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Comment by arrel | Hacker News Reader

Once you involve a photocopier in your "sketching" process you've officially jumped the shark. I am a big advocate of sketching wireframes before moving to the computer, but that means paper, ball point pen, and a minute or less per sketch. What he is creating is hand-crafted design - it looks beautiful, it communicates ideas very well, but it is totally inefficient in reaching the end goal of a usable, functional product.

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"but it is totally inefficient in reaching the end goal of a usable, functional product."

Why? Inefficient, yes your opinion but this does not prove this process would not yield a usable product.

Your comment makes me wonder how we ever got to where we are today with computers.

It's definitely possible to design a great product with a very manual design process, but you can also write a great novel using pen and paper. Computers make a lot of things a lot easier, and you should leverage them when they make sense. (like for instantly making exact copies of designs you make, or even better making slight variations along the way.)

It is definitely more efficient to communicate your point clearly - even if that takes more time - than to have multiple jump in and start working without being on the same page.

I think using a photocopier has more to do with keeping oneself away from the computer to avoid distractions. Moreover, if one's role is exclusively as a UX designer (instead of designer and coder) they might be inclined to be a little more zealous about the quality of what they produce.

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