Benefits of waterfall design in user interface design
Because the waterfall design process happens sequentially it is a great method for user interface designers that are linear thinkers. More broadly speaking the waterfall design process helps UI designers in making sure that all components of a user interface design are exhaustively conceived and analyzed. This way errors in a user interface design are also easier to spot as the waterfall design process moves along.
Problems with waterfall design in UI design
The saying goes that one’s biggest strength can also be one’s biggest weakness. The same can be said when using the waterfall design process to create user interface designs. The one way traffic inherent to the method can be a constraining way of creating user interface designs. The lack of flexibility can prove to be counter-intuitive for some user interface designers. Paying too much attention to the various steps can lead a UI designer to loose sight of the bigger picture. This can result in having to spend more time to go through the steps again in order to change things and solve other UI design and usability issues.
Waterfall design method lesson: know your team, know your method
The decision to use the waterfall method when developing a user interface design boils down to the makeup of your UI design team. For UI design teams that prefer to work in a more free-form way naturally the waterfall design process might be more problematic than for a UI design team that prefers to compartmentalize their workflow and work linearly. Knowing the psychological makeup of your team goes a long way in helping one determine the best user interface design methodology to use.
