Have you ever delivered your wireframes to a client only to have them tell you everything they disliked? This happens when clients judge your design before they understand it. It is your responsibility to communicate the rationale of your design decisions to your client.

Wireframe annotations are important because they give clients clear explanations to your design decisions. If you don’t annotate your wireframes, your clients have the power to assert their biased judgement on your design. Unless they understand user experience, it’s hard for most clients to see the value of your design without annotations.

You have to offer annotations that explain why your design is effective. This gives them insight to your thinking process and allows them to understand the user. Here are a few tips for creating effective wireframe annotations.

1. Keep them short and to the point

This is where your writing skills come in handy. Giant blocks of text aren’t attractive to read. Keep your explanations short and to the point. You could end up with a lot of annotations, which is why keeping them short will make it an easier read for clients. Any detailed elaboration could be followed up with a meeting if needed.

2. Focus on user benefits

Every design decision you make should benefit the user. This means your annotations should focus on explaining how each design element helps the client’s users. Clients should feel how important the user experience is through you.

3. Use numerical circles and order them

Enumerate your annotations in circles and place them in order from left-to-right going down the page. This makes it easier to read and will prevent clients from having to jump around the page to read each annotation.

4. Keep explanations in a column on the right

Keep your annotation explanations on the right next to the wireframe. This way clients can scan for a annotation circles on the left and move their eyes to the right to read the explanation.

Annotating your wireframes is an extra step after you finish designing, but it’s well worth it. If you believe in your design you should go through great lengths to help your clients understand it.

It’s hard to notice every grain of detail you’ve put into your wireframes. Annotations allow you to communicate the value of your design, so that others can understand it before they pass judgment.

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