Wireframing Skills
- Home
- Skills & Tools
- Wireframing Skills
The ability of designing a website at structural level through a two-dimensional illustration is known as wireframing skills. Wireframing skills are the most significant trait of an individual involved in design process because they allow him to focus on allocation of space, content prioritization, intended behaviors, and available functionalities, instead of being distracted by color, styles, and graphics.
Ideal wireframing skills involve taking into account the user needs as well as user journey in order to define the hierarchy of information and plan the layout according to which the users will process information. All of this is necessary for ensuring the best experience of users when interacting with interface.
Why is wireframing important
Just like an architectural blueprint is important for understanding how the actual house will be built, wireframing is significant for providing a visual understanding by drawing a skeleton of the intended webpage.
This not only helps in getting the approval of project team and other stakeholders before the creative phase begins, but also provides an incredible opportunity as well as convenience to the designers for trying out multiple layouts before they choose the most appropriate one to work upon.
One of the major benefits of wireframing is that it makes it easier to conduct prototype usability tests early on, allowing for amendments according to user feedback, which is not possible to do with concept designs.
How to improve wireframing skills
Following are some tips that might prove helpful in improving your wireframing skills:
- Focus only on the flow. Your idea may be very clear in your head but you are in no position to judge how it is going to be understood by the end user until you see all the pages and the flow between them on a screen. Therefore, you must think of wireframing as the time when you focus on the problem that you are required to solve and the flow between pages that will convey information, instead of worrying about pixel dimensions, fonts, or colors etc.
- Content placeholders must be used. Often when you see your idea coming to life, you crave instant gratification. That, sometimes, causes a deviation of attention from structuring to actual content. The best way to overcome this is to use content placeholders instead. Fill any area that ought to have content with lorem ipsum, and represent every image with a mere box filled with an X.
- Set a deadline. While it is true that wireframing helps you play around with ideas and concepts for communicating the final design in the most effective manner, you must keep the project moving. There is no need to hurry or converge too soon. You can linger in this phase to make sure you have the right design or concept to move ahead with but it is always best to predefine the time period or deadline so that wastage of time is minimized.