opinions. Finally, when they’re ready to act, they’ll compare listings on Amazon or check product pages on the official website before completing their purchase. This isn’t a straight path, it’s a web of behavior. A user might revisit the same product on multiple platforms, cross-check reviews across Reddit and Amazon, or go from a YouTube review back to a TikTok ad just to confirm their gut feeling. The time span can range from minutes to weeks. That’s why understanding the journey is essential. Because if you're only optimizing one part of it, you’re invisible in the rest. Search Everywhere Optimization doesn’t just acknowledge this complexity, it embraces it. By meeting users where they already search and adapting to the behaviors they already exhibit, your brand becomes discoverable in the moments that matter most. That’s how trust is built. That’s how action is earned. And that’s how visibility stops being a ranking and starts being a presence.