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Think of website and app wireframing as a blueprint, or a skeleton. It’s the basic framework for layouts, functionality, and user-flow. The details get added later; establishing a strong foundation is key in creating a successful website or app. Avatar web design New York discusses wireframing best practices.

• Do your due diligence Preparation and testing is essential for creating a great final product. Extra time spent in the beginning and throughout the process will prevent headaches later.

• Research first Understand the business’ target audiences, business goals, and how the business wants its users to interact with the website and for what purposes, to frame the design appropriately to meet the client’s expectations.

• Test throughout Test usability, flow, and other issues throughout the process to identify opportunities early and correct them before too much back-tracking is required.

• Make it a team effort Getting a consensus on usability issues, content, design flow, and more, from others on the team and the client, will ensure a better final product.

• Collaborate Leverage the know-how and ideas of other designers and developers and clients.

• Notes and annotations Clear communications create a cohesive team flow. Include details about user interaction and site functionality on wireframes so the team can work collectively towards unified goals.

• Decide whether a high or low fidelity framework is appropriate Create wireframes that clients will understand. For tech-savvy collaborators and clients, low fidelity wireframes will suffice. Low fidelity wireframes are best early in the development process to highlight basic functionality, architecture, and user-flow. For less experienced clients or later-stage development, high fidelity wireframes are better suited to achieve in-depth testing and to highlight more comprehensive features to make the design easier to understand and visualize in its finality.

• Focus on the big picture for UX Wireframing should focus on UX and arrangement of content to achieve goals.

• Substance first approach Keep it simple; wireframes should focus on functionality, structure, and user behaviors. Colors and visuals can distract from usability and should be added later in the process.

• Hierarchy Establish navigational and content hierarchy in early stages of wireframe development to address user needs.

• Navigational patterns Consider user-side navigation to deliver a superb user experience which will impact retention, conversion, and repeat traffic.

• Content and spacing Exact content and typography will be added later in development. When wireframing, consider realistic font sizes, image sizes, and the amount of space needed for content to help create visual hierarchy and organization. This will prevent issues with the interface, such as accommodating more content than was planned.

• Consider how the website or app will translate Consider the user’s interactions with the final product.

• Mobile responsiveness It’s easier to scale a mobile design up than to scale a desktop design down. Consider how both versions will render and design wireframes with mobile responsiveness in mind.

• Hidden content Be cognizant of hidden content within internal pages when wireframing. Hidden content can damage SEO and has a negative impact on the user experience. Prioritize relevant content and focus on what is important for the user.

Avatar New York Web Design is an innovating, award-winning web design New York firm dedicated to providing clients with responsive websites that help grow brands and convert visitors to customers. With an expertise in web development, branding, cloud hosting, mobile app development, and CMS and e-commerce solutions, Avatar New York's top tier designers have the ability to create intelligent websites for any type of business.