Designer News
Where the design community meets.
Denver, CO Co-Founder at Whimsical Joined almost 9 years ago
Hey Anthony, they have some commonalities but here's how I think about it:
Flowcharts are more freeform and less structured. You can layer things on top of each other, place groups of items inside of others, basically do anything you want. Some flowcharts may have a directional flow or logic to them but our Flowcharts are flexible enough to handle lots of nuance and complexity. The layout is more manual (although we do have quick add buttons to make it easier) but the benefit is more flexibility. Example: https://whimsical.com/5cuRgnqsm5qxSKiLEpyZ9s
Mind Maps, on the other hand, are quite structured and hierarchical. They operate more like an outline or bullet list. There are parents, and children, and siblings, and everything fits into this ordered format. The layout is automated and this makes reordering and rearranging very efficient but also comes with layout constraints. Example: https://whimsical.com/PUnnCq2HHr2F5h6ZLqHzeY
Hope that helps!
Thanks Michael!!
I think one thing that’s somewhat missing from this thread is the merits of disconnecting your input from your output (i.e. working on something with leverage). One path for designers is to find something that scales. A downside to agency jobs or IC/manager roles is that you are renting your time. You work “X” number of hours a week, you get paid “X” number of dollars. There’s a quote from Warren Buffett:
“If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.” — Warren Buffet.
I love design. I literally get excited to start a new work week. But I also don’t want to have to be putting in the same number of hours when I’m in my 60s or whatever. One way to give yourself more options is to work on something where you are not paid based on the amount of time you work. To do this, you basically need to have an ownership stake in something. And it can really be anything. You can start a company. Or maybe you create a digital class that you sell. Or you create digital assets. Or even t-shirts. Find something where you have upside that is not tied to your hours worked. Get paid for your ideas, not your time.
I’m 32. I’ve designed in an agency setting and at a SaaS company. I co-founded a company last year in part because of these reasons (leverage, higher upside, etc.).
Everyone has their own path due to different priorities, giftings, interests, etc. Some people may be genuinely most fulfilled by designing or managing till a very old age and I think that’s 100% cool. But I’m also picking up on some feelings of discouragement that retirement, even if it’s desired, won’t be a viable option. Or that the safest path is to shift toward management. That’s where I think these ideas of leverage can be helpful because they can allow more freedom to choose for yourself, not out of necessity.
Some inspiring threads related to this:
Hey Gaël – yes, we're definitely planning to support tablets in the future. Hoping we'll be able to work on it before too long!
Hey Andy, I really like this idea of having "anchor link" style navigation to jump quickly from one section of the board to another. We'll have to do some experimenting around this – thanks!!
Appreciate the kind words Andrew!! So glad you're liking the app :)
Many thanks Rik – glad you're enjoying it!!
Thanks so much Tony – much appreciated!
Designer News
Where the design community meets.
Designer News is a large, global community of people working or interested in design and technology.
Have feedback?
Hey James, we've added a handful of new features to Wireframes within the last year but generally smaller things like grouping, more elements, etc. Is there anything in particular that you remember feeling limited by?
Now that we've launched Mind Maps, we will be working on a number of significant new features for Wireframes coming up pretty soon so the tool should get more powerful before long!