For UI professionals, the process of visually prototyping an application is a cornerstone in the design process. The challenge has always been to find a tool that will allow us to quickly develop visually detailed, and hopefully somewhat interactive, wireframes and mockups.

Outside of a few incredibly expensive applications, however, there are only a few really versatile options available to UI professionals. The ideal solution would be an application that allows UI pros to quickly wireframe interfaces, then populate the wireframes with high quality graphical elements to create a near-pixel-perfect mockup, share a graphical library with colleagues which can be independently updated and which could automatically propagate changes to dependent mockups, and finally allow for some interactive elements that could demonstrate actual interaction scenarios and allow developers to “experience” the interactions we are designing. Of course, the ability to easily translate a mockup directly into some workable, skeletal code would also be delicious.

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I recently attended a lecture by Matt Jones on the topic of Playful Design. Matt was talking primarily about engaging users and customers through a process of playful discovery, in which fun and quirky features are designed into products, allowing users to engage in entertaining passive exploration of the product. Playful features could have a purpose or simply be there as a wink to the user. The main idea is to create an atmosphere of play that enhances the intrinsic value of the software or product. This playful attitude can be added as part of error messages, quirky functions, or in-product mini-games.

Although the lecture didn’t really focus in any specific product categories, the overall concept seemed to be aimed at electronic consumer devices, social networks, and the kind of fast & fun web 2.0 applications that are popping up like mushrooms. It got me thinking: If playfulness has value, it stands to reason that play could be incorporated into more serious contexts as well. What about products that are notoriously unplayful?

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In today’s blog post I’m going to be talking about one of the most recognizable layout models on the web today, its flaws, and some suggestions for retiring this old chestnut.

The culprit here is the reliable fall-back of web layouts: 3 columns, with the main content centered. It’s used in a wide range of websites, from e-commerce to news outlets, and has become the default model for many content management systems. Although there are times when the 3-column layout is appropriate, more often than not the layout is abused, degenerating into a poorly implemented default.

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