5 Reasons Why You Cannot Ignore the Importance of Wireframes in Mobile App Development

What is the most important step in the mobile app development process? It is, of course, the selection of the best mobile app development company to make your app idea reality. However, from a development perspective, getting the wireframes (i.e., the blueprint) right during the initial stage of the app development will ensure that you save both time and money.

Every second invested in planning is saving cost in the long run. Wireframes help to make sure that your development team and you are aligned with the information shared with regard to how the final app should look.

So, what are these wireframes and why are they so important in mobile application development? Let us do a deep dive.

Overview of Wireframes

Mobile app wireframes serve as a blueprint or skeleton that forms the outline of the long app development process. They prove to be the backbone for mobile app development companies who can then design a smooth and friendly mobile app. They are well structured drawings that focus on what the mobile device screen does (functionalities and features) rather than the appearance.

In simple words, wireframes serve as the structured foundation for your mobile app that form the complete working layout for every screen of your app. In this way, they enhance the mobile app development process.

Importance of Wireframes

There are various ways in which wireframes help to simplify the app development process. Some of these benefits of wireframes are discussed below:

Helps to Understand App Working Process

Wireframes provide a strong base to the mobile apps by serving as an outline for the app structure. They form an important link between your app idea and the end product (final form of the mobile app) by helping the developers know about the workings of the app.

The visual drawings or sketches made as part of the wireframe preparation process need to be studied carefully by the developers to understand how the app deployment and coding need to be implemented.

Keeps Track of All Possible Changes and Measures Usability

You would agree that mobile app development is a lengthy and complex process. So, there is a high likelihood that your app will undergo numerous changes during the course of the development. This makes it difficult for any development team to remember all the modifications done to the app.

A wireframe history helps to solve this problem by tracking the performance of every change made to the mobile app. It keeps track of the performance of the changes that are likely to be made in the future. This helps with easily identify any bugs or errors during the test runs.

The wireframes determine if a particular completed portion of the app performs well and seems fit for its target audience. Thus, wireframes empower the app owner to find the usability of the app and how relevant it can be for your target audience.

Helps to Save Costs

Wireframes are easy to create as the app developers only need to use a piece of paper and a pen or pencil for the structured drawings to help you view all the changes as well as enhancements. It also allows you to compare the process at any stage during the app development.

Such valuable insights during the app development process provide you with the ability to rectify errors quickly, thereby saving you from the trouble of rework. So, you can save some money which would otherwise have to be spent on fixing the issues arising due to any erroneous scenarios.

Boosts Real-Time Communication and Teamwork

The app development process involves coordination between a variety of players, including the developers, designers, testers, and even the client. Thus, a slight misalignment at any stage could result in serious design errors. This is where wireframes are a boon as they present the same picture to every party involved in the app development process.

In this way, they keep everyone in the loop and ensure all are updated about every step of the app creation process. The structured outlines (designed as part of the wireframes by the developers) are even shared with the clients so that they know what is happening and can share inputs during the app development process, instead of waiting to share the same at the end (which may result in rework).

So, wireframes ensure smooth coordination and transparency between the different people involved in the app creation process.

Supports Visual Branding and Animations

Your app needs visual branding to survive the stiff competition it is likely to face on the app stores. Wireframes enable real-time incorporation of visual elements (for example, logos, images, and taglines) based on suggestions from the client to arrive at the most feasible app design.

Mobile App Wireframing & Mockup Tools

The first step in any process is planning and creating a blueprint. Before you start building your house, you have a map ready or before you enter a match, you have your winning strategy ready, your mobile app is no different, it need a blueprint. And it’s not an easy part, the hard part is that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy and tools when it comes to wireframing. So let’s take a look at some of the amazing wireframing and mockup tools to help you.

1. Balsamiq Wireframes
It is a popular wireframing tool for mobile apps and its drag-and-drop functionality makes it easy to use. The sketch mode is a wonderful feature for brainstorming additionally it has a clean wireframe mode for presentation. This definitely is your Easy to use and flexible wireframe tool.

2. InVision

Using this tool you can create an interactive mobile app prototype with slick animated transitions in minutes with the help of InVision Studio. Using InVision you can create interactive mockups.

3. Sketch

This tool offers plenty of reusable and shareable design symbols within its digital design toolkit for app building.  The tool also allows to add data to your designs and quickly transform the designs into user flow diagrams.

Do you use wireframes? Let us know your comments below.