02 · Service

UX Architecture & Wireframing

Architecture is where research becomes shape. Before any visual design happens, the information architecture, user flows, and lo-fi wireframes establish whether the product's logic actually holds up - and where it falls apart. The cheap fixes happen here.

02 · UX Architecture & Wireframing

How I approach this

The work, one phase at a time.

I start with the user's tasks, not the screens. Task flows come first, then IA, then screen-level structure. Reversing this is how products end up with beautiful interfaces nobody can navigate.

Sketches happen on paper or whiteboard before they go digital. The bar to throw work away has to be low - a low-fidelity sketch is easier to abandon than a polished frame.

IA gets pressure-tested when stakes are high: card sorting, tree testing, and first-click testing using tools like Optimal Workshop. Quantitative validation early is cheaper than a rebuild later.

Every flow gets state coverage - empty, loading, error, partial, offline, success - not just the happy path. Engineering reviews wireframes before hi-fi work begins so architectural mismatches surface early.

Process · in practice

What I deliver

Tangible outputs from this engagement.

01
Information architecture and sitemap
02
User flows for primary and secondary tasks
03
Lo-fi wireframes across web, mobile, and responsive breakpoints
04
State coverage maps (empty, loading, error, partial, success)
05
Annotated wireframes for engineering review
06
Card sort or tree test results, where applicable

Methods & frameworks

The shoulders I stand on.

Elements of UX (Jesse James Garrett)
Strategy → scope → structure → skeleton → surface. The classic mental model for layered UX work.
Object-Oriented UX (Sophia Prater)
Designing around the system's nouns and their relationships before the verbs (interactions).
Card sorting (open / closed)
Lets real users group content the way they think about it, not the way the org chart does.
Tree testing
Validates that users can find things in your IA without the visual design helping or hurting.
Crazy 8s
Eight rough ideas in eight minutes. Forces breadth before depth in early ideation.
Build-Measure-Learn (Lean UX)
Iterative validation cycles when the problem space is uncertain.