Balsamiq Wireframes Quickstart Guide

Abstract

I was first introduced to Balsamiq while working as the Director of User Experience for a software company in Chicago. Until that point in my career, I had been designing user interfaces and clickable prototypes using Photoshop, handcoding layouts in HTML and CSS, and spending a lot of time learning prototype software like iRise and Axure. Now, these are all great tools and should be explored fully. But, my role with this company was different. I was working as a user-experience architect alongside a large agile team of developers. In an environment such as this, it meant that I no longer had the luxury of time to transform my ideas into hi-fidelity layouts and complex clickable prototypes. Instead, I now had to work faster, more efficiently, and deliver creative concepts that were clear and concise, but in a fraction of time. There was simply no time to wireframe in Photoshop or code HTML, and to be honest, Axure was just too cumbersome, personally speaking, for doing quick and dirty designs that my development team demanded. Then, I discovered Balsamiq.