Wireframe
Page sketch
In short
A wireframe is a simple grey-and-black sketch of a web page, showing what goes where before anyone thinks about colours and images.
A wireframe looks like a drawing on the back of an envelope, only a little tidier. Boxes for images, lines for text and a box that says "button". The point is to agree on content and order before anyone spends time on design. Moving a box on a sketch is much cheaper than rebuilding a finished page.
What to look for
When someone shows you a wireframe, do not judge how pretty it is. It is ugly on purpose. Check whether the most important thing is at the top, whether the phone number and prices are easy to find, and whether each page has one clear CTA. Much of the UX gets decided here, long before the colours are chosen.
Speak up now if something is missing or in the wrong order. Later in the project, the same change costs more.
Draw your own in five minutes
Take a sheet of A4 and draw the front page you want, as boxes from top to bottom. In each box, write what it should contain, and what you want the customer to do next. You do not need any drawing skills. The sheet is a good starting point for a conversation with whoever builds the site. If you want more structure, you can use our free website brief template.
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