When most people think of building a great app or website, they might start thinking about product-market fit or core features, but we’d argue that a great wireframe or design prototype is just as important. After all, it determines what an app or website looks like and feels like and, ultimately, how it works.

In this article, we’ll show some of the different ways you can create these wireframes, including a few website wireframe examples and tools you can reference to get started.

Why are wireframes important?

Every great SaaS application or website starts with a great UX and UI design. Wireframes form the structural blueprint that serves as the foundation for any design project. 

By focusing purely on layout, information hierarchy, and intended functionality, wireframes enable designers and stakeholders to shape the user experience without being distracted by colors, fonts, or images that come later in the design process. This simplicity and focus allows teams to quickly iterate on ideas for streamlining flows and enhancing usability.

Additionally, because wireframes clearly communicate functionality without the bells and whistles of visual design, they make it easier for designers to gather feedback from a diverse group of stakeholders — from engineers to business leaders. Everyone can understand and provide input on wireframe layouts and information architecture. This allows UX designers to align early in the wireframing process.

It’s also worth noting that resolving any structural and informational issues during the wireframing stages can dramatically accelerate both design and development velocity. 

By catching any usability flaws or holes in your user flows early on, using low-fidelity deliverables, wireframes enable your project’s stakeholders to provide feedback before your designers begin visually building out screens and interactions. This prevents wasting effort creating polished visuals that later need reworking due to underlying architectural problems.

In other words, not only does wireframing help you avoid any unnecessary reiterations of your project, but it also ensures you’re not spending budget and dev resources that could be used elsewhere in your business.

Different ways to create wireframes (with examples)

There is no “best” way to create a wireframe. Approaches range from rough pencil sketches to detailed interactive prototypes. 

Generally speaking, however, earlier conceptual stages feature more informal hand drawings to explore broad ideas quickly before handing anything over to a developer. Then, as a winning design starts to emerge, UI/UX teams can create more high-fidelity wireframes with digital tools to test their assumptions and present a more finished product to their stakeholders. 

Let’s walk through different types of wireframes and how you can create them, from sketching on a cocktail napkin to using purpose-built AI design tools. 

1. Hand-drawn wireframes

One of the quickest ways to ideate early-stage wireframes is by sketching with good old pen and paper. Not only is it easy to do, but hand-drawn wireframes also allow you to quickly tweak your ideas during group brainstorming sessions with your team or any key stakeholders.

Designers can swiftly visualize and rearrange various layouts, flows, and UI elements, without a digital tool slowing down their workflow. These rough conceptual sketches help teams explore divergent ideas before narrowing down which interaction patterns show the most promise. 

This hand-drawn wireframe contains individual pages for the proposed app, including interactive features and the site’s user interface. In other words, there’s just enough info for the design team to discuss what changes need to be made before moving forward with a more traditional low- or high-fidelity prototype.

This whiteboard wireframe contains three different versions labeled "v1 High," "v2 Mid," and "v3 Low." Each version represents different stages of task completion and user comprehension, reflecting a user interface or dashboard design

Not only does this low-fidelity wireframe make it easy to plot out the design and make changes, but its three different versions make it easy to conduct group brainstorming and collaboration sessions. From here, a design team can decide what changes need to be made to the proposed app’s UI/UX.

This wireframe for an events app contains brief descriptions of each module within the wireframe, including an events timeline, notification center, and upcoming events listings.

This flowchart-based wireframe is another great example of a mockup for a web or mobile app. 

The flowchart on the left outlines user paths, including options like location-based searches and thematic choices, leading to various results or settings. Meanwhile, the separate wireframes on the right show potential layouts for different content pages, with placeholders for images, lists, and text.

2. Low-fidelity wireframes

Low-fidelity wireframes are one step up from hand drawings. They allow designers to craft simple grayscale layouts focused purely on organizing site content, establishing key pages, and mapping user flow navigation. 

These clean, pared-down wireframes intentionally lack fonts, colors, graphics, or any other visual details. This level of minimalism also shifts the design focus to assessing structural site architecture, proposed interfaces, and potential interaction flaws. 

At this stage, stakeholders can provide feedback on the function of the product or website design itself, without any biases from how attractive the visuals may be further down the line. As long as you dial in the layout and informational priorities first, you can always add the visual design layers later.

This wireframe contains a unique grid overlay that allows the designer to effectively plot out where the individual modules and features will live on their site. But this overlay isn’t just for the designer — it also makes it easier for internal or external stakeholders to understand what the final design will look like true to size.

This wireframe contains basic information on this book-tracking app’s core features and the features contained on each page. From here, a design could determine what other elements need to be included in the final design, including colors, fonts, motion graphics, and any other key design elements.

For some wireframes — like the one above — all the design team really needs is to plot out the structure of the site. From here, they can determine what other design elements need to be included on each based on the site’s architecture. 

This low-fidelity wireframe of the Bank of America login page showcases what the page could look like on mobile devices. The designer also included the placement of the page’s two key modules: the traditional login and the touch login.

3. High-fidelity wireframes

Later on in the design process, high-fidelity wireframes become crucial to bridge the gap between the concept and the finished product. 

These polished frames incorporate site copy, user interface elements, fonts, colors, logos, and imagery that closely reflect the final design aesthetics and branding. This similarity also builds stakeholder confidence and buy-in by providing a realistic depiction of the finished product. Additionally, the precise layout details and interactive components of a high-fidelity wireframe allow for more insightful user testing by better replicating any potential real-world experience friction points.

High-fidelity wireframe testing also uncovers issues that only emerge with real content in place, like seeing how long-form prose affects page length or how colorful images clash with button treatments. Resolving these issues ahead of development handoff prevents costly rework later on when the development process is underway. 

So, while they require more effort upfront, high-fidelity wireframes pay dividends in ensuring that all stakeholders share a consistent product vision.

This wireframe showcases exactly what the finished app will look like — the only thing missing is real user data. From here, a design team can send this wireframe in for review before making the final decision to hand over this design to a developer(s).

This wireframe — based on the same book-tracking app in the low-fidelity section — showcases what the app looks like with hypothetical platform and user data, including in-app friends, a goal completion page, and a virtual user library.

This wireframe of a financial services comparison page contains all the key information needed in a high-fidelity wireframe. 

Within the wireframe, you can easily see the key financial categories for personal and business finance, allowing users to easily navigate through various product options. The design also includes sections for news and financial analyses, with a clean grid structure.

This level of detail makes it easy for design teams and other stakeholders to understand what the finalized version of their website will look like pre-launch.

This high-fidelity wireframe for the Royal Enfield mobile app provides a near-complete visual representation of the final product. 

Specifically, it includes detailed design elements like images, typography, navigation bars, and content structure — everything you would see in the published version of this app. The screens also effectively showcase the app’s key functions like its login, product listing, and detailed accessory information, providing a realistic user experience.

This wireframe includes a prominent heading, placeholder text, and a "Sign Up For Free" button, clearly focusing on conversion and user onboarding.  There’s also a dashboard preview and several feature highlights that can help non-designer stakeholders understand what their app’s intended features will look like post-launch.

 

4. AI-generated wireframes

Leveraging advances in machine learning, web design tools that leverage AI technology now make it possible to produce high-fidelity wireframes with the same amount of effort it takes to jot something down on paper.

That’s because AI-powered design platforms — like Creatie, for example — speed up the product design process by algorithmically suggesting layouts and flows based on UX best practices. All you have to do is draw out the kind of frame you want to create, enter a short prompt, and then the AI serves up professional-quality wireframes to use outright or build upon. And if you still need more AI assistance, it’s even possible to generate wireframes using your existing design styles and components, making any subsequent edits easier.

This automated heavy lifting enables designers to focus their time and energy on tackling higher-value creative challenges and customizing personalized design elements rather than getting bogged down with spacing Div tags and picking from dropdown navigation patterns.

5. Interactive wireframes

Beyond static screens, interactive wireframes bring additional fidelity by simulating real user experience flows. Linked together through clickable hotspots, these dynamic frames allow stakeholders to scroll, tap, and navigate just like they would on a finished product.

Unlike a static blueprint, interactive wireframes allow designers to test their designs firsthand. By using these interactive designs, they might even discover that their button placements feel cramped, the menu nesting seems unintuitive, or their links lead to dead ends. By identifying these issues before moving into the development phase, designers can ensure that the site architecture stands on its own feet, independent of the surface-level coat of paint to come later.

What to include in a wireframe

While wireframes can vary depending on the type of interface, there are a few essential components that UX designers focus on:

• Navigation elements like menus and search bars, main content areas, and modules
• Prominently placed calls to action
• Outlines of intended user flows through the product or pages (the homepage, landing page, or pricing page, for example)

Crafting these elements for both desktop and mobile is crucial as the navigation patterns and information hierarchy often require adjustments across different devices.

When shaping wireframes, designers must balance providing enough detail to clearly communicate functionality without overcomplicating things and overwhelming stakeholders with too much detail early on. The goal is to give just enough specificity so reviewers can visualize interactions while staying flexible enough to iterate quickly.

One key area that wireframes must also address is mapping out an ideal user journey. This involves visualizing and connecting crucial wayfinding moments, from initial orientation challenges to desired outcomes and actions you want site visitors to take. Having this thoughtful user flow embedded right in the wireframe allows products to show a more seamless experience across channels.

Wireframing for desktop vs. mobile apps

When structuring wireframes, designers must account for key differences in user behavior and capabilities between desktop vs. mobile experiences. Most importantly, mobile devices have a much smaller screen. This demands more minimalist navigation such as hamburger menus that toggle open and close. These smaller displays also require a flatter information architecture, with higher-priority content and features prominently featured up front.

These interactions also diverge between the platforms. For example, desktop wireframes can leverage hover states, right-click menus, and precise mouse controls. But on mobile devices, everything works through single touch taps and swipes. This influences the layout and flow to make touch targets large enough and spacing precise enough to avoid usability frustrations.

To handle these variations, UX designers employ responsive design techniques when wireframing. Using principles like progressive disclosure and fluid grids, teams can craft an adaptable blueprint that works across anything from a five-inch phone screen to a 50-inch smart TV display. This future-proofs the iterative work done in the wireframe stage.

The mobile-first design philosophy also affects wireframes. Rather than sizing desktop site layouts down, mobile wireframes start with small screen constraints, designing for essentials first. Then they scale up, adding nice-to-have elements for larger tablets, laptops, and monitors. This prioritization creates more usable mobile products at the beginning.

4 free website wireframing tools you can start using today

Not sure where to start when it comes to wireframing tools? You can use any of these four tools to get started.

Creatie

A user-friendly tool designed for non-designers, offering customizable wireframe templates and widgets.

Pros: A simple, intuitive interface that’s completely free.

Cons: Limited features compared to more advanced tools.

Best Use Case: Small teams or individuals needing to create quick, straightforward wireframes.

Figma

Figma is a powerful, cloud-based tool, perfect for real-time collaboration. Core features include vector networks, auto-layout, and extensive plug-in support. 

Pros: Ideal for teams due to its collaborative features and cross-platform accessibility. 

Cons: Limited active projects and editors are available in the free version. Steep learning curve for beginners. 

Best use case: Team-based projects requiring extensive collaboration.

Adobe XD

Adobe XD is a versatile tool with strong integration into the Adobe ecosystem, offering wireframing, prototyping, and UI/UX design tools. 

Pros: Seamless integration with Adobe Creative Cloud and advanced features like voice prototyping.

Cons: Full functionality requires a paid subscription and can be less intuitive.

Best use case: Designers already using Adobe products who need advanced prototyping features.

Balsamiq

Balsamiq focuses on low-fidelity wireframes with a simple drag-and-drop interface, ideal for quick mockups.

Pros: Easy to use and great for focusing on layout without distraction.

Cons: Limited in advanced features like prototyping or animations.

Best use case: Early-stage wireframing where simplicity is key.

Want to research these tools in greater detail? We created a complete guide on using Figma vs. Sketch vs. Adobe XD to help you narrow down your search for the right wireframing tool.

Create a high-quality wireframe in minutes with Creatie

Regardless of which wireframe design method you use, you’ll need to rapidly iterate on your designs before they’re ready for development. And with AI-powered design tools like Creatie, you can quickly generate new wireframe designs in just a few clicks.

Ready to create your next design? Get started for free today.