If you are working in the amazing field of UX Design, you would have heard the word ‘wireframes’ often. Wireframing is an important part of product design – but what are wireframes actually, and why are they important?
In this post, we will discuss everything you need to understand about wireframes. Let us begin by looking at the basic structure of a wireframe – from what it is exactly to where it fits in product design, to what features it comprises.
We will then learn about the different kinds of wireframes, the tools needed to build them, and more.
Are you thinking ‘what is a wireframe’? Web design uses wireframes to make the process simpler and more streamlined. Are you ready to delve into the fascinating world of wireframes? Here we go!
1. What is a wireframe in web design?
Let us begin with the most obvious question: What are wireframes?
Similar to architectural blueprints, wireframes are skeletal two-dimensional outlines of apps or web pages. Wireframes provide a clear overview of the page layout, structure, information architecture, functionality, user flow and intended behaviors.
Since a web design wireframe mostly represents the initial concept of the product, its color, graphics and styling are kept to a minimum. You can draw wireframes by hand or create them digitally, based on the amount of details required.
Wireframing is a common practice that is used by UX Design professionals. This process enables stakeholders to agree upon where the information has to be placed before the developers begin building the interface with code.
2. When does the process of wireframing happen?
The wireframing process happens during the exploration phase of a product’s life cycle. During this stage, designers test the product’s scope, collaborate on ideas, and identify business requirements.
A wireframe is the initial iteration of a web page, used as a starting-off point for product design.
Taking into account the valuable insights gained from user feedback, designers will be able to build on the next iteration of product design, which is more detailed – such as the mockup or prototype.
3. What is the purpose of creating wireframes?
Wireframes have three main purposes:
- They keep the product concept user-focused.
Wireframes are used effectively as communication devices; they facilitate getting feedback from users, generating ideas among designers, and instigating conversations with stakeholders.
Performing user testing during the early stage of wireframing allows designers to harbor honest feedback and discover pain points that help establish and develop the concept of the product.
Wireframing is the best way for designers to gauge how users would interact with the product interface.
- Wireframes define and clarify website features.
When you communicate your ideas to your clients, they may not understand technical terms like ‘call to action’ or ‘hero image’. Wireframing features will communicate to the clients clearly about how they will function and what purpose they have.
Wireframing enables stakeholders to understand how much space needs to be allocated for every feature, connect the information architecture of the site to its visual design, and comprehend the page’s functionality.
- Wireframes are fast and cheap to create.
What is the best part about using wireframes? They are extremely cheap and easy to be created. In fact, if you just have a paper and pen at hand, you can sketch out a wireframe quickly without spending money.
Concerning wireframe, web design process can be made much more effective using it. The abundance of tools available enables you to build digital wireframes in minutes. Often, if a product looks too polished, the users may not be honest about their first thoughts about the product.
But by revealing the core of the page’s layout, pain points and flaws can be easily found out and rectified without any expenditure of money or time. The later we involve it in product design, the harder it gets to make changes!
4. What are the various kinds of wireframes?
There are three main kinds of wireframes and they are low-fidelity, mid-fidelity, and high-fidelity wireframes. The most noteworthy distinguishing factor between these types is the amount of detail they can contain.
Let us look at the types of wireframes more closely:
Low-fidelity wireframes:
Low-fidelity wireframes are basic representations of the web page and they are visual and serve as the starting point of the design process. They tend to be somewhat rough, created without the sense of grid, pixel-accuracy or scale.
They omit details that could possibly be a distraction and include simplistic images, mock content and block shapes only.
Mid-fidelity wireframes:
This the most commonly used type of wireframes among the three and it features more accurate representations of the page layout.
While they still prevent distractions such as typography or images, they assign more detail to certain components and clearly differentiate the features from each other.
Differing text weights may also be used to separate body content and headings. Though black and white, designers sometimes use different shades of grey color to communicate the visual significance of individual elements.
High-fidelity wireframes:
Finally, high-fidelity wireframes use pixel-specific layouts. A low-fidelity wireframe might include pseudo-Latin text as fillers and grey boxes containing an ‘X’ to indicate images.
But high-fidelity wireframes may add actual featured images and written content. These added details make high-fidelity wireframes perfect for exploring and documenting different complex concepts such as interactive maps or menu systems.
5. What does a wireframe consist of?
As we touched on earlier, the features included in wireframes depend largely on whether they are low, mid or high-fidelity ones.
However, the elements typically seen in wireframes include share buttons, headers, search fields, logos, and pseudo-Latin placeholder text (Lorem Ipsum).
High-fidelity wireframes can also include contact information, footers, and navigation systems.
Imagery and typography must not be a part of a mid or low-fidelity wireframe, but designers play with the text sizing often to indicate headers or represent the information hierarchy.
Traditionally, a wireframe is created in greyscale and so, designers play around with the shading often – using dark shades of grey to denote bold colors and lighter shading to denote lighter colors.
In a high-fidelity wireframe, the designers may add the occasional color; such as red color to indicate an error message or a warning, or dark blue color to represent a link.
6. What are the web design wireframe tools available?
Designers have a plethora of advanced programs and tools for wireframing at their fingertips.
Built-in UI elements, such as button states, navigation, and form elements allow designers to use pre-made design plans to their advantage and create wireframes in a short time span.
One of the most popular wireframing tools is Sketch, which employs a combination of vector design shapes and artboards to help designers create a wireframe on a pixel-based canvas easily.
Sketch also has a useful Symbols feature, so you will be able to reuse UI elements after they have been created. Do you need something more professional than paper but do not exactly need pixel perfection?
You can opt for the equally popular Balsamiq, which is a tool that enables designers to concentrate on the layout, basic information architecture and intuitive interaction design instead of the aesthetic quality.
So there we have it: all that you need to know (and then some more) about wireframes.
The above may seem basic, but wireframes will assist you in getting vital user, stakeholder, and client approval with regard to the product layout and navigation of the key pages of the product.
Web Design is a vital process and you may consider using the services of experts, and Allen Larson Creative located in Virginia Beach is one of them. They offer best-in-class web design services.
Armed with the approval, you can proceed with the confidence that you are designing a product that your clients and users will enjoy. The bonus is that wireframes save you heaps of money and time in the long run!
