Connect-A-Sketch · 2009–2014
Test the flow while it's still pencil.
Connect-A-Sketch was a small web app built around one idea. Draw your screens however you like, upload them, mark the parts that should be clickable, and send someone a link so they can click through before anything is built. The app went dark in 2014. The idea is still the cheapest way to find out whether a design makes sense.
- UploadSketch on paper or in any tool, then put the pictures in one place.
- ConnectDraw a box over each thing that should be clickable and point it at a screen.
- ClickWalk through it yourself, then hand the link to someone who has never seen it.
Screen: Home
tap a dashed box. that's a link.
The original pitch
Three words on a homepage
From September 2009 to April 2014 the front page said nearly the same thing. Only the copyright year moved, and the beta badge never came off.
connectasketch.com homepage, 2009–2014
Upload:
There are a thousand great design tools out there, including pen and paper. Sketch out your designs, then upload them to Connect-A-Sketch.
Connect:
Drag and drop your sketches into your prototype. Create connections between sketches and make your prototype interactive.
Click:
Explore your own interactive design, or easily share it with your users.
Connect-A-Sketch is currently in closed Beta. Open signup coming soon... (September 2009)
The first line is the part that aged best. Connect-A-Sketch never tried to be a drawing tool. It took whatever you already used, pen and paper included, and added the one thing a stack of drawings can't do on its own: let a person tap a button and land on the next screen.
That small step changes what a sketch is for. A single drawing shows what a screen looks like. A set of linked drawings shows whether someone can get from wanting something to having it, and where they get lost on the way. Most design problems live in that second question.
Keep clicking
Where the links go
The tour the app built for itself, what happened to the links people shared, and how the same sketch-first habit works now.
How it worked
Upload, connect, click, and the feedback button that made it useful for teams.
15 screensThe original tour
The app's own introduction, rebuilt from the 23 hotspots that survived when the pictures didn't.
Dead linksShared prototype links
What a Connect-A-Sketch link looked like, why they stopped working, and how sharing works now.
2009–2014A short history
Closed beta, open signup, a quiet few years, and the end of the app.
2026Sketch to prototype today
Paper, low-fidelity wireframes and design-tool prototypes, in the order that still makes sense.
Beyond screensStoryboarding a real event
The same method applied to something you can't redo: the family photos at a wedding.
Find
Looking for something?
Search every page on the site, from the 2009 terms to the tour screens.