Filed under: Accessories, Developer, iPhone
A sketchbook for iPhone apps
Want to sketch out your iPhone apps? There's a notebook for that.App Sketchbook is a pretty nifty notebook for iPhone developers who want to sketch out their products out on paper as part of the brainstorming process. App Sketchbook has three pre-drawn, full-sized iPhone templates per page with ruled lines beneath for notes. A pixel ruler runs alongside the template. You can use them in conjunction with iPhone UI stencils to get your ideas down on paper.
The App Sketchbook is a wire-bound notebook with 100 double-sided pages. It costs $
Edit (1:30 PST): Apparently make that $16.95USD as apparently the Web site updated right around the time I made my original post. A screencap of the original price is available here.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joanna D said 1:19PM on 8-31-2009
Website says $16.99, which is utterly ridiculous for a few pieces of paper.
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Ryan said 1:24PM on 8-31-2009
Not only is it utterly ridiculous, it is also entirely ludicrous.
Megan Lavey said 1:36PM on 8-31-2009
RARGH! They JUST updated their Web site with this new price. Thankfully, I have the $12.99 price screencapped. I'll edit the post and attach my screencap.
blachole said 1:54PM on 8-31-2009
Looks like they found out people were linking it and decided to try and make a few extra bucks..
JFMartin said 2:59PM on 8-31-2009
Well, why not use electronic version to create iPhone UI mockups ? Paper is not very flexible... I made a Keynote 09 file with all the iPhone UI elements categorized to help build interface prototypes... see:
buildingiphoneapps.blogspot.com
http://buildingiphoneapps.blogspot.com/2009/08/more-user-interfaces-prototyping-tools.html
James said 2:15PM on 8-31-2009
I think that this would be better. It's an iPhone Stencil Kit. It's the same price but you can print your own sheets out (They have templates in PDF format and they are free) and then use the stencil to design the layout.
http://www.designcommission.com/shop/iphone-stencil-kit/
James
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sam said 2:19PM on 8-31-2009
Queue DMCA! This won't last long.
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JDee said 3:44PM on 8-31-2009
You can't beat the presentation.
Come into an Fortune 500 company meeting to develop their Iphone app with a professional sketchbook and the guard will be dropped. Bring in some printed pieces of paper and you'll look bush league. I ordered one....for $12.99 ;-)
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MatthewF said 4:07PM on 8-31-2009
Though the article suggests that the (very cool) stencil and this sketchbook can be used together, that's not correct. The stencil is at 150% iPhone size, while this notebook is at 100%. Personally, I think 150% is better, easier to draw things.
For those who suggest that Photoshopped (or other electronic) protos are better, while they're better for some things, the beauty of hand-drawn UI protos is that they _feel_ impermanent, which has a powerful psychological effect that encourages you to experiment with alternatives. A dozen years of prototyping UIs has made it super-clear that there's a lot of power in hand-drawn protos.
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Badal said 4:29PM on 8-31-2009
It maybe a few bucks more, but I've already used it for some meetings with clients and it's worth it. Besides what's $4 more in the grand scheme of things? I pay more for a freakin coffee at Starbucks. I've been looking for something like this for a long time, it rocks.
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Chuck Konfrst said 5:09PM on 8-31-2009
If you use the iRise Software visualzation tool for defining applications, there is a free "plug in" from a company called OneSpring. http://www.oneSpring.com/iphone
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Tjp said 6:13PM on 8-31-2009
As someone noted the stencil kit is not compatible, even though the article implies it is.
And the onespring URL Chuck mentioned points to a portal page and the base strikepage for the site is not related to the topic, so maybe the URL is incorrect?
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Tjp said 6:18PM on 8-31-2009
This url might work better.
http://www.onespring.net/iphonesimdk.php
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Tony said 7:01PM on 8-31-2009
I found Balsamiq mockups at wwdc
http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups
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Ollie said 3:11AM on 9-11-2009
We recently released the sketch template we use to design our iPhone apps.
The template is based on a grid which is equal to 10px height, and has tick mark indicators of status bar, nav bar, tab bar and tool bar and keyboard.
You can download the free template at http://bit.ly/13y61H
Hope you find it useful!
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