A couple of weeks ago, I posted a short excerpt from Basecamp’s Shape Up called Wireframes are too concrete. It highlights something that I’ve been experiencing over the past years, but never really got round to writing about — do wireframes still serve a purpose?

Forms have existed for a significant amount of time, greatly simplifying the task of drafting complaints and various other legal pleadings. With the advance of information and its processing, means to gather the data are also evolving. As printed forms were here for years we can learn a few tips from their design.

You’re creating a patient registration flow and your user is partway through the form wizard and needs more information on how to find and fill out their “insurance certificate number” in order to continue. Some users need to know what this means. Others need to know where to find it (hint: it’s on another piece of paper).