Dave Ross gave a presentation about Balsamiq Mockups at the Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup on November 5, 2009. Balsamiq Mockups is a tool for creating low-fidelity wireframes and prototypes that allows users to quickly design and test concepts. The presentation showed how Balsamiq Mockups can be used to create simple sketches to illustrate website and application designs for clients or users to give feedback before significant development work begins. The tool aims to provide an easy way to get conceptual feedback early in the design process.

1. Balsamiq Mockups
Dave Ross
Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Dev Meetup
November 5, 2009
Balsamiq Mockups :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: suburbanchicagophp.org :: November 5, 2009

2. Dave Ross
• Lead Developer
• Ten years experience
• PHP & Javascript
• davidmichaelross.com

3. Wireframing
Balsamiq Mockups :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: suburbanchicagophp.org :: November 5, 2009

4. Low-fidelity prototypes
“a prototype that is sketchy and incomplete, that has
some characteristics of the target product but is
otherwise simple, usually in order to quickly produce
the prototype and test broad concepts.”
Source: http://www.usabilityfirst.com/glossary/term_378.txl
Balsamiq Mockups :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: suburbanchicagophp.org :: November 5, 2009

5. ...sketches don't tell, they
suggest. Their value lies not in
the artifact of the sketch itself,
but in its ability to provide a
catalyst to the desired and
appropriate behaviours,
conversations, and
interactions. Bill Buxton
Principal Researcher, Microsoft
Usability Guru
Balsamiq Mockups :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: suburbanchicagophp.org :: November 5, 2009

6. What the client saw.
Balsamiq Mockups :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: suburbanchicagophp.org :: November 5, 2009

7. What he sent back.
Balsamiq Mockups :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: suburbanchicagophp.org :: November 5, 2009

8. Tools
• Pencil & paper
• UI stencils (uistencils.com)
• Mockup Magnets
• Visio
• Photoshop/Illustrator
• Balsamiq Mockups
Balsamiq Mockups :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: suburbanchicagophp.org :: November 5, 2009

9. Balsamiq Mockups
Desktop - Web - Plugin
Balsamiq Mockups :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: suburbanchicagophp.org :: November 5, 2009

10. Deceptively simple.
Balsamiq Mockups :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: suburbanchicagophp.org :: November 5, 2009

11. “Overall, I found that the participants
who saw the Balsamiq sketches did a
slightly better job of keeping their
feedback more conceptual than the
participants who saw the HTML.”
Mia Silverman
Sliced Bread Design
Balsamiq Mockups :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: suburbanchicagophp.org :: November 5, 2009

12. Questions?
Balsamiq Mockups :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: suburbanchicagophp.org :: November 5, 2009