• Web Design

    Which One Is the Best - Mockup vs.  Wireframe

    April 25, 2018 — By admin

    Web designing has become a common part of the present day software business as more and more businesses are going online using websites as their primary mode of interacting with customers. Web designers have perfected themselves in the art of designing website but there are many things that they have to constantly care. The process of web designing  has many approaches. There are two common methods through which a website is designed. One is Mockup and the one is wireframe.

    What is Wireframe?

    Wireframe is basically the skeletal design of a website. It is a visual guide or the blue print of an about to develop website. Wireframes focus on the range of functions that are available. They also focus on impact of numerous scenarios on the display. Wireframe also draws rule for displaying certain kinds of information apart from focusing on the relative priorities of functions and information.

    What is Mockup?

    Mockup are also the design or the blue print of a website but they are quite more realistic than the wireframe. Mockup have visual concept or design of the website that is dynamic in nature. It cares on the topography and colors which wireframe does not.

    Characteristics of Wireframe and Mockup

    • Visualizing a written document or an idea is always a better thing to do. Visual displays make the job quite easy when you are designing something complex. It also helps you in understanding things easily.
    • It helps the user and the designer to understand things clearly. A visual design is way easy to be explained rather than documented designs
    • A visual wireframe makes it easy to implement on actual design which saves time. In website designing time and money are mutually related to each other. If you take less time in web development the cost will automatically be less


    • It creates a detailed and organized blue print that is in visual displays making it easy to implement ideas and then reflect back
    • Being in such an organized and detailed way makes it easy to find errors and rectify it on time which has its own advantage of saving time and energy apart from saving money
    • It helps the client understand what he wanted and what he got. This visual explanation makes it easier for the designer to amend changes based on the  clients requirement which in other case becomes a tedious job of first making a design then rectifying it which takes both time and money
    • Gives a better approach as the designer can see and feel things easily.


    Like many advantages these methods also have disadvantages. In wireframe, it is not that easy to communicate with your client and make him understand everything. The reality and the blueprint have lots of differences which may be bad. In mockup, the cost and time required to make the blueprint is not any less. You have to spend some more money for getting a mockup visual blue print which can also take some good time.

    Thus both of these methods have their pro and cons and it depends solely on the user to decide what they actually want.