Phase 3: Mockup & UI/UX Design

Design screens and user flows before building components.

Purpose

Phase 3 creates visual blueprints for the application. Mockups prevent expensive redesigns during development and align stakeholders on the user experience.

Actions

Deliverables

1. Screen Inventory – List of all screens/pages
2. Wireframes – Low-fidelity layout for each screen
3. User Flow Diagram – Navigation paths between screens
4. Responsive Breakpoints – Mobile/tablet/desktop layouts
5. Mockup Document – docs/02-design/mockup.md

Process

Step 1: Screen Inventory

List every screen the application needs:

### Public Pages
- [ ] Landing Page - Hero, features, CTA
- [ ] Login - Email/password form
- [ ] Register - Signup form
- [ ] Password Reset - Recovery flow

### Authenticated Pages
- [ ] Dashboard - Overview, stats, recent activity
- [ ] Profile - User info, settings
- [ ] Item List - CRUD list with filters
- [ ] Item Detail - Single item view/edit

Step 2: Wireframe Each Screen

Use ASCII for text-based wireframes:

+-----------------------------------+
| [Logo]        [Nav]    [Login]    |
+-----------------------------------+
|                                   |
|     Welcome to AppName            |
|     Subtitle description          |
|                                   |
|     [Get Started Button]          |
|                                   |
+-----------------------------------+
|  Feature 1  | Feature 2  | F3    |
|  Icon+Text  | Icon+Text  |       |
+-----------------------------------+
|         Footer Links              |
+-----------------------------------+

Step 3: User Flow

Landing -> Login -> Dashboard
                 -> Register -> Email Verify -> Dashboard

Dashboard -> Item List -> Item Detail -> Edit Item
          -> Profile -> Settings
          -> Logout -> Landing

Step 4: Responsive Design

Step 5: Component Identification

Identify reusable components from wireframes:

• Header (logo, nav, user menu)
• Footer (links, copyright)
• Card (image, title, description, actions)
• Form (input, select, checkbox, submit)
• Table (sortable, filterable, paginated)
• Modal (confirm, form, info)
• Toast/Alert (success, error, warning, info)

Mockup Patterns

See references/mockup-patterns.md for common layout, form, and list patterns.

Output Location

docs/02-design/
├── mockup.md         # Screen wireframes
├── user-flow.md      # Navigation flow diagram
└── screen-list.md    # Screen inventory

Next Phase

When mockups are complete, proceed to $phase-4-api for API design.

Common Mistakes