blogs > Web Design > Mock-ups
Created Friday, February 26, 2010 by simonwilbert
Last updated 153 days ago, by simonwilbert
Recently, I've taken on more web design work due lack of creative man-power. This meant that I now need to produce designs along with my normal role of implementation. One major problem and time-waste in web site development has been the lack of importance put on the project requirement stage. Your brief may look detailed, but it normally turns out not to be what was required in the long-run. I've found that it doesn't matter how much you chat/communicate thoughts between your stakeholders, at the end of the day unless you actually produce mockups with some form of work-flow, the stakeholder and yourself might still not be thinking alogn the same line. So... I've been after a very simple/fast way of producing wireframe-mockups on the Internet. Now a mockup should be only a throw-away mockup, not a mockup that allows you to get carried away into a detailed creative, only to be thrown-awayu with much time wasted. This is a mockup tool i've found fantastically useful. It allows you also to export the mockup as an xml document which makes it easy to store rather than large desktop mockup designers that produce large-file formats. The mockup of my choice is Balsamiq Mockups, which allows you to create mockups in minutes. As its web-based, you can collaborate with your team quickly/easily and it's 'no-thrills' approach, means to can get involved in the creation of your product, not get held-up on the tool navigation, menues like Photoshop, etc.