Pencil Prototype Tool

An open-source GUI prototyping tool that's available for ALL platforms. Pencil is built for the purpose of providing a free and open-source GUI prototyping tool that people can easily install and use to create mockups in popular desktop platforms. The latest stable version of Pencil is 3.1.0 which contains stability fixes and many new features. Review of the Pencil Project, a free, open-source, cross-platform GUI prototyping tool available as standalone program or Firefox addon, which allows you to create powerful mockups and visual demonstrations of product design, including GUI design with native themes, diagrams, sketches, stencils, and more. Pros: As a coder I'm always on the lookout for time saving tools. After running into Pencil a few months ago my search for a mockup maker is complete. As with most free software, the instructions are a bit unclear. But, after a bit of a leaning curve I fell right into using Pencil for nearly all my mockups. It's a great piece of software.

Every web designer and developer should have a good and reliable wireframe (mockup or prototype) tool at there disposal. The importance of such a tool differentiates amongst web designers and developers, some use them, some don't. Personally, I use them. It is in this initial stage of development that makes web design enjoyable, the coming together of the clients needs and your own creative ideas onto a blank canvas, allowing you to plan effectively the visual arrangement of the sites content.

The downside is that a good and reliable wireframe application can come at a heavy price, have you seen the cost of a good wireframe application? Prices can vary from as low as $100 all the way up to over $4000. Who has this kind of mine to throw around? Certainly no freelancer developer I know.

So, what options do you have? There are certainly a fair few free web apps and tools you can use, and that is what I have collated for this article – The Ten Best FREE Wirefame/Mockup/Prototype applications for designers and developers.

Hot Gloo – The Online Wireframe App

The first thing you need to know about Hot Gloo is that it is in Beta, the second thing you need to know is that it is currently free, but with plans to charge a fee later on this year, so, grab your chance now while its free, its worth it.

HotGloo is an easy to use and intuitive Flash built web-based wireframe app, that can create conceptual interactive prototypes of a website in the early development stages.
Features include drag and drop facilities, layers, grid and snap to grid, a fair rew preset elements, interaction between the elements and you get your own custom HotGloo URL that allow you to share your mockup/wireframe with your clients.

Pencil Project

The popular and fairly powerful Pencil Project is a free and opensource Firefox addon tool for making diagrams and GUI prototyping with a multitude of features.
With its built-in stencils for diagramming and prototyping, the option for multi-page documents with background pages, its on-screen text editing with rich-text support and with its new capability of exporting to HTML, PNG or Openoffice formats, makes this addon essential for any developer or designer.

Web Site Wireframe Tool

The key to this tool is the simplicity of usage, lending itself to speed, both in wireframe creation, as well as being able to quickly share the results without having to send anything more than a web address.

This particular tool allows the wireframe to be built in minutes, and if desired, a link to view the wireframe can be sent through email, instant message, or even the phone. With both parties able to view the wireframe even from different locations, the wireframe can then easily be updated based on feedback, discussion, ideas, suggestions, and so on.
It is free to register and use, and works in modern web browsers including Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

DUB – DENIM

DENIM is a free desktop application that is available for Windows, Unix, and Mac OS X. It describes itself well as 'an Informal Tool For Early Stage Web Site and UI Design'.

It is an outgrowth of the original SILK project, a pen-based sketching tool for designing user interfaces. SILK combines many of the benefits of paper-based sketching with existing electronic prototyping tools. It allows designers to quickly sketch an interface using an electronic pad and stylus. SILK preserves the important properties of pencil and paper: a rough drawing can be produced quickly and the medium is flexible.

However, unlike a paper sketch, this electronic sketch is interactive and can easily be annotated and modified using editing gestures. SILK allows the designer to extend the interactivity of the recognized widgets using storyboards

Mockingbird

Mockingbird is an online tool that makes it very easy for you to create, link together, preview, and share mockups of your website or application.

With its clean and clear interface, drag and drop functions, snap-to-grid, unlimited page linking and pretty much all the UI elements you could ever need, it all adss up to making Mockingbird our favorite wireframe app on this page.

MockFlow

Pencil Tool Download

Let me start by saying that MockFlow is not entirely free, there is a free package (limited to 1 Mockup with 4 pages and 10MB of storage) which, to be honest, really isn't much use to anyone. The premium yearly package costs $49 (reasonable price), which gives you unlimited mockups, unlimited collaborators, 500MB of storage and, most importantly it gives you access to the marvelous Mockstore. https://downgup238.weebly.com/pdf-squeezer-3-1-for-mac-free-download.html.

MockFlow gives you everything you would expect from an online wireframe app, with one added bonus – its Mockstore. This is a large library of templates and presets that you can freely use (with the premium package) and will help speed up your workflow and give some added professionalism to your wireframe.

Prototype Composer – Free Prototyping Tool

Prototype Composer makes it easy for business users and business analysts to collaborate on requirements by building simple, high-fidelity prototypes that simulate a working application.

It is a tool for prototyping data, processes, activities and most importantly, user interfaces. The app also works as a Project Management tool, which is fairly simple to use, but a little bit too much for what I need, making this application more suited for a larger company.

fluidIA

FluidIA is an emerging agile design tool for prototyping rich user interfaces. This web based tool allows for rapid refinement and exploration of concepts using an object-oriented approach to design.

The big idea behind this experiment is whether a group of interaction designers, IA's, UX professionals and developers can create there own prototyping tool in an open way. They have almost succeeded. FluidIA is still a little bit buggy, but looks very promising.

Cacoo

Icash 7 5 6 download free. Cacoo is a user friendly online drawing tool that allows you to create a variety of diagrams such as site maps, wire frames, UML and network charts. It allows for multiple users to edit the same diagram in a simultaneous collaboration with all the tools and features you would expect from an online wireframe app.

Diagrams created with Cacoo can be shared and allows you to paste the code into Web applications such as Wikis and Blogs, and when the original diagram is edited the pasted graphic will be automatically updated, removing the need to upload the diagram each time it is updated.

Lumzy

With Lumzy, you can create prototypes of how the site or application will function by adding events within your Lumzy controls. For instance, what happens when the user clicks a button? Office para mac. You can create Message Alerts, Page navigation or Links to external content, when your client interacts with your Mockup, yet with the hand drawn feel of a sketch.

With Lumzy, you can easily create your mockups and send to clients on the fly. It also features collaboration tools for team editing, a chat engine for deliberating over designs, file versioning and so much more.

iPhone Mockup Web App

This very simple web app allows you to create your own iPhone app mockups, share them with other people, and make changes which will by synced to everyone who has the mockup's URL.
This app is currently in Alpha and offers no password protection (everyone with the mockup's URL can access and change it), so use this app with care.

In the high tech world of digital design, sometimes the best method is still pen and paper.

To this day, paper prototypes continue to be not only viable, but also widely used. In this article we'll talk about when to use them, why they can help, and how to make one to suit your own needs.

What Is Paper Prototyping?

As you might have guessed, paper prototyping is sketching screenshots on paper as substitutes for digital representations. What you might not have guess, there are actually different levels of complexity.

The most basic paper prototypes are sketches of each screen. In a demonstration or usability test, the sketches are switched according to user actions.

However, due to the popularity of prototyping on paper, several advanced tools are available to facilitate the process. You can use stencils to quickly and accurately recreate buttons and icons, and even mock phone cases to better depict how the product form will look.

A step above these are paper prototyping kits, which still cost significantly less than design software. These include pre-made sheets, templates, and tools to make paper prototyping even easier, and step up the realism a little. In fact, UXPin got its start making paper prototyping kits, and business was good enough to launch our digital app.

Movavi video editor. At the most advanced stage, you can upload photos of your paper sketches into digital prototyping software, and add actual interactions. Our app UXPin allows designers to do this, as does the POP (Prototyping on Paper) app. This works best for designers who feel more comfortable with traditional art tools than digital ones.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Obviously, paper prototyping is not a complete substitute for digital prototyping. It does, however, have some advantages its higher-fidelity counterpart does not. Let's review the paper prototyping advantages and disadvantages as we described in The Ultimate Guide to Prototyping.

Advantages:

• Rapid iteration — No one wants to throw out a digital prototype that took hours to make, but few shed tears over a 5-minute sketch. Prototyping on paper lets you create — and throw away — multiple versions without wasting time.

• Inexpensive — Paper is of course cheap, and even additional tools and kits won't break the bank.

• Increased creativity — The freedom of pencil and paper facilitates experimentation and new ideas more than software, which is limited by their features and the designer's familiarity.

• Team-building — Don't underestimate the effects of fun arts and crafts in a business environment. Drawing, cutting, and pasting together can build team unity and raise spirits.

• Less learning curve — Everyone can sketch ideas, which makes paper prototyping a great way to get other departments like marketing, development, or even stakeholders involved.

• Automatic documentation — Paper prototypes are, themselves, a tangible document. Notes can be written directly on them for future iterations, and they can be left in full view as a reminder of what they taught.

Photo Credit: Fairhead Creative

Disadvantages:

• No gut reactions — So much of UX design comes from the user's gut reactions on using the product. However, there's just no way to replicate the experience of using a digital product on paper, no matter how detailed it is.

• Inaccurate feedback — Paper prototypes require a great deal of imagination, and there's a lot lost when imagining what a product will be like. What the users are thinking may be different than what you are, but the feedback doesn't reflect this.

• Extra steps — Paper prototyping is often the end in itself, begging the question 'is this necessary?' Considering how streamlined the usability of digital prototyping apps are, it might be quicker to build digital lo-fi prototypes with software than to spend time with paper and later move to the software anyway. Of course, as mentioned before, apps like ours allow you to integrate photos of paper sketches, so it doesn't have to be a waste.

When to Paper Prototype

1password 6 8 5 – powerful password manager interview. Jake Knapp of Google Ventures is starkly against paper prototyping, but even he admits it's useful for early-stage conceptualizing.

With its drawbacks in mind, you can understand paper prototypes' limitations in testing high-fidelity graphics, usability, and gut reactions. Even elements like navigation and information architecture seem out of bounds.

That said, paper prototyping is perfect for early stage conceptualizing. Its speed, ease, and simplicity, not to mention automatic documentation, make it far better suited for experimenting with new ideas than more complex digital prototypes.

Paper prototypes are ideal for:

• Brainstorming meetings and sessions
• Light usability testing early on

The farther along in the design process you get, the less effective paper prototypes become. The exception is if you want to explore a complete experimental deviation in the later stages.

Join the world's best designers who use UXPin.

Pencil Open Source

How to Paper Prototype

Otherwise known as 'the fun part,' building paper prototypes draws from many of the skills you learned in kindergarten. Aside from applying the standard design knowledge, keep these tips in mind:

1. Use printer paper and cheap pencils/pens.

The form affects your creative freedom. If you use a Montblac and a Moleskin, you might subconsciously restrict your thinking since you don't want to draw something 'ugly'.

2. Start by loosening up.

Maybe you need to take a sheet of paper and scribble all over it. Or maybe you need to just start sketching out thoughts and ideas in your head as rapidly as you possibly can. Whatever works for you, start by loosening up. It'll make your lines more confident, and your sketches stronger.

3. Prototype mobile-first.

Because of the limited space on a mobile viewport, you'll be forced to prioritize content. When you prototype mobile-first, you create a 100% experience that you can scale up for other viewports.

4. One sketch per screen.

No matter how big or small they are, draw a separate sketch for each screen.

5. Iterate as the ideas happen.

Don't question your ideas as they come – just let them out. You can question them all later. Remember, sometimes great ideas can come from a little detail within a terrible idea. Let them out, nobody's judging you.

6. Gather everything you need beforehand

Make sure you have enough paper and drawing utensils beforehand, plus scissors, glue, post-its, index cards, tape, and additional tools you might need.

Pencil Prototype Tool Organizer

Source: 'war of the roses.' jm3 on Flickr. Creative Commons.

Pencil Prototype Tool Minecraft

Testing & Presenting Paper Prototypes

When it comes time to show your paper prototypes to other people — whether stakeholders or testers — things get tricky. Because so much is dependent on the user's imagination, you need to set the right context.

• Designate one person as play the 'computer' — A common mistake is to have the presenter also control the prototype screens, but the role of the 'computer' requires full attention. To best simulate an automated system, one person's only job should be switching the screens according to the user's action.

• Rehearse — The role of the computer is not as easy as you might think. Rehearse beforehand to iron out the kinks and prepare the 'computer' for a live performance.

• Follow standard usability test best practices — Tips like using a minimum of 5 users and recording the tests still apply. For advice on usability testing in general, read the free Guide to Usability Testing.

• Guide the feedback. When showing someone a paper prototype, prime them by explaining the context of the design. What did you design? What have you left out for later? What elements of the design are you looking for input specifically? Generally, you'll want to explain that structure and flow are where the person should focus.

Top Paper Prototyping Tools & Resources

Here are some links to resources that can help you make the most out of prototyping on paper.

• UI Stencil — An e-store dedicated to paper prototyping resources, including stencils of popular icons, pads, instruction books, and accessories like markers.

• Tripwire Magazine: 20 Free Printable Sketching and Wireframing Templates — Sketching on templates gives prototypes a more professional quality, and helps the designer stay organized. Tripwire magazine gives 20 free ones to start from.

• UXPin — Our collaborative UX app allows you to upload photos of your paper prototype, add quick interactions, then get feedback from remote team members.

• POP: Prototyping on Paper — POP allows designers to add interactivity to existing photos of sketches, but specialized for mobile apps.

• Sneakpeekit — Downloadable templates in various formats/devices.

• iPhone User Interface Design, Paper Prototype Study (video) — This YouTube video runs through a paper prototype study for an iPhone interface.

• Board of Innovation: Resources and Tools for Paper Prototyping — A grab bag of useful tools for paper prototyping, including templates, stencils, and a downloadable frame for laser-cutting a plastic iPhone case.

• Paper Prototyping by Carolyn Snyder — One of the best books on the topic.

Additional UX Prototyping Advice

For more information of all prototypes, paper and digital, read our free 109-page ebook Textual 7 1 4 nasb. The Ultimate Guide to Prototyping. This comprehensive guide covers prototyping methods, processes, and best practices for different stages of the design process.

Join the world's best designers who use UXPin.

Diagrams created with Cacoo can be shared and allows you to paste the code into Web applications such as Wikis and Blogs, and when the original diagram is edited the pasted graphic will be automatically updated, removing the need to upload the diagram each time it is updated.

Lumzy

With Lumzy, you can create prototypes of how the site or application will function by adding events within your Lumzy controls. For instance, what happens when the user clicks a button? Office para mac. You can create Message Alerts, Page navigation or Links to external content, when your client interacts with your Mockup, yet with the hand drawn feel of a sketch.

With Lumzy, you can easily create your mockups and send to clients on the fly. It also features collaboration tools for team editing, a chat engine for deliberating over designs, file versioning and so much more.

iPhone Mockup Web App

This very simple web app allows you to create your own iPhone app mockups, share them with other people, and make changes which will by synced to everyone who has the mockup's URL.
This app is currently in Alpha and offers no password protection (everyone with the mockup's URL can access and change it), so use this app with care.

In the high tech world of digital design, sometimes the best method is still pen and paper.

To this day, paper prototypes continue to be not only viable, but also widely used. In this article we'll talk about when to use them, why they can help, and how to make one to suit your own needs.

What Is Paper Prototyping?

As you might have guessed, paper prototyping is sketching screenshots on paper as substitutes for digital representations. What you might not have guess, there are actually different levels of complexity.

The most basic paper prototypes are sketches of each screen. In a demonstration or usability test, the sketches are switched according to user actions.

However, due to the popularity of prototyping on paper, several advanced tools are available to facilitate the process. You can use stencils to quickly and accurately recreate buttons and icons, and even mock phone cases to better depict how the product form will look.

A step above these are paper prototyping kits, which still cost significantly less than design software. These include pre-made sheets, templates, and tools to make paper prototyping even easier, and step up the realism a little. In fact, UXPin got its start making paper prototyping kits, and business was good enough to launch our digital app.

Movavi video editor. At the most advanced stage, you can upload photos of your paper sketches into digital prototyping software, and add actual interactions. Our app UXPin allows designers to do this, as does the POP (Prototyping on Paper) app. This works best for designers who feel more comfortable with traditional art tools than digital ones.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Obviously, paper prototyping is not a complete substitute for digital prototyping. It does, however, have some advantages its higher-fidelity counterpart does not. Let's review the paper prototyping advantages and disadvantages as we described in The Ultimate Guide to Prototyping.

Advantages:

• Rapid iteration — No one wants to throw out a digital prototype that took hours to make, but few shed tears over a 5-minute sketch. Prototyping on paper lets you create — and throw away — multiple versions without wasting time.

• Inexpensive — Paper is of course cheap, and even additional tools and kits won't break the bank.

• Increased creativity — The freedom of pencil and paper facilitates experimentation and new ideas more than software, which is limited by their features and the designer's familiarity.

• Team-building — Don't underestimate the effects of fun arts and crafts in a business environment. Drawing, cutting, and pasting together can build team unity and raise spirits.

• Less learning curve — Everyone can sketch ideas, which makes paper prototyping a great way to get other departments like marketing, development, or even stakeholders involved.

• Automatic documentation — Paper prototypes are, themselves, a tangible document. Notes can be written directly on them for future iterations, and they can be left in full view as a reminder of what they taught.

Photo Credit: Fairhead Creative

Disadvantages:

• No gut reactions — So much of UX design comes from the user's gut reactions on using the product. However, there's just no way to replicate the experience of using a digital product on paper, no matter how detailed it is.

• Inaccurate feedback — Paper prototypes require a great deal of imagination, and there's a lot lost when imagining what a product will be like. What the users are thinking may be different than what you are, but the feedback doesn't reflect this.

• Extra steps — Paper prototyping is often the end in itself, begging the question 'is this necessary?' Considering how streamlined the usability of digital prototyping apps are, it might be quicker to build digital lo-fi prototypes with software than to spend time with paper and later move to the software anyway. Of course, as mentioned before, apps like ours allow you to integrate photos of paper sketches, so it doesn't have to be a waste.

When to Paper Prototype

1password 6 8 5 – powerful password manager interview. Jake Knapp of Google Ventures is starkly against paper prototyping, but even he admits it's useful for early-stage conceptualizing.

With its drawbacks in mind, you can understand paper prototypes' limitations in testing high-fidelity graphics, usability, and gut reactions. Even elements like navigation and information architecture seem out of bounds.

That said, paper prototyping is perfect for early stage conceptualizing. Its speed, ease, and simplicity, not to mention automatic documentation, make it far better suited for experimenting with new ideas than more complex digital prototypes.

Paper prototypes are ideal for:

• Brainstorming meetings and sessions
• Light usability testing early on

The farther along in the design process you get, the less effective paper prototypes become. The exception is if you want to explore a complete experimental deviation in the later stages.

Join the world's best designers who use UXPin.

Pencil Open Source

How to Paper Prototype

Otherwise known as 'the fun part,' building paper prototypes draws from many of the skills you learned in kindergarten. Aside from applying the standard design knowledge, keep these tips in mind:

1. Use printer paper and cheap pencils/pens.

The form affects your creative freedom. If you use a Montblac and a Moleskin, you might subconsciously restrict your thinking since you don't want to draw something 'ugly'.

2. Start by loosening up.

Maybe you need to take a sheet of paper and scribble all over it. Or maybe you need to just start sketching out thoughts and ideas in your head as rapidly as you possibly can. Whatever works for you, start by loosening up. It'll make your lines more confident, and your sketches stronger.

3. Prototype mobile-first.

Because of the limited space on a mobile viewport, you'll be forced to prioritize content. When you prototype mobile-first, you create a 100% experience that you can scale up for other viewports.

4. One sketch per screen.

No matter how big or small they are, draw a separate sketch for each screen.

5. Iterate as the ideas happen.

Don't question your ideas as they come – just let them out. You can question them all later. Remember, sometimes great ideas can come from a little detail within a terrible idea. Let them out, nobody's judging you.

6. Gather everything you need beforehand

Make sure you have enough paper and drawing utensils beforehand, plus scissors, glue, post-its, index cards, tape, and additional tools you might need.

Pencil Prototype Tool Organizer

Source: 'war of the roses.' jm3 on Flickr. Creative Commons.

Pencil Prototype Tool Minecraft

Testing & Presenting Paper Prototypes

When it comes time to show your paper prototypes to other people — whether stakeholders or testers — things get tricky. Because so much is dependent on the user's imagination, you need to set the right context.

• Designate one person as play the 'computer' — A common mistake is to have the presenter also control the prototype screens, but the role of the 'computer' requires full attention. To best simulate an automated system, one person's only job should be switching the screens according to the user's action.

• Rehearse — The role of the computer is not as easy as you might think. Rehearse beforehand to iron out the kinks and prepare the 'computer' for a live performance.

• Follow standard usability test best practices — Tips like using a minimum of 5 users and recording the tests still apply. For advice on usability testing in general, read the free Guide to Usability Testing.

• Guide the feedback. When showing someone a paper prototype, prime them by explaining the context of the design. What did you design? What have you left out for later? What elements of the design are you looking for input specifically? Generally, you'll want to explain that structure and flow are where the person should focus.

Top Paper Prototyping Tools & Resources

Here are some links to resources that can help you make the most out of prototyping on paper.

• UI Stencil — An e-store dedicated to paper prototyping resources, including stencils of popular icons, pads, instruction books, and accessories like markers.

• Tripwire Magazine: 20 Free Printable Sketching and Wireframing Templates — Sketching on templates gives prototypes a more professional quality, and helps the designer stay organized. Tripwire magazine gives 20 free ones to start from.

• UXPin — Our collaborative UX app allows you to upload photos of your paper prototype, add quick interactions, then get feedback from remote team members.

• POP: Prototyping on Paper — POP allows designers to add interactivity to existing photos of sketches, but specialized for mobile apps.

• Sneakpeekit — Downloadable templates in various formats/devices.

• iPhone User Interface Design, Paper Prototype Study (video) — This YouTube video runs through a paper prototype study for an iPhone interface.

• Board of Innovation: Resources and Tools for Paper Prototyping — A grab bag of useful tools for paper prototyping, including templates, stencils, and a downloadable frame for laser-cutting a plastic iPhone case.

• Paper Prototyping by Carolyn Snyder — One of the best books on the topic.

Additional UX Prototyping Advice

For more information of all prototypes, paper and digital, read our free 109-page ebook Textual 7 1 4 nasb. The Ultimate Guide to Prototyping. This comprehensive guide covers prototyping methods, processes, and best practices for different stages of the design process.

Join the world's best designers who use UXPin.