Product Review: Balsamiq

One tool that keeps coming up in the product management literature that I have not yet had the opportunity to use is Balsamiq. For those who haven’t heard of this product, Balsamiq is an online tool that you can use to create wireframes—or preliminary versions—of your product designs. This week, when tasked to reimagine the knowledge management structure for an existing content library, I realized that this was a perfect time for me to test out a new product. I didn’t need to spend time on a detailed mockup given the nature of the task, but creating a wireframe would help me more effectively communicate my vision for the new site.

Balsamiq offers two versions—a desktop version and a cloud version. Both versions are available for a free 30-day trial. I downloaded the cloud version and got to work setting up my new design.

For a design novice, Balsamiq did a good job of making me feel welcome. The buttons along the top of the screen offer a user-friendly source of design inspiration. You can add features like text blocks, buttons, or calendars. You can also apply filters to further refine the list of options; for example, filtering for containers lets you design your wireframe for an iPad, smartphone, or browser window.

In case none of the available options meet your needs, the “More Controls…” button let you select from a library of user-submitted designs. My time in the consulting industry has taught me that reinventing something from scratch is rarely as effective as starting from someone else’s genius. My time as a product manager has instilled in me a passion for building community through design. I loved this feature because it saves time and also connects you to others'.

I also liked that Balsamiq lets you add multiple pages to your wireframe to mimic the workflow that a user would follow when navigating your product. The left panel offered the ability to see the list of pages in your wireframe in either a thumbnail or a grid view. Similarly, the navigation menu at the top of the screen offered the ability to close the design editor and view the pages of your wireframe as thumbnails. This would be a useful view when presenting your ideas.

Another useful feature is the ability to develop an alternate option for your wireframe, which would be ideal when conducting A/B testing with your end users. You can add notes to any of the pages of your wireframe to help you recall the genesis of your design. You can also add comments to the page to expound upon your design choices and collect feedback from others.

Finally, the navigation menu offers an animation feature that lets you choose the settings for how you display the workflow to your intended audience. You can share a link to the design with others so they can view it on their own time, or you can use this option as a “presentation mode” of sorts during a live meeting.

The best thing about Balsamiq is the confidence it gave me as a non-designer. I am hopeless when it comes to pen and paper and didn’t want that deficiency to impair my ability to communicate a promising vision for my product. I also didn’t want to take the extra step of having to take photographs and assemble the pieces of my design for a live audience. Balsamiq offers a quick way to design elegant wireframes that wow your audience—without having to spend a lot of time translating your vision into the tactical.