TouchOSC also includes a companion layout editor. This free desktop application allows you to define custom screen layouts of UI elements and then upload them to your iPhone. Unfortunately there are only a limited number of UI widgets, and because the software was designed to control realtime sound apps, they naturally tend toward realtime control- knobs, faders and toggles as opposed to forms, dropdowns and checkboxes of more rich interfaces. Still, if all you need is a few buttons and a slider to control an interactive system and you aren’t able to develop a native iPhone app, TouchOSC offers some enticing potential. See below the jump for some examples of unexpected uses.

This guy uses TouchOSC to control a robot!

You can even access the iPhone’s accelerometer and send that data over OSC (warning:video has loud sound).

osc, processing and an iphone accelerometer from codingnature on Vimeo.

If you’re using Flash, I recommend flosc for parsing and sending/receiving messages. There are many resources out the for using OSC with Python, Processing and a variety of software packages. So build you UI, teach your software prototype to speak OSC and you’re set!

TouchOSC homepage
TouchOSC @ iTunes Store

Read More for excerpts

See Also :
Microsoft SketchFlow
Visio Sketchy Wireframe Tempates
Web-based iPhone collaborative mockup maker

(Via Boxes and Arrows)

Having used computer-based sketchy wireframes on a number of projects, I’ve found many ways that they can decrease confusion with teams and stakeholders:

* Clients and Executives – People in this group typically want to push projects forward as quickly as possible. Consequently, the more “finished” the wireframes look, the faster they will expect to see the finished product. You can do yourself a disservice by making your wireframes look more complete than they are. To quote Kathy Sierra, “How ‘done’ something looks should match how ‘done’ something is.”

* Programmers – Programmers who see traditional wireframes too early in the process may misinterpret their functionality as “signed-off.” Don’t be shocked if you hear frantic questions like “Did we agree to this?” Programming requires meticulous attention to detail, so programmers read wireframes with an eagle eye. Consequently, they may expect a level of specification from wireframes that isn’t appropriate in the early stages.

* Designers – Designers make their living with their visual creativity, and they resist anything that could constrain it. Consequently, in situations where designers must work with wireframes created by someone else, designers can perceive them as a creative straightjacket, or worse, as a threat. A sketchy representation can help reduce friction by removing unnecessary details and adding a certain amount of “fuzziness” to the wireframes, thereby giving designers more leeway in interpreting the look and feel of the interface.

* Users – In my research, I’ve found that users who are asked to comment on traditional wireframes can be intimidated by an overly finished look and feel. This is mirrored by a general consensus in the usability industry that the “less done” a demo looks, the more comfortable users feel with giving feedback. Where traditional wireframes can elicit comments like “I don’t like the font on those words,” sketchy wireframes are more likely to elicit comments like “I don’t know what those words mean.”

Comics are effective not only because they are essentially narrative, but also because they are unpretentious, easy to follow, and accessible. Whereas a functional specification document uses words and often “tech speak” to communicate functionality, comics use pictures and interactions to get ideas across.

Can’t draw? Don’t have time to draw? Check out the comments at the bottom of the article for a link to designcomics.org, where the folks at Sun Microsystems’ web team have built a repository of free stock scenes and characters that you can use to build storyboards with little effort. The ‘examples’ section, which has tips for how to use narrative techniques to describe design choices, reads like an introduction to Aristotle’s Poetics:

Another common format is a three-act play: (1) A hero… (2) has a problem… (3) and solves it (or not)

The act of designing a user experience can be compared to developing choreography for a user to enact. Writing like this in sometimes-dry forums like Boxes and Arrows validates my belief that telling a story is a valuable way to describe interaction to a broad audience.

SEE ALSO – ComicLife : A Story Machine

@Last Software had created a plugin for Google Earth that allows SketchUp users to add their own models to a Google Earth application. Like the models shown above, this means that anyone could place their 3D design into the Google Earth application and users who subscribed to that ‘layer’ of data could see your building on their desktop.

This could be for architects and designers what Google’s purchase of Blogger was to writers. Google continues to expand the average person’s ability to create and share content. Of course, it could also mean endless 3D blogging of peoples’ doghouses, office buildings and summer homes, but some good may come of it regardless.

@Last Software

Link to Post

Update: This guy has a catalogue of notable real, imagined or proposed buildings that have been modelled and placed in Google Earth. A good indication of things to come.