Note: This blog post is borrowed from KGBTexas Interactive Site. I am happily employed by KGBTexas, please view the blog to view all of our articles.

Wireframes are NOT…

Wireframes are not a final product. They are not ready for the real world. They are not even technically a prototype. Wireframes are meant to be slim, lacking content and not particularly appealing.

So what ARE wireframes?

Wireframes are a tool to help encourage communication between the client and designer. Wireframes shed some light early in the production stage of a project regarding the direction a design is headed. The wireframe gives both parties some building blocks to work with and begin communication on design matters or structural features.

I cannot express strongly enough that a wireframe is not a mock design. The real purpose of a wireframe is to present a visual representation of the work flow your designer has in mind. As a client, you should use this wireframe to submit feedback on whether or not this work flow matches your line of thought.

Epic wireframe analogy

I like to compare a good wireframe to a cocoon. The cocoon delivers a butterfly which looks hardly similar to the initial being that first entered the cocoon. The same goes for our wireframes. By way of productive communication, a designer’s wireframes help shape and mold the ideas of our clients into a beautiful website. Until spring when our websites all migrate north. We’re still working on that.