paper & pencil

Sign Up Patterns

This week I came across a couple of items all related to the sign up process. First, there is Luke Wroblewski's summary of a survey of sign up forms conducted by Smashing Magazine. Definitely check out the full survey report (part 1 and part 2) as it is interesting to see what most sites do.

Luke also references his own article, Sign Up Forms Must Die, which is an excerpt from his new book on forms, where he promotes "gradual engagement" - allowing users to try out a web service first before having to create an account.
The book: Web Forms Design: Filling In The Blanks.

Live by the Mockup, Die by the Mockup

Luke's article, Live by the Mockup, Die by the Mockup, highlights a key point about mockups, that is they should not stand on their own. In order for mockups to be effective they need to:

- be accompanied by written description (use cases, annotations, etc.) of the functionality presented visually;

- be discussed with the client so that the mockups are viewed in the correct context.

When interface designers focus too much on mockups rather   than product solutions, the design profession may suffer. This   type of dilemma already exists for visual designers, who are   routinely called upon just to “make things pretty.” As   a result, every interface designer should focus on building   a reputation as a problem solver and communicating that through   the language of design and business. The presentation medium   will change, the need to solve problems will not.