{"id":11936,"date":"2016-02-03T18:36:15","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T02:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/?p=11936"},"modified":"2021-02-18T04:40:01","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T12:40:01","slug":"5-tips-from-5-designers-to-improve-your-ux-sketches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/blog\/5-tips-from-5-designers-to-improve-your-ux-sketches\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips from 5 Designers to Improve Your UX Sketches"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the beginning of a new project. <\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got all these ideas bouncing around your head, but they\u2019re too incomplete to express clearly. What do you do? <\/p>\n

Same thing you did in school \u2014 grab something to write with and some paper (or a whiteboard, or a cocktail napkin) and sketch out what you\u2019re thinking.<\/p>\n

In the early stages of design, sketching helps take our abstract and undefined details and turns them into something real. UX sketches are the earliest foundations we build upon, the bridge between nothing and something. <\/p>\n

\u2026 but they can always be better, can\u2019t they? <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve collected the advice of 5 different UX designers for 5 different techniques guaranteed to improve your UX sketching. <\/p>\n

1. First Write Down the User Problem<\/h2>\n

UX Consultant David Mannheim\u2019s process of structuring sketches<\/a> starts by writing out the user problem. He then draws on his experience with other interfaces to determine how to solve the problem. <\/p>\n

Knowing this, the lo-fi structure starts to fall into place. <\/p>\n

Mannheim, a sketching enthusiast in general, likens digital design structure to classic cartooning. You first outline the navigation menu and the main content, the basic outlines of the cartoon\u2019s head and body. Only later comes the secondary content and details, the arms, legs, and facial features. <\/p>\n

He also recommends using the age-old golden ratio, 1:1.6, a \u201cgold standard\u201d of aesthetics for over 4,000 years. Try sketching out the golden ratio first, and then drawing your ideas on top of it for guidance. <\/p>\n

Following the golden ratio, the main content area might have 640px and the sidebar 400px. <\/p>\n

2. Sketch in Layers with Increasingly Darker Pens <\/h2>\n

Sketches don\u2019t need to be perfect, but they shouldn\u2019t be sloppy either. <\/p>\n

Senior UX Specialist at Universal Mind, Peiter Buick recommends sketching in layers<\/a> using a darker instrument for each successive layer. This is an efficient approach to sketching: <\/p>\n