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What Software Mockup Tool Do You Use?

Posted on May 15, 2009

It’s not often that we come across a tool that makes us go ‘WOW’. Balsamiq’s Mockups for Desktop flagship product did just that when I gave a demo of it yesterday to the internal team here at Black Ninja. I vaguely remember DHH tweeting about this tool and I made a mental note to take a look at it in more depth a bit later. Well, yesterday was that day for me and I have to say I am thoroughly impressed.

I was able to mockup a UI of a custom page I’m about to build in SharePoint and it took me a little over 1 hour to produce the png that I eventually sent to the client. As a pleasant side-effect, the client was quite impressed by my mockup. If you’re interested and want to learn more, check out their 3-minute demo video or their online examples, it’ll give you a good idea of how easy this tool is to use.

Here is my summary of this tool:

  • Very easy to install, I was able to get it downloaded, installed and ready to use in about 2 minutes.
  • Very easy to use, when you first install the app, the default page that loads is a UI mockup that gives you some guidance on how to use the tool. I thought that was very clever.
  • I did not need to read a help file, access a kb or talk to a support person to start making mockups.
  • I can save all mockups I create, and when I’m ready to present to my clients, I can save as png and email to them.
  • My email inquiry was responded to in about 2 hours.
I encourage you to try their online demo! I think these guys are doing a great job and I look forward to seeing what comes next.

2 Responses to “What Software Mockup Tool Do You Use?”

  1. Brian McIlravey
    Jun 01, 2009

    This is great info. In the past my intial mockups have truly been the paper and pen method and in scouring the internet, I came across Balsamik. Being a newer startup, I wasnt sure but their stuff looked pretty cool.
    I think I will give them a shot. Have you used them since?


  2. black ninja
    Jun 04, 2009

    Hi Brian, we use them with all of our projects now. Anything that will eventually turn into a webpage or an iphone app starts with a mockup in Balsamiq Mockup. We love promoting the tools and companies out there that are doing a fantastic job and I can say with confidence that Balsamiq is one of them.

    Have you given them a try yet? What do you think?



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