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Show HN: Konty – A Balsamiq-alternative lo-fi wireframe tool for modern apps

konty.app

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Re: Show HN: Konty – A Balsamiq-alternative lo-fi wireframe tool for modern apps

#81

Post by ashildr »

olivierduval wrote: post #71

Something always bothered me: why using "sketch-like hand-drawn pencil" like style for that kind of tools ? I understand that "wireframing" is some kind of "brainstorming" tool, so it is used with a pencil and a whiteboard in a meeting room and require to draw/erase fast iteratively... so it's the "right" tool for this job... But as soon as you use a computer instead of a pencil, why not have a "realistic" and "clean…

It’s an abstraction that makes people focus on the part that is relevant for the discussion at hand, and not on implementation details.

Re: Show HN: Konty – A Balsamiq-alternative lo-fi wireframe tool for modern apps

#82

Post by jonwinstanley »

tyrw wrote: post #44
niklauslee wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for your feedback. I'm thinking of the paid version. I would like to offer it much cheaper than balsamiq, probably. Additionally, we'll be offering strong discounts for early users.

Balsamiq is already so cheap. We use it for our business and every time it renews I just think they could be getting 5-10x what they are. That in turn helps drive a better business and product.

Balsamiq is a per month subscrtiption isn't it? Personally, I need a tool like this once per year or sometimes even less. So if Konty was a one off payment of $20-30 I'd be more inclined to purchase.

Re: Show HN: Konty – A Balsamiq-alternative lo-fi wireframe tool for modern apps

#84

Post by rpastuszak »

olivierduval wrote: post #71

Something always bothered me: why using "sketch-like hand-drawn pencil" like style for that kind of tools ? I understand that "wireframing" is some kind of "brainstorming" tool, so it is used with a pencil and a whiteboard in a meeting room and require to draw/erase fast iteratively... so it's the "right" tool for this job... But as soon as you use a computer instead of a pencil, why not have a "realistic" and "clean…

A) Make it easier to focus on the core aspects of the problems instead of obsessing with details (applies to both designers and "reviewers")

B) An "unfinished" messy design is an invitation for critical feedback. If you give people something that looks too polished, they might be afraid that they'll break it, that they don't understand it, that they can't give feedback that is "good enough".

In short: if it looks like a toy people will play with it.

* C) The reason many of these tools look like Balsamiq has more to do with the tech of the late 00s/early 10s. This specific style of vector art was pretty easy to achieve in Flash.

Re: Show HN: Konty – A Balsamiq-alternative lo-fi wireframe tool for modern apps

#85

Post by dspillett »

estsauver wrote: post #74
olivierduval wrote: post #71

Something always bothered me: why using "sketch-like hand-drawn pencil" like style for that kind of tools ? I understand that "wireframing" is some kind of "brainstorming" tool, so it is used with a pencil and a whiteboard in a meeting room and require to draw/erase fast iteratively... so it's the "right" tool for this job... But as soon as you use a computer instead of a pencil, why not have a "realistic" and "clean…

The reason that I've heard used repeatedly is that a shocking percentage of folks who aren't Technology producers can't separate visual quality from "doneness" of a project. If you show some business folks something that looks like it works, they'll mentally update the project to "Nearly done!" and then everything else after that becomes "Unreasonable delays."

This is unfortunately very true. You also have to be very careful with word/phrase choice in discussion about future work: people often hear “what we could do, is…” as “there is already a full feature that allows you to configure the tool to do…”.

You really have to drill home that ideas and possibilities are just that, and not concrete features that they could start using tomorrow.

Re: Show HN: Konty – A Balsamiq-alternative lo-fi wireframe tool for modern apps

#86

Post by toyg »

olivierduval wrote: post #72
olivierduval wrote: post #71

Something always bothered me: why using "sketch-like hand-drawn pencil" like style for that kind of tools ? I understand that "wireframing" is some kind of "brainstorming" tool, so it is used with a pencil and a whiteboard in a meeting room and require to draw/erase fast iteratively... so it's the "right" tool for this job... But as soon as you use a computer instead of a pencil, why not have a "realistic" and "clean…

(to be honest, I find this "pencil-like" look a bit like MS Comics for fonts, ugly and unprofessional... so I really don't understand why designer tool use it so much)

Anybody who's ever been in a few meetings that try to put together stakeholders, designers, and developers, know how it will inevitably descend in painful back and forth about a shade of hue or an icon size. People get distracted by colors and graphics, and fail to provide actual feedback on functionality and layouting - which are the hardest bits to change later.

The point of this style is to communicate that it's a rough draft, so that people focus on the essential implementation and functionality requirements, the hard stuff. It's easy to give it a lick of paint later. (It also keeps expectations low, so that the final result will feel like you're overdelivering. But that's just bonus.)

Re: Show HN: Konty – A Balsamiq-alternative lo-fi wireframe tool for modern apps

#88

Post by duggan »

estsauver wrote: post #74
olivierduval wrote: post #71

Something always bothered me: why using "sketch-like hand-drawn pencil" like style for that kind of tools ? I understand that "wireframing" is some kind of "brainstorming" tool, so it is used with a pencil and a whiteboard in a meeting room and require to draw/erase fast iteratively... so it's the "right" tool for this job... But as soon as you use a computer instead of a pencil, why not have a "realistic" and "clean…

The reason that I've heard used repeatedly is that a shocking percentage of folks who aren't Technology producers can't separate visual quality from "doneness" of a project. If you show some business folks something that looks like it works, they'll mentally update the project to "Nearly done!" and then everything else after that becomes "Unreasonable delays."

This is also what I've heard and experienced.

Actually I don't think "technology producers" are entirely excluded from this bias either. I've assumed more complexity than there was in reality (possibly due to my background in infrastructure and backend), but other developers I've worked with certainly fall more into the trap of "there's a UI? now it's just a simple matter of CRUD."

Re: Show HN: Konty – A Balsamiq-alternative lo-fi wireframe tool for modern apps

#90

Post by Lio »

janwillemb wrote: post #2

Looks nice! Maybe add some explanation about licensing on the first pages. And the name sounds like "butty" in Dutch, so that will be hard for me to recommend out loud for my Dutch IT students.

That's nothing. In certain English accents pronouncing "konty" is likely to cause even bigger, er, headaches than an innocent reference to a butty.
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