Turning Wireframes into Designs
A well-thought-out design does not come straight away. Before you jump into a design, creating wireframes is a great way to help you plan out the layout.
This past week I created mockup designs for Crown Doodles, a Goldendoodle breeding company. I started by making wireframes for a newsletter, as well as a small website. Before I began work on those, I created a logo and color palette for the brand, that I could use as a basis for carrying the branding across the designs.
Next, I focused on the type of content that would be needed to be displayed on both the newsletter and the website. What information do they need to be conveying to their consumers? I figured the most important thing to focus on is, of course, their product, the puppies. If there aren’t any current litters available or something is thinking about a dog but wants to wait, newsletters are a perfect way to keep people up to date on upcoming litters and available puppies.
In this newsletter, I wanted to focus on a litter of puppies that are available to reserve and soon take home. I wanted the layout to include each dog, their parents, some information about both, contact information, and, of course, any easy way to reserve a puppy. I used the colors and logo from the branding, as well as a font I chose for the copy. The newsletter provides information the consumers would want to know, as well as images of the puppies. Someone looking for a dog wants to see it and providing these images, draws them in.
For the website design, I decided to make four pages, a homepage, and available puppies page, a parent page, and an about page. Consumers want to be able to easily access the available puppies, check out what the parents look like and information on them, as well as information about the company, which is why I decided these pages were the most important to include.
I wanted to start with a landing page that draws in the consumer. To make this, I chose to include a photo of one of their puppies, as well as information about Crown Doodles and a way to reserve the puppies. For the available puppies page, I included the recent litter, pricing information, a way to reserve or see availability, as well as who the parents are. Next, the parent page includes a list of the moms and dads of the puppies, where consumers can go to find out more information about the parents of the litter they are thinking about purchasing a puppy from. Lastly, there is the about page. People trust you more if they can see you and know your story, which is why I think an about page is important for this business. It shares their love for dogs, shows that their puppies would be a perfect fit for a family, and provides the consumer contact information, if they need it. After deciding on the information I wanted to include, I created wireframes for that information and from there, I added the photos and design elements.
