Balsamiq: Building Lo-Fi Wireframes
The Calgary Chinatown Gateway project
Learning a new tool can always broaden my design knowledge and inspire fresh ideas. I am happy to have explored the Balsamiq wireframing tool, as it has been a fun and enriching experience. In this project, I rebuilt low-fidelity wireframes for a simple sample website, and after gaining foundational skills with Balsamiq, I utilized it to create Lo-Fi wireframes for a website during the first phase of my summer web design job - The Calgary Chinatown Gateway Digital Hub Project, which I later showcased and presented to stakeholders. This project allowed me to strengthen my wireframing abilities and showcase my expertise with the Balsamiq tool.
The Calgary Chinatown Gateway Project - Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Sketch Mode
Clean Mode
Takeaway
I found Balsamiq to be an incredibly user-friendly tool, offering a variety of common UX elements for websites and mobile apps, allowing me to save time with its easy drag-and-drop features during the lo-fi design phase.
I enjoyed its simplicity and straightforwardness as it doesn't require plugins, making it easy to navigate and work with.
Developed by Adobe designers, it is a trusted addition to my skillset.
The simple sketch mode (best for ideation) and clean mode (best for presentation) features served as a powerful tool that served my varying needs throughout the wireframing process. The convenience of toggling between modes allowed me to switch between creative brainstorming and design showcases efficiently.