Low Fidelity Wireframes

In web designing and app production, being impatient and averse to long processes and brainstorming can be a counterproductive attitude. Good designers go through the four representation phases in their proper order: sketch, wireframe, mockup, and prototype.

In particular, you shouldn’t skip the low fi wireframe phase. What one works on the second phase of web design representation is the structural layout, which follows after the freehand drawing that’s done in the sketch phase.

Lower Fidelity Wireframes consist of black and white outlines that define the sizes and locations of page elements, conversion areas, and navigation system of a website to be created. Wireframes don’t have colors, logos, font options, or any design components that can cause the designer to lose his or her focus on the site’s structure. They are akin to building blueprints where one can easily see the locations of electrical, plumbing, and other structural systems.

Sketch, Wireframe, Mockup, and Prototype: Understanding The Steps of Web Design

In the web development and app-making industry, you’ll often hear design terms like sketch, wireframe, mockup, and prototype. For newbies, these are terms you need to know and understand right away. Here are the basic concepts of each. Phases of Representation

The purpose of all four design techniques is to help developers figure out what they want to build. In other words, they are steps of representation of the final product.

The first two , the sketch and the wireframe belong to low-fidelity mockup representation. The third step, the mockup, gives medium-fidelity representation while the last one, the prototype, provides high-fidelity representation.

Sketch– This is the most basic representation. It is actually just a freehand drawing of what you want to produce, and this is also the quickest way you can visualize your website’s student. Even the simplest sketch can depict your ideas more clearly than words.

Generate more ideas as you go along or even change details when sketching. There are online sketch templates, wireframe diagram, and mockup tools you can use without shelling out a dollar.

Wireframe– The goal in this step is to provide your website or app’s structure. This is just a simple layout where the functionality of the product and the interconnectivity among views/pages are shown.

Here, you also describe the features and content you want to include and where they will be located in the final setup. Wireframes can also be used to make secondary and global navigations and ensure that the structure and terminology used for a website will be able to meet user expectations.

Mockup– This is the stage where the static map of the product is created. It’s time to put in colors, placement text, logos, images, etc.

It will look similar to the finished product, but it is not yet clickable and interactive. Rather, it is just a graphical representation, but one that you can use for providing a more defined visual to your investors to help them visualize how the finished product will look like. You can create mockups using free online mockup generator tool.

Prototype– This is like the mockup stage with additional animation, interaction, UX pieces, and everything that you would like your users to experience when clicking the site’s buttons. Ask your team and potential investors for suggestions.

At this point, the only thing that’s lacking is functionality. Web design prototyping tools can help you with that.

The Importance of Implementing These Steps Going through each of these steps brings the following benefits:

It’s great for brainstorming. It’s easy to define expectations using these steps. It is also your chance to get your ideas clearly expressed.

There’s less trial and error, which means you get to save money, effort, and time.

As you go through the steps, you can use the representations for pitching your ideas to co-founders, investors, and clients.

As opposed to concept designs, these representations are easy to amend. These various stages offer lots of opportunities for generating more ideas and incorporating needed changes to help you build the best website possible.

How is MockupTiger Unique from other wireframing applications?