Wireframing: A Beginner’s Guide

Most of us access websites and interact with their offerings without thinking about the work that went into making that collection of content available in the first place. Known as web design, it’s a critical component of the modern digital world. Without web design, there would be no websites. And without any websites, there’d be no internet.

While most web design projects eventually utilize preexisting templates for the purpose of saving time and money, they all start off as original ideas. The concept of the website – and what it achieves – is the starting point for what will one day be a functioning website. For many web designers, this means one thing: wireframing.

Simply put, wireframing is a way to visualize a website’s basic structure and layout. It’s like a blueprint or storyboard but for a website. By using wireframing tools, designers can create mock-ups to share with supervisors and stakeholders.

Let’s take a closer look at wireframing and how designers can use it to create intuitive websites.

IMAGE: UNSPLASH

The Purpose Of Wireframing

Wireframing is not meant to be part of the final design. Rather, wireframes serve as a temporary stand-in for essential elements and placements. In other words, wireframing isn’t concerned with the aesthetics; that comes later. Instead, wireframes are a basic blueprint for how the website will look while providing plenty of opportunities to make adjustments and revisions.

The Scope Of Wireframing

Wireframes provide a means of showcasing certain elements of a potential website while skipping over others. Which elements are highlighted and which are skipped depends on the scope of the wireframe project. With this in mind, it’s essential for designers to decide which elements to focus on and which to avoid in order to minimize clutter and streamline the wireframing process.

Sketch Before Starting

Old-fashioned pencil and paper should be used to sketch ideas out before switching over to wireframing. This helps you to quickly iterate through different concepts without worrying about details.

Once you have a rough design idea in place, you can move to digital tools for refinement, starting with wireframing. While wireframes are themselves a type of sketch, they require enough effort that sketching with pencil and paper will make the overall process more efficient and productive.

Utilize A Grid

Using a grid helps to maintain consistency and alignment in your wireframe. It ensures that all elements are correctly positioned and proportional. Grids also help to keep the design balanced and visually appealing. Once you utilize grids in the web design process, you’ll wonder how you ever went without them.

Keep It Simple

If there’s one takeaway from this beginner’s guide, it’s that wireframes are meant to be simple and straightforward. The more complex they are, the harder it will be to use your findings to improve the final product. For now, it’s best to avoid using too many colors, fonts, graphics, and icons since doing so will likely end up being confusing and distracting.

Include Notes And Annotations

Wireframing is almost always a learning process, where designers discover what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to be done to take the existing approach and make it better. With this in mind, it’s essential to include notes and annotations in your wireframe project. Doing so provides context regarding specific elements and helps to communicate your ideas and findings to team members and stakeholders.

Seek Feedback

Wireframes represent a work in progress. In order to get the most out of wireframing, designers need feedback and input from team members, stakeholders, and users. It’s the only way designers can hope to uncover bugs or usability issues. Without feedback, it’s unlikely that a wireframe will serve its purpose of detecting potential problems before they get baked into the cake of the final product.

Most folks don’t think twice about what goes into designing a website until they run into problems and start wondering how such flaws made their way to the final version. While a lot goes into ensuring a website serves its purpose, the best way to get off on the right foot is to utilize wireframing. Doing so will minimize hassles, increase efficiency, and make it more likely that the final product is up to snuff.