I joined 3 other UX experts to teach and consult hackers and makers about UX at #Startathon Singapore, the largest 24-hour future-driven hackathon/makathon event in Asia. My talk was on how to use wireframes and prototypes to craft a beautiful and well thought out user experience. In this talk, I compare different wireframing and prototyping tools, and advised on how to choose the right tool.

1. Wireframing
Prototyping
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What is a wireframe?
The ‘specs’ and outline of a design
Commonly used for web/mobile pages
Does not concern the design such as color, graphics,
spacing or typography
Typically outlines the components together with
associated interactions

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Why wireframing?
Quickly find problems in the design
Organize the content from the most to the least
important before making mockups
Cheaper and faster to produce than a visual comp
Help the team to imagine what the final product
might look like in the early stage

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Examples

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Tool #1 - Pen(cil) & Paper
Fast, cheap, easily accessible, can draw
anywhere, no learning new software
Pencil + notebook + anywhere

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Tool #2 - Axure
Advanced, complex interactivity
Annotation tools & simultaneous collaboration
Export wireframes as clickable HTML prototypes
http://axure.com

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Tool #3 - Balsamiq
Comic Sans-y, drag-and-drop wireframe + prototype tool
Make click-through prototype. You can choose who can edit.
http://balsamiq.com

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Tool #4 - Omnigraffle
Lots of built-in & stencil libraries online
Does not produce a playable/HTML prototype
http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnigraffle
quirktools

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Tool #5 - Quirktools Wires
Free cloud-based wireframe tool
http://quirktools.com/wires/

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Tool #6 - Wireframe.cc
Free cloud-based wireframe tool. Generate links for each page
Chrome app available
https://wireframe.cc/

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Tool #7 - Powerpoint
Powerpoint + Stencils or PowerMockup
http://www.powermockup.com/
You might already have it on your computer, and you don’t
need to learn or download any new program!

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Tool #8 - Google Doc
Google Doc + Wireframe templates
Search #wfkit in Templates
Free! Stored in the cloud. You can share and add collaborators

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What is a prototype?
A simulation of the design to demonstrate how the
product works
Unlike static wireframes, prototypes are interactive.
Many wireframing tools have prototyping abilities

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Why prototyping?
Quickly find problems in the (interaction) design
Cheaper and faster to produce than going all out on
coding/making the real product
Allow the team/client/stakeholders to visualize and
use the product before it’s created fully
Using wireframes alone isn’t enough for design
because interactions are not defined

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Tool #1 - Paper Prototyping
Fast, cheap and easy to make
Can get a bit messy when there are a lot of pages

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Tool #2 - Prototyping On Paper
Take photos of sketches and create hotspots
View on mobile and screen
https://popapp.in/

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Tool #2 - Prototyping On Paper
https://popapp.in/w#!/projects/
513028de8ea71d611200031f/preview

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Tool #3 - Invision App
invisionapp.com

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Tool #3 - Invision App
Create hot spots, comments, view
revision history. Stored in Cloud

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Tool #4 - Proto.io
Mobile-specific tool (include tablet sizes)
https://proto.io

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Tool #5 - FluidUI
With touch gestures and animated transitions
https://fluidui.com

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Tool #6 - Composite
A new tool to preview Layer Comps with interactions
http://www.getcomposite.com/

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Tool #7 - Flinto
Like Invision except you can use prototype on mobile
https://www.flinto.com/

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Tool #8 - Powerpoint/Keynote
Create linked pages and demo easily
One less app/software to download or learn

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Tool #9 - Ratchet
For HTML/CSS gurus. Prototype iPhone apps with
simple HTML, CSS, and JS components
If you are making a web app then you are one step
closer to making the real app
http://maker.github.io/ratchet/

26. Use whichever works for you
Thank you! P.s. follow me on Twitter @jennyshen
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