This is one of those rags to riches stories that inspire us all.
Not exactly. Peldi seems to be doing well so far, but I'd characterize his story to date as riches to rags (and hopefully to riches again). It's only been 7 weeks or so since he launched, so it might be a bit early to anoint balsamiq as a huge success.
Hi there, Peldi here. I also agree, I didn't think the "rags to riches" sentence applied to my situation either...
axod, I agree that Mockups alone might not be a sustainable business (though it's doing MUCH better than I expected at the moment). My plan is to develop 2 new products a year, and to port them to as many Web Office platforms as it makes sense (i.e. turn them into plugins to wikis etc). I have an ever growing list of ideas for new products already. Together these sources of revenue should be enough to keep a small business going, we shall see...
Looks neat, I'll have to try it out. Admittedly for someone like me working with a very small team pencil/paper layouts are fastest (and cheapest).
Previously, if I needed wireframes of the sort that Balsamiq appears to be good for, I'd use Omnigraffle. But I've known others to use everything from Photoshop to Illustrator to Visio to Excel. And, of course, for web apps and wesbsites, html mockups are always in the mix.
At the end of the day, you need to use what works well for you and anyone else you are working with. But a hybrid approach that mixes different tools depending on the task is generally what I'm after.
I thought that, and that Balsamiq Mockups looked way too simple to be useful - but it isn't! I rebuilt the basic look of google maps in less than 5 mins...
The beauty of it IMO is it makes you think about the layout of the app/site, not the look of it.
But, saying that...I will be sticking with photoshop for my mockups, just because I DO use my mockups for the design too, but thats just a personal preference, I know a lot of people want to build the layout then find a nice design, thats where this tool is cool!
i'm with you. I've been using illustrator / ps for years now, and I'm very quick with it (my tablet helps). I probably prefer it over things like this. But, i can see power that tools like this deliver to people who haven't been a gd guy all their life.
I like Balsamiq, although I prefer Axure (wish they made a mac version) simply because I can create a functional prototype and auto-generate functional specs.
The best ones I have used are LucidSpec (http://elegancetech.com) and AxureRP-Pro (http://www.axure.com), but Balsamiq wins for basic conceptions simply because it is web-based and it is easy to collaborate with others across the globe hassle-free.
I prefer Illustrator for sketching because it is easier to drag certain elements straight to Photoshop once you are done. But I will give this a try anyway...
Not exactly. Peldi seems to be doing well so far, but I'd characterize his story to date as riches to rags (and hopefully to riches again). It's only been 7 weeks or so since he launched, so it might be a bit early to anoint balsamiq as a huge success.
I sure hope it is though. Very inspiring.