Wireframes – for me, in the form of rough, pen-on-paper sketches – are important when you are exploring ways to organize and navigate around complex data. However, I always gravitate towards high-fidelity mock ups as soon as I can. It removes any ambiguity around the final product and you gain access to invaluable tools such as color, shape, texture, direction and size. Not having these tools at your disposal is like writing a novel without punctuation.

In these presentation slides, Luke Wroblewski focuses on the visual layer of web design – its importance in creating meaning for users and solving the core problems of usefulness, usability and desirability. Worth a look for the examples alone, which are always fun. (Would be nice to have them in a higher resolution though.)