Balsamiq Mockups - wireframing done right
Senario:
You’re designing some type of user interface. Clients never know what they want (even when they think they do) so it’s usually a good idea to come prepared with a basic design to go off. You quickly whip together something in photoshop and think you’re good to go.
This is how the conversation goes:
Me: I threw together this mockup of a potential design. It’s very rough so just look at the basic layout and ignore details.
Them: hmm well I don’t like the colors and box A is not lined up properly with box B. Can you fix that?
Me: Yes, this is a very rough example to demonstrate very basic layout. Try not to get bogged down in the details and look at the big picture.
Them: Ok but I really don’t like these colors.
Me: -_-
Balsamiq:
So basically I need something that will prevent people from getting distracted by stupid details which always seems to happen. At the same time though, it still has to look appealing. Meet Balsamiq Mockups http://balsamiq.com/products/mockups. It’s an air application and they have a live demo on the site. http://builds.balsamiq.com/b/mockups-web-demo/.
Not only does it help keep clients on track, it helps me focus too. I’m not sitting there for 5 minutes trying to find the right gradient for a button that I end up deleting anyway. The simplicity helps me to keep on track and pump out intuitive templates/mockups very quickly.