The Leader in Digital Prototyping
by Jon Bowman
Since its release (May, 2011) Tumult Hype has been making more and more remarkable improvements and climbing the ladder to be an industry standard as the software tool used to make prototypes.
If you’re not familiar with it lets take a look at some key features and why you need to stop reading this and download it today. Here are 10 reasons why Hype is an essential tool for your UX design arsenal.
1. It’s easy to learn
If you use keynote, powerpoint or Photoshop then there’s little to learn. Hype uses an inspector similar to keynote and once you spend a few hours using it you’ve mastered it. The interface is WYSIWYG based so you can simply drop items onto your canvas and move them around freely. Publishing to the web is as simple as selecting file and exporting your file into one simple HTML5 package. You drop that file and resource folder into dreamweaver and voila you have a prototype.
2. Animation on your phone
You can make animations with hype ranging from simple across the screen movements to sophisticated parallax effects; and they are viewable on a mobile device. Driven by HTML5 you can now see really amazing animations in both Android and iOS. Wow!
3. Automatic asset updates
Have you ever pushed out update after update of assets and wished that there was a simple, no brainer, way to just update them automatically instead of manually? Of course you have. When I make updates in Photoshop and save updated assets Hype knows and ask me if I’d like to replace the old file with the new one.
4. Code friendly
If you’re more of a UX unicorn or you’d like to put a little more power in your prototype, don't worry, Hype’s got you covered. You can leverage HTML, CSS, Javascript and more with Hype.
5. Multidevice previewing
Hype makes it easy to preview your prototype on the fly with different browsers and devices. Why is that handy? Think about it. You can knock out responsive designs and test them live as you build out your screens in hype. It’s like we’re living in 2015 or something.
6. Compatibility summary
Hype has the power to give you a heads up and lets you know what issues you may run into and with what browsers. That’s very handy when you’re considering who your target audience is.
7. Google Fonts
You can use Google fonts. I’m not going to elaborate further. Google fonts are awesome!
8. Video Support
Are you in the media industry? Sure you are. Even if you’re not I’m sure you’d appreciate the robust, video, prototyping experience that Hype can bring to the table. Not very many softwares out there let you build out UI over video like a player with player controls with a WYSIWYG in a day. Hype has video playback capabilities so you can test, review and design your UI elements around video. It’s as simple as drag and drop and you’re all set.
9. It’s fast
From idea to final product Hype is fast! You can get in there, do your thing and drop your prototype by COB just in time to test it on your iPhone 6+ at your local happy hour.
10. It’s cheap
Hype is painfully affordable. For less than you paid for the ikea chair you’re lounging in right now — you can be a prototype expert.
Check out hype on Twitter here or download it from the app store here.
If you run into any issues check them out on YouTube for some great tutorials.
