Once your web design firm completes the information architecture step in the creative design process, you may move on to the next key step: developing wireframes. A wireframe is helpful is defining what types of technology will be used and which messaging with be displayed on what pages. Although the wireframe doesn’t show creative, colors or and imagery or graphics, it does depict and lay out where content and photographs will be.
This step in the process is sometimes called the skeleton. Since there isn’t any colors or images displayed in this step of the web design, the creative design process is still taken place. The wireframes outline content placement areas and core features of the website, such as the masthead, core messaging, content, footer, call-to-actions, side bars utility links, information above and below the fold and more.
The wireframe and the sitemap “work together” in the creative design process. While the sitemap provides the content and what’s going to be included, the wireframes depict exactly where the content is going to go. Being able to think like the consumer may sometimes be challenging, but an experienced web designer will anticipate user’s needs and expectations while progression through developing wireframes and the entire web design process.