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A Quick Bug Fix Release
Hello again friends! As it was to be expected after such a big release, some little bugs here and there popped up. Thanks to our awesome user community, we were able to identify and fix them all up quickly....
By Peldi
Mockups 2.0: The Symbols Release
After months and months of work, we are ecstatic to finally be able to release Mockups 2.0 into the world. The main feature of Mockups 2.0 is what we pre-announced last week, the ability to reuse groups of controls...
By Peldi
Pre-Release: Symbols!
I know, we've all been waiting for this feature for so long, it's hard to believe it's actually here, ready for testing. Here's a nine-minute video that gives you an overview of the feature: And here's the draft of...
By Peldi
Video of My LessConf 3010 Talk
I had the pleasure of giving a talk at Less Conference 3010 last May titled "Guiding Principles for Running a Successful Little Startup". The conference was one of the best ones I have been to. Very well organized, very...
By Peldi
Interview with Giacomo Guilizzoni, founder of Balsamiq Studios
My interview with Paul Olyslager.
By Peldi
Guiding Principles for Running a Successful Little Startup
My talk at LessConf 2010.
By Peldi
Paolo Ottanà Joins Balsamiq
It is my great pleasure to introduce to you Paolo Ottanà, the newest member of team Balsamiq. Paolo will be working out of our Bologna office, helping us with lots and lots of different programming tasks. His main responsibility,...
By Peldi
If You Build It, They Won’t Come (Unless…)
“Balsamiq Mockups is a ludicrously popular wire-framing tool. The software is good — don’t get me wrong — but what sets Peldi (the founder) apart isn’t prescient feature selection or bug-free releases, it’s his startling transparency.”
By Peldi
Keeping it in Perspective
I have a love/hate relationship with change. I love new challenges and new opportunities, but would love to have them completely on my own terms. Of course change doesn't exactly work that way. At times we have to endure...
By Natalie
Overhauling Balsamiq.com
This week we quietly relaunched balsamiq.com, overhauling and re-tuning the site to align with our new priorities as a growing company. On the surface it may not seem like a huge effort, but it was challenging. I'll run down...
By Mike
An Update from Balsamiq-Land!
Hello friends, long time no see! So sorry for not keeping you in the loop more about what's going on in Balsamiq-land. Although it might seem like we're not doing anything from the outside, the last few weeks have...
By Peldi
Lo-Fi Design Is Conquering the World of Tech
“A lesser-known firm that’s tapped into the lo-fi aesthetic is Balsamiq, whose Mockups software allows designers to create their own user interface as if they are sketching it on paper.”
By Peldi
Email, Key Lookup, Bounced Check
After our company met in Italy on July 1, I stayed abroad until my recent return to the Bay Area, and since I got back, every day has been an action-packed festival of learning. I feel like I could write...
By Val
Release: Bullets, SHIFT+Drag, l0rem and Bug Fixes
Hi again! This week's release is not a huge one but I'm very happy about it since it includes some features and bug fixes I've been meaning to do for quite some time. Let's get right to it! New...
By Peldi
Mid-Summer Release: Colors, Notifiers and Bug Fixes
Hello friends! With most of the team traveling around the world for vacation and family visits, summers are a bit slow here at Balsamiq. We are part European after all... 😉 That said, we managed to do two new...
By Peldi
Office Space
If you follow our company blogs, you already read about our first-ever team meeting. A highlight for us was on a Lake Como ferry to Bellagio, where we had our first-ever chance encounter with a customer! Jonathan from altogether...
By Val
First Post-Retreat Release
Hi everyone! This update is a small one, we're still recovering from our first company retreat, which was AMAZING. You can read all about it in Natalie's trip report here. I’m on a boat! Here's what's new in today's...
By Peldi
Our First Company Retreat
I'm on a boat! Being a Balsamiq employee for just over two weeks, I wasn’t sure my perspective of the staff retreat would be of much value. After all, I don’t yet have a complete grasp of all elements...
By Natalie
Mockup Tips: Datagrids and Specifying Interaction
We often get questions about how to do complex things in Mockups. I think the best bet is try to design with minimalism in mind. That goes equally for simplying your wireframes as well as your interface. Datagrids One...
By Mike
They're Coming!
I mentioned today that I feel like Balsamiq (the company) is really just starting now. The team is in place, the processes are pretty smooth, the revenue somewhat stable, the work for the next year or so clearly defined....
By Peldi
Natalie Gould Joins Balsamiq
I am thrilled to announce that my very good friend Natalie Gould has joined the Balsamiq team! We're not sure about what her final job title will be, but "like Valerie, but on Central European Time" should give you...
By Peldi
Weekly Release: Quality, Performance and Looks!
Hello friends of Mockups! 🙂 Small release this week but packing a powerful punch. Here's what's new: we changed the font for the chrome of the application. We now use Lucida Grande on Mac and Lucida Sans Unicode on...
By Peldi
A Quality-Focused Release
Happy Tuesday friends! Thanks so much for the great feedback on the 1.8 release from last week. We love the group editing feature too! 🙂 For this week's release we decided to focus on bug fixing, but we also...
By Peldi
myBalsamiq Beta Gets an Overhaul
It's been quiet around the UX blog for the past month. We've been heads down working on a beta refresh, making big usability improvements to the way you work with projects in myBalsamiq, and we've just released the latest...
By Mike
Mockups 1.8: Editable Groups and Much More
Hello friends! Wow, it's been 4 weeks since our last update, that's probably the longest we've EVER gone without releasing! I hope you'll agree it was worth the wait. This is one of our biggest updates since we started,...
By Peldi
Our Short and Mid-Term Feature Roadmap
Hi there, I've written bits of this enough times now that I thought a little blog post about it would be in order. Here's what we're working on RIGHT NOW: The components feature. STATUS: we are going to release...
By Peldi
Bringing a Little Balsamiq to Atlassian's #Summit2010
I'm doing some creative visualization about the upcoming Atlassian Summit in San Francisco on June 6. We are sponsoring, and I'll be managing a booth all by myself for most of the time (I might get a surprise visit...
By Val
I Tink, Therefore, I Am. (Sorry, Descartes)
We love people who get stuff done. We are, therefore, extremely proud to sponsor one of the puzzles concocted by Tinkering School at this weekend's Maker Faire. Tinkering School, founded and run by Gever Tulley & Julie Spiegler, is...
By Val
Refresh! My Blog, Reborn
Ahh, the best-laid plans of mice and bloggers... I had such grand ideas about waxing poetic every day, chronicling what we are learning as a company and my growth in transitioning from working at a company of a few...
By Val
Double-Click to Edit Groups: We Need Your Help!
Hello friends! We just posted an AWESOME new feature on the pre-release page. You can now double-click to enter groups and edit their contents. Simple as that. HUGELY useful. Here's a little video to see it in action (go...
By Peldi
Quick Release: Text Orientation, Colors Back to Normal
Hi all. I just released a new version to address a couple of critical bugs and snuck in a new little feature while I was at it. 😉 Text Orientation on Labels You can now select 3 types of...
By Peldi
7-Day Demo, Larger Canvas, Transparent PNGs...
Whoa, it's only been 18 days since the last release but somehow it feels much longer. We've been really busy (see below), but once again we were able to squeeze in a few new features and bug fixes for...
By Peldi
How *Specifically* Did Balsamiq Bootstrap Its Way To $2 Mil In Sales in 18 Months?
My interview for Mixergy.
By Peldi
Weekly Release: Better Color Management and More
Hi friends! This week's release is a colorful one! 🙂 One of the nice things of finally having someone with graphic design sensibility in-house (yay Mike!) is that we can finally start making things a little prettier for everyone....
By Peldi
Biweekly Release: Version 1.7!
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great easter/spring break and are fully recharged for the months ahead. This is the first blog post from our new web server, so if you find any broken links or anything...
By Peldi
Employees Define Company Values by Designating Matching Funds
Hello everybody, thanks for visiting. I am delighted with our little company's growth, and we have quickly settled into a comfortable rhythm in 3 time zones. Now that we have a US team in place, I am reviewing our...
By Val
Next Steps for myBalsamiq
Over the past month, I've been working in myBalsamiq daily, and have been reviewing and answering issues in our GetSatisfaction forum. Each day I went over every detail trying to understand how everything works, and looking for issues that...
By Mike
Biweekly Release: More Bug Fixes and a Company Update
Hello friends! This week's release actually took two weeks because we decided to squash some old and tricky bugs, so we wanted to take the time and do it right. What's New the biggest fix of this release has...
By Peldi
10 Excellent Tools For Creating Web Design Wireframes
"Using Balsamiq Mockups feels like you are drawing, but it’s digital, so you can tweak and rearrange controls easily, and the end result is much cleaner. With 75 pre-built controls to choose from, you can design anything from a...
By Peldi
Weekly Release: Lots and Lots of Bug Fixes
Hello friends! Marco here doing the release this week, as Peldi is in Austin for SXSWi, a.k.a. geek sleep-away-camp. 😉 I can't wait to hear his report! And while Peldi is "working" in the US, is bug-squashing time here...
By Marco
12 Free Or Cheap Web Apps Your Startup Needs Now
“Balsamiq is a very popular app for making mockups of various apps, and rightfully so. It's fun and easy to use, and saves a lot of time.”
By Peldi
And the UXLx Winner Is...
The upcoming UXLx Conference (May 12-14 in Lisbon) is a wonderful chance for Usability folks to hear some of our favorite speakers and meet like-minded experts who believe, like we do, that “Life’s too short for bad software.” Balsamiq...
By Val