With our ‘Advanced Axure for Mobile Prototyping‘ workshop just over a month away (taking place on 16th May) I dove a little deeper into why Axure is Philip Bonhards weapon of choice and why…

1.   When did you found Newt Idea and why did you decide to set it up?

I founded Newt Ideas in May 2013 with two colleagues from my time at Sapient and Accenture. After multiple years working as a small team in a big cog I found myself thinking that there must be a way of combining the rigour of a big consultancy and creative freedom of an agency; this igniting the birth of Newt Ideas.

2.   Why is Axure your favourite weapon of choice?

I have been working as a UX/UI designer for the past 10 years; showing concepts by drawing boxes and arrows using whatever tool I found appropriate. When I discovered Axure could make these boxes interactive, allowing you to demonstrate your ideas rather than describe how they should work, it soon became my weapon of choice. Axure brought my designs to life, making them 99% real and allowing me to show clients how the design would work without using any code.

3.   Why would you use Axure over coding such as HTML Prototyping?

Not everyone knows how to code and it can be reasonably complicated. When you code you spend most of your time figuring out how to make it do what you want it to do whereas Axure allows you to concentrate on the design.

4.   Who would be the ideal profile to attend this course and what do you mean by basic knowledge?

The ideal attendee would have used Axure for wireframes showing user journeys though with little interactivity. They will want to learn how to mimic an app and bring their designs to life, making it feel as real as possible.

5.   What other prototyping tools do you use and why?

I use multiple tools in my day to day; Balsamiq for very basic wireframes, Protolio which is similar to axure though web based and then you can’t beat sketching to quickly explore ideas then refine then using a digital tool. I usually use Axure as my tool of choice as it enables me to bring my ideas to life. Read more www.uxphil.com/?p=261

6.   How often does Axure update their features and if you could add a feature what would this be?

I’m not sure exactly though it’s around every 1-2 years; I started using Axure in 2007 and it has been updated a few times. When I was at Accenture I spoke with the founder of Axure about potential features, we were always feeding them lists of features they should add. They are very responsive like that and listen to what their users want and need.

There is a big community of Axure users where you can suggest features and Axure usually answers. Similarly if you are struggling with something on Axure then there is an extremely responsive forum which you can post your problem in and get help from a fellow Axure geek.

http://www.axure.com/forum/forum.php

http://www.axure.com/forum/mobile-prototyping/

 

 

7.   What is the difference between using Axure for desktop and mobile?

The main difference is screen size; the question should be more ‘what is the difference between designing for desktop and mobile?’ Mobile is touch target rather than mouse clicks and far more interactive with swipes and flips etc. this course focus’s less on good UX and more on practical skills so can show a client your design.

8.   What is the difference between responsive and adaptive?

Responsive is fluid design; your design essentially resizes to fit the screen of which it is displayed. Adaptive is where content appears, disappears and/or alters its appearance dependant on size of the screen.

9.   Does this course cover both iOS and Android?

We will keep it neutral. We will concentrate on web based interaction of which the browser does not matter. To reiterate, the course isn’t so much about UX though is about using Axure as a tool to make interactive prototypes and bring your designs to life.

 

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