From the category archives:

User Interface

Explore the intersection of BA work and UI design, which can involve prototyping, wire-framing, user interface specifications, or collaborating with UI designers.

What to focus on in a wireframe

November 16, 2009 by Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg

When pulling together requirements for a new software system I almost always focus on creating user interface wireframes. I use wireframes or mockups at different points of the requirements elicitation and definition process, as I wrote about in “Using wireframes or prototypes to elicit, analyze, and validate software requirements”. Many business analysts balk at wireframes. [...]

11 comments Read more

Think twice before copying Amazon: peeking under the surface of a user interface design

July 6, 2009 by Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg

When creating eCommerce and other online applications, questions of UI design are often at the forefront of most requirements discussions. One of the most common pieces of input we hear is why don’t we just “do it like Amazon” (or “Google” or “name your favorite big-name site). The reality is, copying what you see on [...]

0 comments Read more

Using wireframes or prototypes to elicit, analyze, and validate software requirements

May 18, 2009 by Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg

My recent post on user interface specifications created some interesting commentary on prototyping vs. specifying. From the perspective of publishing blog posts, writing about UI specs before prototyping put the cart before the horse. In normal project work prototyping or wire-framing activities actually come before any sort of user interface specification work.
As Harris Lloyd-Levy so [...]

2 comments Read more

How to create a user interface specification

May 11, 2009 by Laura (Brandau) Brandenburg

A long, long time ago while working on a web-based product, a colleague of mine came up with this idea of writing a user interface or screen specification. The purpose of this specification is to detail out the rules behind a specific page. Sure, this is more “implementation” than “requirements” but the fact is when [...]