Product Overview of Flinto
Flinto is a robust and user-friendly rapid prototyping tool designed specifically for UX designers to create interactive and animated prototypes of mobile, desktop, and web applications. Here’s a detailed look at what Flinto does and its key features.
What Flinto Does
Flinto allows designers to assemble and link multiple screens to create a functional prototype. This tool is particularly useful for designing the flow and interactions within an app, enabling designers to test and refine their designs efficiently.
Key Features and Functionality
Transition Designer
Flinto’s Transition Designer is a standout feature that allows users to design animated transitions between screens without the need for timelines or programming. This tool provides direct visual feedback, making it easy to tweak transitions such as fade-in, slide in from the right, or slide up from below.
Behavior Designer
The Behavior Designer enables the creation of micro-interactions within screens. This includes designing interactions for elements like buttons, switches, and scroll-based animations. Users can create reusable behaviors and share them between different Flinto documents, which is beneficial for maintaining consistency across projects.
Gestures and Interactions
Flinto supports over 10 different gestures, including taps, swipes, scrolls, and even 3D touch. This allows designers to simulate real-world interactions within their prototypes.
Drawing Tools
The app includes advanced vector drawing tools that enable designers to create or edit UI elements directly within Flinto. These tools support the animation of vector curves and the editing of imported shapes and text from Sketch and Figma.
Import from Sketch and Figma
Flinto offers seamless integration with Sketch and Figma, allowing designers to import their designs while maintaining editable text layers and vector shapes. This feature enhances workflow efficiency by enabling designers to leverage their existing design work.
Scrolling and Animations
Designers can add scrolling to any group with a single click and create complex scroll-based animations. The tool also supports fine-tuned control over cubic-bezier or spring easing for each layer, providing detailed animation control.
Haptics and Sound Effects
Flinto allows the addition of haptic feedback and sound effects to prototypes. This includes various haptic variations that can be felt on haptic-compatible iOS devices, and the ability to attach audio files to gestures for UI sound effects.
Video and GIF Support
Users can drag video or GIF files directly into their designs, and export recordings of their prototypes as videos or GIFs to share or post online. There is also integration with Dribbble for easy sharing of prototype recordings.
Preview and Share
Flinto offers a real-time preview feature that allows designers to test their prototypes on WiFi-connected iOS devices using the free iOS viewer app or the Mac app. However, sharing prototypes can be somewhat limited, as there is no direct link sharing option; instead, users can record and share video files or upload them to platforms like Dribbble.
Platform Compatibility
Flinto is exclusively available for macOS 10.14 and later, as well as iOS 12.0 and later. Recent updates have also added full support for Apple’s M1 chips, enhancing performance and compatibility.
In summary, Flinto is a powerful tool for UX designers focused on creating interactive and animated prototypes with a range of advanced features, particularly excelling in micro-interactions and animations. While it has some limitations in terms of high-fidelity prototyping and sharing options, it remains a valuable asset for designers looking to quickly and effectively prototype app designs.