What is SketchFlow?
Rapidly prototype your user interfaces with SketchFlow
Sketching and prototyping are proven techniques that enable you
to explore ideas and concepts quickly without excessive investment
in either time or resources.
SketchFlow, a feature of Expression Studio Ultimate, revolutionizes
how quickly and efficiently you can demonstrate your vision for an
application. It provides an informal and quick way to explore, iterate
and prototype user interface scenarios, allowing you to evolve your
concepts from a series of rough ideas into a living and breathing
prototype that can be made as real as a particular client or project
demands. This rapid, iterative and cost effective approach to user
interface prototyping allows you to concentrate on what matters most,
being creative and building the best solution for your client, on
time and within budget.
What is SketchFlow?
SketchFlow prototypes are designed by drawing out flow diagrams,
composition, screens and states of an application UI.
You can use drawing tools, sticky notes, WPF or Silverlight controls
and components, as well as imported images to iterate on and visualize
your ideas quickly. SketchFlow even comes with a set of sketch styles
for the standard platform controls, helping you present your work
with a consistent “prototype” look to keep focus on the concepts
presented. Using animation, you can illustrate design intent for
dynamic interactions and application transitions easily.
SketchFlow lets you create, test, iterate, present and evaluate
ideas in rapid succession, enabling you to consider approaching projects
that previously would not have been cost effective or profitable.
SketchFlow prototypes can be explored interactively from the first
sketch on, even if the UI prototype does not actually contain any
active user interface yet. The ability to rapidly demonstrate how
the application will flow and transition from screen to screen and
from state to state enables clients to appreciate the user experience
of the application earlier in the design process and highlights navigation
and application flow issues early in the development cycle, helping
you and the client to reduce painful and costly last minute concept
changes.
Gathering effective and timely feedback from a client is just as
important as creating the prototype in the design and development
process. The freely distributable SketchFlow player ensures that
your Silverlight concepts can be demonstrated effectively to your
client through a standard browser wherever they are located. Clients
review the Silverlight prototype in their browser, testing multiple
scenarios and provide in context feedback for the development team
by annotating their experience as they navigate the different screens.
Once the feedback is finalized, clients can save and return it
to the design team who can then import it directly back into Expression
Blend®. The client’s annotations are visible in-context on the design
surface, making it easier to review and act on client feedback.
You are able to rapidly evolve your prototypes utilizing the full
functionality of Expression Blend 3 with no limit to the scope of
a prototype. Mock-up functionality, experiment with data-driven UI
with data binding and sample data. Apply rich interactivity with
Behaviors, without writing code, using extensible libraries of packaged
interactivity building blocks. The ability to integrate with existing
workflows by importing Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator files at full
fidelity; preserving layers, vectors and even most text formatting
accelerates your workflow further.
SketchFlow enables the creation of comprehensive project documentation
through an export to Microsoft Word command that creates an outline
project document complete with table of contents, screen captures
of the application flow and the different screens within the project.
This can literally save hours of time during document creation process
and enables you to easily keep your project outlines up to date even
while you are rapidly iterating on the application.
Concepts built during this early design phase may be a prototype
in look but they are actually real Silverlight or WPF projects utilizing
the same project format that is already shared between Visual Studio
and Expression Blend. Designer and developers can work together seamlessly
even in early UI prototyping stages – prototypes use real production
technology, reducing the impedance mismatch between prototyping and
production.
Evolution, from Concept to Completion
SketchFlow prototypes are fast, easy and inexpensive to build,
making it possible to create, explore and compare multiple ideas
before moving forward with a solution.
Traditionally prototypes are redundant after the concept phase
and are discarded. With SketchFlow you can take your prototype in
three different directions. Throw the prototype away and simply move
your ideas into new production project, extract out the individual
assets you want to move forward into production or transition the
whole prototype forward into production.
With SketchFlow the choice is yours and the choice you make can
vary from project to project.
From simple prototypes that are wireframes featuring low fidelity
visuals to prototypes such as high fidelity user interface prototypes,
that are fully interactive and data driven, SketchFlow gives you
the flexibility to experiment, evolve and demonstrate your concepts
and ideas to clients in the most effective way possible. You have
total flexibility and total control from concept to completion.
