5 Wireframing Tools to Help You Design Better Products

Wireframing can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. Depending on the tool you use, the process can be as fast or as slow as you need it to be. Each wireframing tool comes with its own strengths and weaknesses, so choosing the right one for your project can make or break your final product. To help make that choice easier, here are five of the best wireframing tools available today, along with examples of how they can improve your design process.

Why wireframe?

Too often, we focus on the flashy design, that’s what will bring people in, not the true mechanics of the product. The best way to make sure you are building something that works is with a wireframe. A wireframe helps map out all the pages and features of a website or app by mapping out their positions and sizes in relation to one another. Think of it as a roadmap for your design--you know where you’re going before you even take off. It can also be used for analysis purposes, like prioritizing what content gets on which page based on which page has the most site traffic. Bottom line: wireframes help designers work more efficiently and offer more insight into how their product might actually work in real life

Figma

Plus, Figma has a full library of pre-made UI kits that are downloadable for free. You can search for pre-existing designs in their database or upload your own customized content from other sources such as Sketch or Photoshop. It's not just an interface design tool - you can also use it to animate and prototype interactions with your design. Your prototypes are interactive and dynamic so you can see how different scenarios play out within the same context.

Adobe Xd

Among these 5 wireframing tools, Adobe XD stands out for its fluid wireframe creation process. This comes from two significant advantages that make the application stand out from the rest: First, it is very intuitive and thus requires a shorter learning curve than Sketch or InVision. Second, you can use components of your design anywhere you like. Moreover, this software is free of charge and runs on a system which meets many user needs in today's competitive market. Consequently, more designers are turning to this tool as a result of this cost-efficient advantage.

All in all, Adobe XD can be considered a powerful ally for any product designer who is looking for better ways to make their ideas come alive on the page with its speed and ease of use capabilities.

Balsamiq

The Balsamiq tool has made designing wireframes on the computer easy, inexpensive, and highly collaborative. It's free for a basic plan and offers a monthly subscription for advanced features. The program is as simple as drawing, so beginners can focus on defining the structure and navigation of their site before filling in the details. If you're not a computer whiz or find yourself juggling more than one project at once, this is an excellent alternative to software like Sketch.

Miro

It has tons of features that make this wireframing platform something everyone should try. With 50 backgrounds, 5 custom stencils, 6 image imports, 8 mobile device screens, 5 free templates and more than 100 elements you can choose from, Miro can make your prototype experience so much better than anything else out there right now. It's a fantastic tool for UX designers because it has collaboration features, which means you'll be able to work with your team on the same file simultaneously. The downside is that it's not totally free (yet), but they offer a 14-day trial period where users can decide if they want to buy the full version or not!

Mockplus

· Home - Main interface for sketching wireframes and other web or desktop based designs 

· Example Files - Sample mockups for quick reference 

· Components - Largest collection of pre-made UX/UI components like buttons, sliders, dropdown menus, maps etc. 

· Templates - Templates provide an easy way to generate unlimited copies of a design in different shapes and sizes · Sharing System - Share projects on your company network or publically on Mockplus's online community.

Conclusion

Every designer's got their go-to tools for sketching, wireframing, and even prototyping. And while what you use often comes down to personal preference and experience, there are a handful of products that just about any designer would put at the top of their list. So what are they?