What is the purpose of wireframing in the design process?

Wireframing serves as a crucial step in the design process by illustrating the basic layout and functionality of a product. It allows designers to create a simplified visual representation of the user interface, focusing on elements such as the arrangement of content, navigation, and interactive features without being bogged down by details like color and graphics. This approach enables stakeholders to understand how users will interact with the interface, helping to identify any potential issues early in the design stage.

By emphasizing structure over aesthetics, wireframes provide a blueprint for the product, facilitating discussions about the design and ensuring that all functional requirements are met before moving on to more detailed designs and prototypes. This early-stage visualization can streamline collaboration among team members and ensure a shared understanding of the project's direction.

The other options typically involve further stages of the design process. Creating a full visual design of the product represents a more advanced step that occurs after wireframing. Conducting usability tests and gathering user feedback are also critical but come after the initial wireframes have been developed, as they aim to refine and validate the design based on user interactions.