Thursday, October 18, 2012

Sketching in Device Scale

Okay, this is a great example of how I am totally mediocre at promoting myself. These Zurb Sketchsheets are... well, a good idea, but I sorta don't get why you need an unlabeled sketchy-looking rectangle to help.

But that's fine. If you like them, use them. Never let me get in the way of sketching. However, it reminded me that I often bring a set of these sorts of frames for design sketching to workshops. Like this:

I like more realism, as the interaction and interface you sketch will be sketchy enough. I think the environment matters, and for this like to do things like cut them out pick them up, but there's only so much I can do with paper. More often, they are just stuck to the wall.

I chose the deliberately blurry one, so that you can't tell what we're drawing.

They are available now, for free, so download, print and enjoy. They include:

  • Featurephone - Samsung Rant
  • Small Smartphone - RIM Blackberry Torch. Use it without the keyboard if you need to.
  • Medium Smartphone - iPhone 4S. iPhone 5 isn't crucially different, but change it if you want.
  • Large Smartphone - Galaxy S3
  • Phablet - Samsung Galaxy Note 2
  • 7" Tablet - Asus/Google Nexus 7
  • 10" Tablet - Apple iPad. All of them are the same exterior size for now.

They all fit on letter size paper, have solid rules and no gradients, and are in black and white. Print them on any old printer and you'll be fine. Photocopy if you need to save money, etc.

Download the PDF

Download the InDesign CS6 version


These are derived from the device frames part of my Mobile Design Elements, which you can get (along with dozens of other templates and guidelines) from the 4ourth Mobile Patterns Wiki.

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