Ultimate Wireframing Toolbox

Dear readers, we are so excited to show you what we have been up to for the last week! We’ve been working on the Wireframing Toolbox list, in which we have tried to combine all the tools that there are out there available for IAs, UX designers, web developers, etc. Prototyping market is indeed a crowded one, and making the right choice is hard. We’ve heard you and started working on a unified directory of wireframing and prototyping solutions of all sizes and colors.

Today we present the first version of the list with 20 companies included. CIO Happy Hour would like to thank all those companies, who have helped us with this project: we couldn’t have done it without your support!

However, there are still more very useful tools out there in the wild that need to be tamed. We invite companies that are on the list to participate in the initiative. If you are a dedicated user of a product and know everything about it – welcome aboard!

Marcin Kowalski with JustProto shared 10 codes that will allow to get the extended 60-day JustProto Trial. We are handing those to first 10 people, who will collaborate with us on one of the products that is still missing from our Ultimate Wireframing Toolbox list. What is more, Michael Bosin with Coutline told us that while still being in a closed beta, they will open up for any of the designers, who would like to try their product. Try emailing Michael and ask nicely for an invite.

Please share a word about our Ultimate Wireframing Toolbox and let us know if you have any ideas on how we can improve it!

Today we are discussing prototyping with Xavier Renom, CEO and co-founder of Justinmind. The company is quite different from our previous participants – Justinmind Prototyper is a  desktop solution only. Bundled with a comprehensive set of features makes it a great tool for pros. Xavier shares his vision on wireframing market, hints that online version is to come soon, and tells some intriguing user-experience stories.

CIO Happy Hour (CHH): Please briefly introduce yourself and your product Justinmind.
Xavier Renom (XR): Xavier Renom, CEO and co-founder of Justinmind.
Justinmind Prototyper is a productivity tool that allows the prototyping, simulation and validation of applications and websites. It covers the entire process, from the navigation flowchart creation to the usability testing, as it allows creation of fully functional simulations.
In a nutshell: you can visualize and test your web application before you code it. This way, you’ll minimize changes on later stages and risks involved.

CHH: Only a couple of years ago wireframing tools were associated with pen and paper, Visio or PowerPoint at the maximum. Could you tell us more about the evolution of Justinmind from its very first concept till today?
XR: Justinmind started as a software development company, founded by two engineers. During its initial phase, we discovered that using a high-fidelity simulation, it was possible to reduce time and re-work in project development, so we started the development of Justinmind Prototyper.
Our products allow the creation of hi-fi wireframes, and then simulate the application, with advanced features such as data behaviour, conditional events and templates.
Justinmind Prototyper is not just wireframing software, it also allows stronger and more powerful prototyping. We intend to provide a software that allows people to visualize their concepts before long coding phases, and have it all documented before building the real software or a website.
Besides, it is intended to help visualize the changes during application development projects.

CHH: Justinmind is desktop software. A lot of your competitors offer online versions of their solutions. Is there a particular reason why JP sticks to desktop or are you planning on releasing a web-based version as well?
XR: Most of the web competitors allow you to just design a mockup or a wireframe, but not much more. Justinmind Prototyper is a full drag&drop tool for rapid prototyping and we believe that a desktop environment is perfect for productivity tools … by the moment.
On the other hand, sharing and validating prototypes online is very important. That’s why we are about to launch Justinmind On-Demand, which is a platform where a user can share, test and annotate a prototype without additional installations.

CHH: Who stands behind Justinmind? Please tell us more about your team and your inspirers?
XR: Justinmind is a Barcelona-based spin-off from Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña. It was founded by Xavier Renom and Pablo González, and is backed up by venture capital. Today, it’s composed by a team of engineers, researchers and a marketing and selling team.

CHH: Please describe your typical clients/users. Is there a dominant geographical market? If yes, why?
XR: We have government, banks, insurance, small IT consulting companies and several UX designers around the world. Nowadays our bigger clients are in Europe, but we’re selling online to the whole world. It’s impressive the amount of users we get from India.
We have some distribution partners around the world, and our potential marketing is not restricted geographically.

CHH: Justinmind is a powerful prototyping tool with an extensive set of features. Do you have statistics on their usage: most used, least used, etc.?
XR: It always depends on the client and/or project being done. Big enterprises need and use the Requirement Management features, personalized documentation and the capabilities of data management. UX designers are more interested in dynamic interactions, events and simulation.

CHH: Taking into account your vast experience on the market, do you have any plans for going into the niche for individuals with light version of the product for a lower price or even for free? Why or why not?
XR: We received some feedback from users about this. We cannot say we won’t do that, and if too many users were interested in a version without datamasters or business logic prototyping (just for drawing wireframes), we’ll think about it.
Nowadays we’re working full time trying to improve our main product, Justinmind Prototyper.

CHH: JP covers full cycle of prototyping making it time-consuming to start using it right away. How do you assist JP newbies? What is an ordinary implementation phase duration?
XR: We think it’s very important to help users to understand better our tools and the powerful of application prototyping. We have a support portal, with people always willing to help and assist our users, that’s not just marketing talk. We have people to be online talking to consumers, solving problems and generating tutorials. Our blog’s main objective is to talk, solve questions and give some usage tips.
Besides, we offer training courses for customers, and try to use internet to leverage the help for our customers.
For our users or future users that have any problems or doubts:
http://support.justinmind.com
http://www.justinmind.com/blog
The implementation phase duration depends on the customer. It can take just hours for small companies with small teams and easy development process, and 2-3 days for a large company with complex development processes and methodologies.

CHH: How do you differ from your competitors and what innovations have JP brought to the market?
XR: Justinmind Prototyper has features competitors still don’t have, and some that were copied soon after launching.
Most of our competitors allow you to simply draw wireframes. Justinmind Prototyper is meant to be a full working suite. You draw the Navigation Flowchart, create the screens, manage requirements, and generate documentation for final production, with all the elements interconnected via drag and drop.

• Bi-directional drag and drop – you can link objects, comments or requirements dragging them both ways around;
• Templates, which can be imported and exported;
• Instant simulation without the use of a browser;
• MS Word document generation customization.

CHH: How easily can JP be integrated in the business process of a particular company? Can you describe a usual case-study?
XR: It is possible to go from idea to full simulation of software or a website using only Justinmind Prototyper. Justinmind recommends adapting our Agile Prototyping Methodology to the business processes of a particular company.
As for usage, some corporate clients use it to prototype applications and create their own product libraries. Software companies use it to simulate future products, and even it was used in a pre-sales stage for a client of ours.
There’s the case of Innoget, in which an entrepreneur had the idea of a portal, but he was a biologist. So he used JP to create the whole portal to explain to investors and programmers what exactly he wanted, after a 2-hour crash course!

CHH: You’ve contacted us via twitter yourself. This means you have a great monitoring net. Do you have any tricks you can share with other readers on brand monitoring?
XR: We intend to use the tools offered to contact and provide a better service to our users. We started twittering, blogging and contacting bloggers, because it’s a more simple and honest way to approach and reach them.
We hired a copywriter who is an information junkie and is always testing websites and tools for tracking what’s happening online, via twitter or blogs. A good feed reader and the ability to fine-tune it are a must.

CHH: How successful is social media as a channel for generating new clients? What is your experience in the social internet field?
XR: Nowadays, it’s a great tool for engaging into conversation with our customers, and it helps to know what really users want and expect from our software. And, of course, it is very helpful. We acquired great insights from some blog posts and some encouraging tweets.

CHH: Xavier, thank you for a great interview. You’ve done a great job with Justinmind and we wish you to stay on track and remain an example of a great functional wireframing solution!

Our readers, companies and we would love to hear the questions you have or share your praise to your favorite wireframing products!