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Wireframing in Balsamiq
8:42Balsamiq is a tool built specifically for wireframing. It contains UI elements and devices that can easily be inserted as building blocks for your wireframe.
[MUSIC]
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Now that you know to
draw wireframes on paper,
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let's explore how to create
wireframes on a computer.
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Balsamiq is a tool built specifically for
wireframing.
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It contains UI elements and
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devices that can easily be inserted
as building blocks for a wireframe.
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You can either use Balsamiq Cloud
in the browser, or
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download the Balsamiq desktop app.
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Cloud is available free for 30 days.
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And in the Teacher's Notes,
I put instructions for
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how to extend it to a 60 day trial.
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If you prefer to use the desktop app,
look in the Teacher's Notes for
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a one year license key.
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But keep in mind that some features
I demo in the cloud version
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aren't available on the desktop app.
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Alrighty, go ahead and get set up with
Balsamiq so you can follow along with me.
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Go ahead and
open Basalmiq Cloud in a browser.
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The URL is balsalmiq.cloud.
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The initial screen will differ,
based on your account activity.
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So click the smiley face icon to
navigate to the Spaces screen.
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A space is a collection of projects.
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If you haven't created one yet,
go ahead and click the + icon,
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enter a name, And click Create My Space.
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I already have a Space so
I'm gonna exit this window and
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open My Space called Course Demo.
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Next I'll show you how to
import the project file.
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In the project files
attached to this video,
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I've included my Balsamiq file so
you can follow along.
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After you download the example file,
from the project screen,
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click the Import button
in the top left corner.
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Navigate to where you downloaded the
project file, and select it, click Open.
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Now you're able to see the project,
click to open it.
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Feel free to take a peek at
this file to get a sense for
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how wireframes look in Balsamiq.
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Great, now let's create
a wireframe from scratch.
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Click to the Spaces screen.
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For me, my space is called Course Demo.
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So I'll just click that in the top nav.
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Click the plus icon to
create a new project.
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Let's get familiar with the UI.
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Right now we're mainly
looking at the blank canvas.
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This white area's where
elements can be placed.
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On the left is the navigator panel.
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This is where you can toggle
between the different wireframes.
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At the top is the UI library which is
where UI elements can be dragged onto
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the canvas.
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At the top is a toolbar which shows the
sections of elements in the UI library.
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A couple of handy panels
can appear on the right.
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The info icon shows the inspector panel.
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This is where you can add notes and
alternate versions.
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When the inspector panel is visible and
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you also have an element selected, you'll
be able to edit its properties there.
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The icon that looks like a document
controls the project info panel.
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In this panel, you can change
the overall project settings.
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Now, just to get acquainted with the tool,
let's pretend we're making an iPhone app.
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I like listening to podcast.
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So I'm gonna put together a basic
screen that shows a podcast episode.
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FIrst, you'll want to start
out by choosing the container.
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Click Containers, and
drag an iPhone to the screen.
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The UI library contains a bunch
of drag and drop UI elements.
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The common section is a great place to
see the most frequently used elements.
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At the top,
I wanna include a navigation bar.
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Instead of scrolling through
the UI library, I like to use
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quick add which basically allows us
to search the library by keyword.
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We'll need a back arrow in the navigation.
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You can click into the Quick Add search
bar or you can use a keyboard shortcut.
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Just type a forward slash
on your keyboard, and
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your cursor will appear in
the Quick Add search bar.
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Type angle, and choose the left one.
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Place it where you want it,
typically in the top left of the screen.
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It's a little big.
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So I'm gonna go over here to the info
panel and I'm gonna make it smaller.
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I'm gonna make it medium sized.
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Now drag a line of text to this screen.
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This will represent
the title of the podcast.
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Now I want an image of
the podcast at the top.
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Drag image onto the canvas.
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Resize it by clicking one of the corners
and dragging it to the preferred size.
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I'm gonna make this one sized to fit
full width at the top of the screen.
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Now I'm gonna add a line of text.
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This will represent a headline.
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Under that I'm gonna add a block
of text which might have
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a description of the podcast episode.
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I'm gonna make it a little wider so
that way it spans across the device more.
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Finally, let's add a button so
users can play the episode.
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Drag button onto the canvas.
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Double click it to change the button text.
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And then click enter when you're done.
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Great, I'm gonna make it a little
bigger so it's easier to click on.
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And I also wanna add an icon.
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On the right here,
there's an icon section.
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Search for play,
I wanna add a play button.
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Great, I'm gonna make it a little wider,
so
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that way it looks a little
bit more balanced.
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And I think the icon's a little too
big here in proportion to the text.
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So let's make the icon extra small.
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Great, now we have a basic wireframe.
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Just so that you can see more
of my canvas, I'm going to hide
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the UI library by going to View and
then unchecking UI Library.
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If you don't like the style of
the wireframe, you have options.
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In the top right of Balsamiq,
click the project info icon.
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Now you'll see a panel of
Project Information on the right.
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For skin, choose wireframe.
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As you can see,
this is more of a technical rendering.
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I'm gonna stick with the wireframe skin,
since I like how neat it looks.
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When you choose a skin, you can do so
based on your personal preference
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or you can strategically
choose the sketch style
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to communicate to stakeholders this
is your loose brainstorm type sketch.
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And then switch to the wireframe skin
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when it's time to present a more
finalized version to outside clients.
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On the panel,
you can also adjust the font.
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I'm gonna switch to the Lato font.
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You can also change the font size and
colors, but
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I'm gonna stick with the defaults.
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We're going to move on to
another wireframe now, but
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before leaving this one,
let's give it a descriptive name.
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Click the down arrow on the thumbnail and
choose Rename.
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I'm gonna call it
Podcast App Episode Details and
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click Rename.
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Now that you're more familiar with
Balsamiq, let's get back to our ride
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sharing app project for
a fictional company called Ryde.
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