Misunderstandings in your team cost a lot of time and can take their toll on your nerves. When people mean the same thing but use different terminology to express their opinion, miscommunications can happen easily. In the relatively young field of UI design it’s important to define what is understood under each term.
UI prototyping, Wireframing or Designing a Mockup?
UI design is a relatively new industry, which has become more popular as the internet has become more important in our every-day lives. Words from the field of UI prototyping such as mockup, wireframe, UI design and personas have to be defined. When you work with a prototyping tool for example, it is important that every stakeholder understands that a prototype as detailed as it might be, isn’t based on code, but can be used for specification purposes. If this is not made clear, project participants will be disappointed because they think decisions have already been made (when in contrast UI prototyping is about working on the conceptualization of a product).
I would not advise compiling a UI prototyping dictionary. It would be a lot of work and you may lose time while debating about whether your definition of the term ‘wireframe’ is right or wrong. UI prototyping is about saving time in communication and conceptualizing a well-performing product. Often work is done in a team, so make clear what everybody in your team understands under the term wireframing and how you want to use the terms UI design, wireframe, mockup, prototype and UI prototyping. It doesn’t matter whether a university lecturer would agree or disagree with your definition. The main point is that your team knows how things are meant. You will see that by talking about UI design vocab before starting to work on the actual product, you will have solid communication in your team.
