The catch phrase for Lovely Charts, “You think, we draw,” is a bit of a misnomer, as it makes you think about a service where you submit an idea and they turn it into an illustration. Actually, with Lovely Charts you do the work of making a chart, but Lovely Chart’s online application makes the process so much easier – yes, even easier than other desktop flowchart applications currently on the market. The drag and drop functionality makes chart-making a breeze, especially for very complicated flow charts in which you could have dozens upon dozens of steps.
There are more complicated chart-making applications available, but these have both a steep learning curve and often are expensive – as opposed to free, which is another major selling point for Lovely Charts.
The basic vibe with Lovely Charts is “user-friendly,” but also “feature-rich,” as it can handle advanced and highly technical flow charts. It’s usable for a number of purposes: making sitemaps for the web, wireframes, illustrations for business reports, employee org charts – whatever the case may be. Not only is it helpful but it’s also fun to use, and you’ll have professional, attractive charts ready in no time.
Practical Uses:
- Prioritize employees for a project by determining the chain of command for certain tasks and how new tasks will be distributed throughout a team
- Organize a complicated website by figuring out which pages link to where and ensuring there’s smooth transitions throughout the site
- Create a family tree
- Create a traditional flowchart with the question/answer model: Do you have A, go to point B. No? Go to point C, and so on
Insider Tips:
- Check out what other people have done: Lovely Charts has examples of sitemaps, flowcharts, and other ways people have used the service
- Watch the screencast – it will show you the functionality of the app without having to figure it out on your own
What we liked:
- It’s free – remarkable for such a good application
- It’s easy to use
- Built-in graphics to start making charts right away
- Allows collaboration with other users
- Each chart is protected so it can only be viewed by those with a password
What we didn’t like:
- Although having password protection on each chart is a feature, there may be times that you want to share a flowchart with everyone – in these cases you will have to host the flowchart on your own server to show it the public
- You can’t upload your own images at this time
- With the free online version, you can only save one chart (you can create an unlimited number of charts, but only save one for later use)
- A small quibble: their gallery does not let you see full-size version of the sample flowcharts to see how people have used the service in the past
Alternatives:
Company Info:
- Launched: February 2009
- Privately Held
- Headquarters: Brussels, Belgium
- Founded by: Jerome Cordiez
- Web site: http://www.lovelycharts.com
Costs:
- Free or 3€ per month for Premium Service
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