If you have some prior knowledge or experience of UX design, you might have already heard of a wireframe. It is an important of a bespoke web design that ensures that the end result once the website is built, provides a user experience that is easy and clear to navigate. In this guide, we’ll be exploring what a website wireframe is in more detail and why they are a key step in the website design process.
Defining a website wireframe
A website wireframe is a type of visual template that maps out an example of what each page on a website will look like. It normally doesn’t include any colours, styling, or graphics at this point, they are added further into the design. The wireframe simply shows the content, layout, and behaviour of the website including the relationship between the pages. So, features like menus and buttons are designed to show how the overall experience will look and work for an end user.
Often being the first step in the website design and development process, it is a useful way of showing team members and stakeholders in the business how things are going to go. It can be tempting for some designers to want to skip this part of the process and jump directly into the full design or provide high-fidelity mock ups instead. However, having a wireframe in place sets the foundation for the rest of the project and prepares everyone for the next stages. The website wireframe is essentially the plan for the website and without a plan, projects can easily become derailed, costing more time and money than is necessary.
Why is a wireframe important?
There are several key reasons why it is important to create a wireframe as part of your website design process. These include:
- It allows for brainstorming design ideas.
- You can get important feedback from stakeholders or team members and make any tweaks required before committing fully to the design.
- It helps to create a clear architecture for how the website will be structured, giving everyone working on the project a set path to follow for the website development to run smoothly.
- There’s an opportunity to identify potential problems early before they become more serious issues further into the project.
- You can get a good understanding of the time and resources that need to be dedicated to developing the website.
- Allows for communication and collaboration between your team to keep the project on track.
- Provides an opportunity to validate the content and navigation.
- Focuses on user interaction, usability, and the overall user experience.
What is included in a wireframe?
As mentioned earlier the wireframe is only meant to be a basic look at the core functionality and layout of the website. Typically, in a website wireframe there will be the logos and shapes, search fields, headers, share buttons, and the main content with some Lorem Ipsum placeholder text in certain parts.
Wireframes are created in greyscale, giving the designer scope to use different shades of grey to represent different elements of each page. For example, lighter shades of grey might represent image boxes or lighter colours and darker grey being used to show where darker colours will go. This is helpful in differentiating key parts of the website such as the colours of call-to-action buttons standing out on the pages.
As specialists in website design Wirral, we present wireframes to our clients for them to offer feedback and confirm that they are happy for us to proceed with that website design.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article has helped you get a better understanding of what a website wireframe is and its importance in the design process. If you’re looking for professional and experienced website design and development services, contact Deliver today to discuss your needs. We’re a full-service digital marketing agency in the North West helping businesses in various industries with their website and digital marketing efforts.
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