4 Ways to Wireframe Web Designs

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Ask any designer and they will tell you that the brainstorming and concepting phase is the most important part the of design process. Every great design starts with an idea, and this holds true not only for logo or illustrative design but also for web design. Whether your final product is a Photoshop document or HTML and CSS, you should always start with a wireframe — a visual framework that illustrates the layout of content, interface elements and navigational system. When you demonstrate the functionality of your design to clients, it gives them options to choose from. This can save time before you become invested in one version. The following 4 ways to wireframe web designs are some of the best techniques and software available to help jump start your next project.

Pencil and Paper Keep it old school. Despite all of our recent advances in technology many designers prefer to sort out their ideas with an old fashioned sketch. Using pencil and paper, its easy to mockup a layout that solves organization issues of each page. website wireframe Pros: Speed Simplicity Creativity Cons: Difficult to reproduce/share People might think you are a “designosaur” MockingBird This easy to use, web based application called MockingBird is great for making fast and functional website background remove service mockups. It has an intuitive user interface full of pre-made web elements and allows you to link pages together. On top of that you can work collaboratively on a project with members of your team or your client. Pros: Work from the browser on any machine Ability to link pages Easy to collaborate FREE/affordable Cons: Limited choices for stylizing your mock up To work on more than two projects you need to upgrade to a paid version SimpleDiagrams SimpleDiagrams is, you guessed it, very simple! Its easy to use and lots of fun.



The drag and drop interface makes putting basic mockups together a brease. There are different choices for the style/background, and it’s easy to save your work as a .png so you can email it to your client or upload it on 99designs. While this program doesn’t have the in depth functionality of some other wire framing programs, it looks slick and you will definitely enjoy playing around with it. Check out this mock up for a responsive web design I did in a matter of seconds: Pros: Fun! Compatible across all Mac, Windows, Linux operating systems Artsy hand-drawn style Cons: Limited functionality Purchase required after trial iMockups If your lucky enough to have an iPad, you may want to try brainstorming and conceptualizing your design from the comfort of your couch with an intuitive program called iMockups.