Wireframing is the process of drawing a sketch-based representation of your product design to present the functionality of your design. Wireframing is done for two main reasons:

• To create a diagram for you or your team to see how the design works
• To have a practical way of presenting your product design to your clients or team

While wireframing is just a basic part of the design process, it is important to get it right. For one, having a not-so-good wireframe will eventually hurt your overall design since you’ll base your work based on the wireframe you’ve made.

But as basic as its sounds, some designers still struggle with the wireframing process. It may be a basic process, but it does not mean that it’s necessarily an easy one.

In this article, we are going to discuss some of the ways you can do to improve your wireframing process. If you’re struggling with your wireframing process and you’re looking for ways to improve on it, this article is definitely for you.

So, without any further ado, let’s get started!

6 Ways to Improve Your Wireframing Process

1) Have a clear objective right at the start

Before you begin to wireframe your design, you must a clear objective on what you want to achieve for your design. Unless you have a clear objective, you simply won’t be able to create a good wireframe because you don’t have a clear direction on where you’d want your design to go.

So, before you start, ask yourself some basic questions such as:

• What is the primary goal of my design?
• How do I want my users to interact with my design?
• What results would I want to achieve in my design?

Once your objectives are clear, you can proceed to the wireframing process.

2) Right or sketch your ideas on paper first before moving onto your wireframe software

Once you have a clear objective for your design, it’s time to move forward to the wireframing process. But before you use your fancy wireframing software, it’s great that you start writing your ideas on paper first before heading to your software. Why?

Writing on paper makes it very easy for editing – for instance, you don’t need to click for the erase tool when you need to delete an object; simply erase with your pencil or scratch it out with your ball pen! It also feels very natural. Some may think that writing on paper is a waste of time, but that’s not necessarily true. Once you have laid out at least the basic flow of your design on paper, your wireframing process on your software will be way much smoother as you had already laid the foundation of your design idea and flow.

3) Be specific in the screen size that you’re designing for

There are three general screen sizes the designers need to design for: desktop, tablet and mobile screens. But even if you select a particular screen size, say, for tablet screens, be sure to be more specific to ensure that your design will really fit in to the screen that you’re working for.

By “more specific”, we mean that you be specific on the phone and model. For instance, don’t just think about tablet screens; think about, for instance, Samsung Galaxy Tab S7.

4) Look at the big picture (or, think in terms of the overall flow of the design)

Some designers tend to be caught up with a particular slide of their design. While it’s good to work on the individual parts of your design, you should always keep an eye on the overall flow of the design. If you focus too much on one area only and lose an eye to your design’s overall flow, you may end up designing that particular area that’s inconsistent to your overall flow.

5) Keep a good eye on content

UX/UI design is not just about buttons, functionality and graphic design. Content – texts, images, videos – also plays a very integral role for the design. So, when creating your design, visualize how the content will appear based on the goal of the design that you’re working on.

For instance, if you’re designing for your e-commerce stores, be sure to create an emphasis on the images of the products to be sold and their corresponding information such as product information, etc.

6) Ask for feedback

Finally, ask for feedback from your team to better improve your wireframing process. By asking for feedback, you get to know what they like, what they don’t like, and suggestions and ideas that you probably you won’t be able to come up with by yourself.

So, don’t shy away from getting feedbacks – even if sometimes, it comes in a form of criticism. Not only that, but be sure to get feedbacks as often as you can. This allows you to refine your wireframing process as you work on it!