An updated version of Adobe Ideas has been released. I’ve been looking forward to this for some time. The updates include some functionality that I sketched out after using Adobe Ideas for the first time.

New features include:

• Layers: Available for In-App Purchase. Create up to 10 drawing layers plus a photo layer for each sketch; control order and opacity for each layer.
• Redo
• Sketches save much faster, avoiding loss of data when you close the app or you need to answer a phone call.
• Save drawing to “saved photos” album on iPad and iPhone (no longer a need to create a screenshot)
• Support for iPhone 4 retina display
• Support for iOS4 Multi-tasking
• Now available in French, German and Japanese

Looks like Adobe is starting to find ways to monetize the app. Although still free you can buy the “Layers” feature for $4.99 (1Draw Layers Feature), a much needed and requested feature from people.

wireframes:

An Illustrator Wireframing Toolkit (via Wireframes Magazine)

Reusable layered Photoshop file of form field elements for your page designs containing form fields. Download it via my Website: http://jesseddy.com/index.php?area=form_field_elements

Safari Browser Template for Adobe Ideas

I’ve been sketching like a maniac using Adobe Ideas on the iPad and even using Adobe Ideas to sketch ideas on how to make Adobe Ideas even better. It’s been a great tool so far and has dramatically changed my sketching habits. Not to mention clients are impressed and the sketching images produced from Adobe Ideas are of great quality, good enough to fold into client presentations in fact.

The first thing I do with any new tool is make sure I have all the baseline elements I need to quickly produce assets. For producing designs and sketches, one of those things is browser templates. Sometimes it’s nice to design or sketch within the environment that the design will ultimately live. For this reason, I made a Safari browser template for Adobe Ideas on the iPad. You should be able to sync this image with the photo gallery on your iPad via iTunes. Once you do that, you can open it up as a layer in Adobe Ideas and sketch over it. Have fun sketching!

Download the original image from Flickr »

Ideas for Adobe Ideas

So I’ve been working with the wonderful Adobe Ideas sketching application for the iPad for the past few days. It’s a really great tool with very minor frustrations, overall fantastic though. I wanted to start capturing my ideas on what I would change or add. This is where I’m at so far.

You have to see it large to see notes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jesseddy/4835494208/sizes/l/

Side note: Kevin Burg inspired this post.

Air Display

With Air Display, you can use your iPad as a wireless display for your Mac OS X computer. It lets you position your iPad next to your computer, drag windows onto it, and interact with those windows as you would on any other computer display.

Android controls for Balsamiq.

I started using Balsamiq for the first time yesterday and I have to say I’m really impressed. I will admit, I was very hesitant at first. I’m a huge fan of Omnigraffle, which I use almost everyday and it was hard for me to justify using another tool that basically does the same thing. What I found out though was that Balsamiq doesn’t do the same thing.

What I really love about Balsamiq is - it’s very, very difficult to get carried away with going into great detail. It’s a little bit like a cross between a sketch and a high-fidelity wireframe. Like most interaction designers I find myself getting very caught up in the fine details when trying to convey a concept in a wireframe even if I am aware of the fact that I shouldn’t be getting caught up in the details. Balsamiq actually prohibits this from happening because of the bare bones nature of the software, its simplicity and lack of features.

I’ve stepped into a project for only a few days to consult on how to organize - at a high level - a software application with tons of data. I started using it at the advisement of one of the developers on the team. They have been using it to quickly prototype concepts to show to client stakeholders and they wanted to be able to work with the assets I created after I left the project. Using Balsamiq I created a handful of wireframes in a very short amount of time that addressed a lot of major issues.

While I’ll also still use Omnigraffle, Balsamiq is great for those who are just getting into designing wireframes and really, really great for quickly prototyping concepts and ideas.

Two thumbs up!