Shades of Gray: Thoughs on Sketching by Will Evans is a worthwhile read to understand the role of sketches and wireframes in the software and web design process.

I use an A4/Letter size (or larger) sketch pad to illustrate interfaces and note down thoughts while brain storming interface and communication/interaction solutions before I start producing digitally created wire frames.

The link to the article is:

http://blog.semanticfoundry.com/2010/01/31/shades-of-gray-thoughts-on-sk...

While viewing http://lovelypackage.com/ which is a  great site about product packaging, it reminded me that visual design for websites is similar to product packaging. Both product packaging and the visual design layer of website design are the first thing that consumers notice when presented a product and they are key to brand identification.

Packaging such as the one liter water bottle that has its own cup (http://lovelypackage.com/1litre-water/) are excellent examples of great packaging design where the packaging is a product too (the main product in the link being water while the supplementary product is the cup.) Cosmetic products such as eye colors, have an eye line brush combined with the cap on the bottle that the main eye coloring liquid is packaged in. >>> Read More