Clearing Content Hurdles with Wireframing Exercises

In the Age of Information, a brand’s vision is only as powerful as the content representing it.

And thus, it’s upon brands to own that vision.

When considering the average consumer’s route to fruitful brand affinity and unwavering equity, make no mistake that the casual website visitor is tasked with deciphering several layers of noise along the way. From executive communication and investor relations, to traditional paid advertising and the voice or tone that’s echoed across social media channels – there’s a flood of “overarching” content, paired with the similar messaging of competitors, that consumers are forced to digest on a whim. The sincerity of this content will mold an educated decision about whether or not a brand clicks with a consumer’s interests.

The reality is that this content must be sharp, striking, and unequivocally palatable in order to move the proverbial needle forward. Action-packed power statements and value propositions – with actual substance – that aren’t fool’s gold.

That means crystal clear. Ultra concise. Exceptionally succinct.

Don’t skip a beat.

With face-to-face engagement opportunities continuing to be decimated this year, especially for a handful of categories like QSR, hospitality or live entertainment, the window for tapping into relevant consumer touchpoints will keep narrowing. The journey to consumer resonance is an uphill battle that’s only becoming steeper. Diminishing user attention spans are a sure-fire obstacle that brands of all categories must overcome to separate from the clutter. Furthermore, the wide-ranging scale of modern user personas asserts that consumers are processing various brand intel and information with substantially different perspectives. As a result, articulating a mission with brevity and flow is under more of a microscope than it’s ever been before.

So avoid getting lost in the shuffle. The threat of reduced physical interactions can be neutralized by predominantly eye-catching digital content that doesn’t just drive impressions with delicate SEO configuration, but also commands viewership and sets the table for an unmistakable brand narrative.

A unified website can be relied upon as a trusted source of brand clarity, carrying an element of permanence that’s built to reflect a core vision. Ultimately, to convert users, clear articulation of a mission and purpose is what matters. Alas, the importance of wireframing cannot be underestimated.

A breathtaking website, with unified messaging and slick content targeting a few separate brackets of audiences, can be relied upon as a trusted source of brand clarity. It will establish an identity and, maybe more importantly, a permanence that succeeds in reflecting a core vision that’s purpose-driven. It’s time for brands to be on-board with the fact that a crisp website, along with a clean digital profile altogether, has the potential to extend far beyond the parameters of who it originally intends to reach. The onus is on brands to project the right message – or rather, a consistent message – that leaves no doubts.

Alas, the importance of wireframing be more easily understood.

Wireframing, also referred to as “prototyping,” is a visual representation of an interface that communicates structure, content and functionality in a straightforward black-and-white format. This skeleton format, which can be executed practically on a program like Adobe XD, intends to serve as a launchpad for storytelling and a foundation for interpreting various behavioral trends that will end up defining the website’s or mobile application’s user experience.

Wireframing is executed in the early stages of web design processes and is meant to establish preliminary page structures before those stunning visual elements take center stage. It’s worth repeating that wireframing intentionally leaves the more aesthetic pieces to the puzzle out of the equation, like imagery and iconography, for the purpose of extracting ingenuity and guiding principles from that core vision. Wireframing is collecting the most relevant information a brand has to offer, and pronouncing that information in a strategic arrangement that both brand evangelists or even casual visitors will gravitate towards.

The origin and fundamentals of wireframing are cut from the same cloth as the grid system, a reliable technique uncovered as early as the 13th-century, centered around structuring content so that it facilitates a harmonious, rhythmic customer experience across multiple devices with different screen sizes. Consistency is the name of the game.

The grid system can unfold through methods like Mood Boards and Affinity Diagrams, both of which revolve around untangling information, bundling correlated content, and letting ideas from brainstorming saturate in the form of notes and scribbles. These are methods that extrapolate insights from mixed data and parlay ethnographic research into tangible discovery. A tremendous design rule of thumb that spawned in the evolution of print layouts, the grid system has long been a catalyst for elite UI/UX designers and plays into the notion that users will latch onto the functional features of a website that are laid out with familiarity and congruence.

For a brand that intends to articulate its mission and purpose powerfully, information is everything. It’s evident that, for brands, walking a mile in the consumer’s shoes and plucking out key behavioral data will often be a rewarding spot to start building equity. Wireframing exercises are an excellent step in the right direction.

The interface symmetry and content distribution resulting from careful wireframing exercises demonstrates that meaningful brand strategies can be constructed with a systematic approach to the presentation of information. For consumers to truly understand the ways in which a brand ticks, they must be confronted with the most accurate representation of what that brand can offer.

Recalibrate how users are able to digest content, whether informational or visual. It’s no secret that the tangible, text-oriented components of a brand’s digital channels are irreplaceable. Language, messaging, and an acute reverberation of mission are all critical themes factoring in. Beyond establishing authentic information architecture that’s a framework for usability (and reads favorably on search engines), wireframing sparks pronounced user journeys that are indicative of extraordinary content flow. Preserve the power of your content and lean on wireframing to transform your brand narrative.