Mockups and Wireframes: Both software developers commonly use the terms mockup and wireframes. However, understanding their functions and differences is essential if you work with them regularly. To start, it’s important to know why you should use them, as each represents distinct design flow stages.
Reasons to choose mockups, wireframes or sketches
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- If you want to save money that might otherwise be spent on developers and focus more on defining your project’s requirements, both mockups and wireframes can help you gain clarity and make pitches to investors.
- Mockups and wireframes are designed to help you gain clarity on what you want to be built. Both will assist you in making pitches to investors
About Wireframes
Wireframes reveal a basic, low-fidelity visual version of the design and are often created as black and white sketches. Decisions regarding what to include and where to place it on the app or website, based on features and content, are made at this stage. This process is cost-effective and relatively quick. When shown to users, it can yield valuable customer feedback since most users prioritize functionality and user experience over aesthetics. Aesthetics can be refined in later stages, but the focus should always be on problem-solving.
About Mockups
Mockups provide a detailed graphical representation of the design, showcasing every function and content element. They are ‘pixel perfect’ and exhibit high fidelity, but they require a substantial amount of time to create. Creating an app without completing mockups isn’t feasible. Similar to wireframes, gathering customer feedback is valuable because design changes can be implemented immediately. Mockups are also well-suited for obtaining quick stakeholder approval.
Both wireframes and mockups are static, while prototypes are dynamic. Additionally, neither wireframes nor mockups are clickable.
Wireframe and mockup tools
Both free and paid tools are available for wireframes and mockups. Some of the top wireframe tools for UX/UI designers are as follows:
- Sketch
- Mockplus
- Axure
- OmniGraffle
- Photoshop
- InDesign
- FlairBuilder
On similar lines, the best mockup tools include the following:
- Moqups
- Mockplus
- Balsamiq
- Mockup Builder
- Mockflow
- Hotgloo
- Invision
- Uxpin
Creating any design for your application is not a one-time job or the result of a simple action. Not only does it require technical work, but a lot of imagination, creativity and conceptualization are responsible for the creation of an app. All of the above have to be linked through latest technology. Several iterations are needed to make the application appealing and fully functional, for which both wireframes and mockups provide equal contributions. As per research, it is said that the design stage itself is responsible for taking up 30% of the time in the development cycle.
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