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At CentreSource, we include planning and/or strategy in every interactive and web project we begin.  The goal of this on-the-forefront project work is to assess the estimated scope, timeline, and budget as discussed during the sales meetings and re-evaluate it through a more refined lens.  Very often, this refining perspective is comprised of an interactive HTML prototype developed using Axure RP Pro.

While many projects can be successfully planned using by-hand sketches (and our simplest ‘portfolio’ sites are, in fact, prototyped this way), as the complexity of the desired user experience increases, so too increases the value of an online, “clickable” prototype rendition.  Axure RP’s integrated development environment (IDE) makes it quick and easy to create such prototypes.

When we’re drafting a prototype in Axure, we try to address (in order) the following considerations:

1. The top-level information architecture (read Site Map)
2. The navigation scheme
3. The home page
4. The interior page template
5. Key interior pages

By the time we have these elements captured in prototype form, we inevitably have a reasonable approximation of the client’s desired outcome.  What’s left is to merely fill in the gaps and begin the process of designing the aesthetic style of the home and interior pages as per the client’s preferences.

Without identifying the elements required for each key page (as well as the desired functionality of those elements), our developers would be left to interpret a relatively loose post-sales project scope that may be rife with uncertainty and ambiguity.  Planning helps alleviate this potential confusion and forces us to refine our understanding before any code is committed.

Check out Axure RP PRo at their website.