Easy Peasy Balsamiq
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I use Balsamiq to create mockups to support my user stories in the development of functionality for a web app. It allows me to quickly assemble a visual which explains to developers and designers the vision I have for something new that we will build. It is widely used by product managers/product owners in my organization.
Pros
- Quick creation of mockups help start the conversation about a new piece of functionality
- Their library of icons is extensive enough to produce most screens without having to create anything from scratch yourself
- The ability to insert screenshots into your Assets library and start there with a mockup is a nice feature
Cons
- Using an Assets library is difficult across projects if you don't set up each one to reference a single instance of the library. Set up is important to allow for visibility across projects
- If you have a locked-down pc due to organization limits (no admin rights), you might have difficulty with the Adobe Air upgrades that are frequently needed - having to keep getting an admin to help with each upgrade is a pain
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is great for the non-designer crowd who is interested in creating quick mockups to start a discussion. It is dead-easy to pull something together that can be used for user-testing/validation.
It is not going to be used for a truly designed screen - its intention is not for a final design to hand over to a developer. True UI design does not happen in Balsamiq.
