Balsamiq

The best software for UX processes

Comments: Very positive. Has sped up workflows and iterations within processes massively.

Pros:

I like the limitations of this software. The stripped back and lack of styling allows me to focus my time only on UX. Previously, I have had issues where doing UX in XD or Sketch the client would be trying to make too many visual considerations. Since moving to Balsamiq this has streamlined communications to focusing on interaction points, hierarchy and best practices.

Cons:

Not a con, but being able to assign labels for titles (H1, H2, H3 etc) would really help improve integration with CRO and SEO specialists. Also being able to have titles with multiple lines of text. A larger and more consistent base of templates would be beneficial - i.e. landing pages, ecomm, brochure sites. Currently there's a lot of app based and molecule based templates and I don't utilise any of these.

Simple and easy tool for creating low-fidelity wireframes and prototypes

Comments: Overall, I love the simplicity and intuitiveness of this tool. If you are looking for a product to quickly put together a wireframe or sketch (based on rough ideas) for feedbacks or approvals, then this can be a great option for you.

Pros:

I have used Balsamiq for more than 3+ years to create lo-fi wireframes for mobile and web applications. What I love the most about Balsamiq is that it follows UI/UX industry standards, so you can easily use their pre-built templates or icon library without making much changes. It helps you create detailed wireframes in a very short interval of time. I like the ability to export the wireframe designs in a .pdf or .png format. If you are using Balsamiq cloud app on your browser, then you can collaborate with other team members on the same wireframe in real time. This is a very useful feature, especially in those projects, where there are multiple design team members involved. It helps you in incorporating their feedback and comments without much back-and-forth.

Cons:

What I disliked about Balsamiq is that the exported .pdf file doesn't have very good resolution. Also, if you need a tool for hi-fi designs or interactive prototyping, then this may not be the best option. There are better products/tools available in the market.

Prototyping for all

Comments: I love it. It's quick, simple, and expressive, the extensive primitives are very helpful, and the more effort you put in the better it gets. It's also incredibly useful to be able to share a prototype as a website and get comments.

Pros:

1. Generating interactive prototypes incredibly quickly, thanks to a very small learning curve and a reasonably intuitive interface. 2. With a little extra effort, generating high-fidelity prototypes that pretty much match anything other (much) more expensive and complex packages can do. 3. Modifying prototypes on the fly in brainstorming meetings. 4. Openly sharing focused prototypes with others in a few clicks. 5. Dynamically incorporating Balsamiq slides into Miro boards.

Cons:

As the creator, when a prototype gets moderately complex, it's easy to get a bit lost as there is no overall graph of the site you have created. You can add a site map as a slide, but it just lists the pages with no way to see the link structure.

Effective and easy to handle Mock-up Tool around !!

Pros:

As a BA, whenever we receive technical specification from the client and break these down to user cases, it becomes important for us to design Mock-ups and confirm if we are on the same page as to the client before we rush into development to do so Balsmiq Mock-up is the one of the best tool around. Designing the User interface design is faster with available element in User interface library. Just need to pick and drop items in the mock-up. It is simple & easy to master. Interactive prototypes can be easily created by linking the mock-ups together to give operation view in the real time. When you are done with prototyping the requirement then export option is also available. Either you can export the single mock-up or all together in PNG format or export the Mock-up as PDF. Export to PDF option is my personal favourite as I usually attach the mock-up in mail and share initial design with client and hence entice their feedback that let us to improve our design as directly from customer perspective. PDF exported file facilitates navigation between mockups through links present in pdf ensuring better understanding of functionality to the client. It also has chat box and multiple user can operate simultaneously to create mock-ups and access the existing mock up as well . This provides the better communication between the team member and a quality experience of software development It facilitate plugin from Google drive and Zora allowing to add mockup to and issue.

Cons:

I think the tool lacks in integration with other tools that are used in software design as well as export option is limited to export as PDF or PNG and you can't Print to the printer directly. Except that I think it's a wonderful tool as it's web, desktop as well as Google drive plug in is available

Streamlines Web Design and Building Landing Pages

Pros:

My agency uses Balsamiq for web design projects as well as building one-off landing pages for clients. The software is marketed as a wireframing tool butalso has powerful project management and collaboration capabilities. Because of Balsamiq, we have landed more clients and projects which is all due to our ability to visually communicate our vision with our clients and present it to them in a way that makes sense. Before Balsamiq, all wireframing was done in a separate platform as client communication and collaboration and our files were stored in a separate location as well. It made project management as well as file management and versioning extremely difficult and we would often end up with mistakes because certain edits or updates did not make it onto the latest version.

Cons:

Usability testing is a great feature but it isn't really all that useful currently since our wireframes don't look much like a real product.