Design Toolset
I am trying to not stuck with any particular software tool, but define my goal first and then use simplest tool available to achieve it.
Ideation
Goal: Capture and explore ideas, compare variants, merge the left & right brain.
I am always keen to try out new tools to capture ideas and collaborate on early concepts - from different mocking tools to new concepts like Adobe Comp. But at the end of the day, nothing can beat my custom dotted paper notebook and set of Copic markers.
0.7 Pencil, Gel pens and Copic Sketch markers
…exploring scenarios and flows…
Wireframing
Goal: Turn idea into digital reality as quickly as possible.
There are lot of confusions what wireframe actually is. To me wireframe represents certain checkpoint in process of wireframing. In this context wireframing means prototyping and represents continuous turnover from idea to reality.
The only goal of wireframe is communication. These are throw-away assets and once they successfully communicate story behind, they fade away.
That is why for me it is important to invest as little time as possible into building of these disposable assets. My goal is to validate the intention, and then just stop right there — I am not trying to build parallel reality mockup that is pretending to be real.
I still use Axure to build some of these, but because of its limited collaboration capabilities, this tool is fading away in my toolset.
Recently I started to used Gliffy for most of the wireframing. Yes Gliffy - dead simple and limited diagraming tool. The main reason is that Gliffy is integrated with internal project wiki thus directly inviting for collaboration. There are no local files and assets and multiple versions of the same— all the content is right where it should be, accessible for everyone from the company, safely locked for everyone else.
Design and Prototype
Goal: Validate final intention with stakeholders, get user feedback and deliver specs for engineering team.
My primary weapon for final design specs is Adobe Illustrator. I am using it for all the production deliverables from annotated screens to icons. Its also my primary tool for any other graphic design work, from scenario flows to detailed component breakdowns.
I use Adobe Edge Reflow to explore responsive layouts and to figure out how the design will adapt to screen size. This process still does not have enough priority in my workflow and I am struggling to deliver clear specs defining how exactly the layout should respond to different screen resolution. That is certainly point for my continuous improvement rather than missing toolset — using Edge Reflow is extremely easy, it just does not integrate with rest of the tools I am using.
Collaborate and Communicate
Goal: Never share any design asset as email attachment. Never ever.
I have set this goal to myself from lot of reasons such as being all time up-to date. But act of inviting collaborators just stands out. I see huge difference in establishing collaboration flow by sending static asset as attachment instead of inviting someone to either view or edit the same asset that evolves over time.
OneDrive for Business and Dropbox
I use OneDrive for Business for all the docs I share internally except screenshots. I tend to create a lot of screenshots to support pretty much every message I send. Dropbox is simplest tool allowing me to directly grab and paste link into Email message or Slack conversation.
InVision
InVision is my central repository for every design asset. InVision project is organised as click-through prototype, but different project sections contains annotated screens of isolated UI components.
I share links to specific screens and use dynamic embedding to include design assets in RTC, Trello and Slack.
Powerpoint and Keynote
People often underestimate value of these tools, but both Powerpoint and Keynote are general content layout tools which can be very effectively used to create anything from click-through prototype to handover document.
When it comes to powerpoint decks in large corporation I have seen it all. Hundreds of red to blue blocks with white texts on it forming some strategic chart, walls of text, random pics and huge blocks of code, stock photos, copyright messages bigger than actual content.
I am trying to apply design craft even into every domain including crafting powerpoint file. I threat form and content equally and when creating file I match appropriate form to audience goals.
Slack
I work as part of remote team and Slack is our key communication tool. There are number of reasons why we love using Slack. Primary it is ability to respond to a comment with random animated gif. But various integrations are handy too — from Dropbox through InVision to Jenkins build system.
Conclusions
Over the time I tend to use more of already adopted tools such as internal wiki over trendy new services. When working with large number of internal stakeholders, any barrier standing between design and stakeholder might cause that I will not get the right feedback at right time.
I see the future in tools, that will allow me to reduce waste and throw away work, such as Sketch with its plugins, Zeplin for design annotation or Macaw Scarlet as real live design environment.
But they are just tools. They will not solve design problem and they will not ship working product on time. Any design asset has to have clear goal, whether that is stakeholder communication, user feedback or engineering requirement.
Continue reading with Design process.
