Anyone who makes website or UI mockups take note: Balsamiq Mockup rules.
A couple of weeks ago I was surfing the web when I came across the best “About Us” page I’ve ever seen by anyone. The about us page was for an Italian/American company called Balsamiq. See the page here.
What is so great about this “About us” page is that it is simple, transparent, humble, and doesn’t try to come off as something larger than it is. It struck a chord with me.
So I figured: Any company that can have such a great about us page must have a hell of a product too. And yes, they do.
Their flagship product, Balsamiq Mockup, is an awesome Adobe Air application to make quick and simple mockups of websites, iPhone apps, or just about any UI you could need. I personally laid out a few custom WordPress Templates without an ounce of trouble. An example is below:
2 Minutes is all it took to make this mockup with Balsamiq
I’ll keep my review simple because you can always head over to the products’s website to find out the specifics, but the highlights for me were:
- Fast: The speed with which you can make a mockup is way faster than by hand, and a lot faster then in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or Golive.
- Friendly: I really, really like that they offer free licenses to non-profits and any “do-gooders” as they call them. You don’t see this around enough.
- Rough enough to solicit suggestions: The Mockups are rough and hand-drawn-looking. The lack of polish makes it obvious that these aren’t finished drawings of the site. And the roughness of the drawings makes them easy to criticize. Showing drafts to clients is one time you want criticism, so this is actually a good feature.
I encourage anyone who is looking for a new way to make mockups to try Balsamiq. If you like/dislike Balsamiq Mockups or have another suggestion of how to make Mockups quickly, by all means tell us in the comments below.
Want More out of WordPress?
I can show you how to get more traffic, make WordPress do amazing things, and how to make more money with your website by converting your visitors into customers. Click the button to the right to get a free estimate.
