Android stencil kit makes your apps look sharp

(Credit: Design Commission)

Android app developers looking for user interface inspiration now have something to help get the process going: a cold, sharp piece of laser cut metal that promises to speed up the design mock-up process.

Remember the super thin, laser-cut iPhone user interface design stencil kit from Seattle-based Design Commission? The group has just come out with a follow-up version for Android developers.

The new kit, which retails for $25 (plus $5 shipping), features 150 percent scale cut-outs of standard Google Android OS buttons and iconography, as well as a mechanical pencil and some stickers. Developers can use the stencil to very quickly put together a design mock-up of just about anything.

Design Commission speeds up the process on the other end by offering a free, printable paper Android device template that matches the scale of the buttons; the company is also likely to offer a preprinted pad of these, as it does for the iPhone, iPad, and Firefox Web browser.

Unlike when the company released a stencil kit for the iPhone though, there is some competition this time around. Google now offers app creators, both experienced an inexperienced, a rapid development and mock-up software kit called App Inventor that requires no coding knowledge.

(Credit: Design Commission)

[EvanSei]

that would actually be very useful, I guess I will have to have one of the metalshop guys at my high school make one on the plasma cutter (yes we have a plasma cutter at my high school)

[Money2themax]

Lucky we had a crappy oxyacetylene torch that was always low on fuel

[Josh.Lowensohn]

I picked up the iPhone one out of curiosity when it first came out, and it is quite useful if you're looking do to a quick (but good looking) mock up. Thing is sharp as hell though--you've got to be careful about not cutting yourself on it.

[EvanSei]

@Money2themax
we have those torches too, but the CAD students get top operate the computerized plazma cutter and CNC machines

@Josh.Lowensonn
take some 600 or so grit sandpaper to the edges of that thing it will make a world of difference when it comes to how sharp those edges are. And I am glad you posted this, Im not the most artistic by hand and don't like doing a full computer mockup in cad for something I will change.

[gerrrg]

Why not just create a photoshop brush library of the symbols and a .psd template of the different screen sizes?

[OniOokamiAlfador]

Some people (I find myself to be one of them) just prefer to work on paper to start the creative process.

[drfillgood]

Funny how even after all this time, paper and pencil still can't be entirely beat!

[pking13]

Why not just sketch a mockup without slowing down to make nicely shaped icons? People who look at UI sketches are far more likely to be distracted by a mix of sharp icons and messy lines / text. Just do enough to get the idea across, talk about it, then maybe build it. These stencils seem like a great idea, but I wouldn't trust an agency that thinks using them is a valuable part of the design process.

[Seaspray0]

Josh Lowensohn, any software versions? i.e. visio stencils or the like?