Remote working might be commonplace these days, but the demands on design teams remain as fast-paced and challenging as ever. Where once design teams would assemble in a meeting room and gather around a whiteboard, now many teams need collaborative software to create a digital equivalent.
Hundreds of tools have been created to try and solve this problem. In this article, we look at our top five tools, ones that we believe have succeeded in making collaborative design fast, easy and intuitive.
Miro
No collaborative project worth its salt can get started without a whiteboard and presentation tool like Miro.
It’s a place where teams can brainstorm ideas and organise content collaboratively. From wireframes and sitemaps to user-journey workshops and process planning, Miro is a great pick. We mentioned the digital equivalent of a whiteboard in the intro, and Miro’s interface is the closest thing to that, making it an ideal precursor to the creation process.
Figma
From ideation to design and prototyping, Figma is a collaborative digital design tool which, due to its real-time collaboration features, allows multiple users to work simultaneously and seamlessly. Ideal for large-scale digital projects from web-design, social media output to app design and prototyping. Its cloud-based platform means instant synchronisation, preventing those annoying version control issues.
With an intuitive interface and integrated feedback system, Figma has overtaken Adobe XD as the digital design tool of choice among many designers and studios including our own.
Ceros, Foleon and Webflow – the no-code web builders
No-code web design and build platforms like these are paving the way for fast design-to-build processes that negate the need for lengthy web coding. They have revolutionised the traditional approach to digital design by offering a dynamic, interactive drag and drop platform that empowers teams to create visually stunning digital experiences.
Collaboration is at the heart of platforms like Ceros and Foleon in particular, where multiple team members can work on, view and review a project whilst it’s being built out. With real-time editing and commenting features, teams can iterate swiftly and ensure everyone’s input is captured.
We should know. As experts in no-code platforms and agency partners to both Ceros and Foleon, we are delivering incredible digital experiences and websites for some of the world’s biggest B2B organisations using no-code.
Canva
Canva’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface, extensive library of design assets and easy-to-use brand toolkit make it an excellent collaborative design tool. Canva is really accessible, meaning you don’t need a huge amount of design expertise to create something incredible.
Ask your agency to build your brand toolkit straight into Canva so you can access brand colours, fonts and custom branded templates giving you more control over the content your teams create.
With the recent launch of Canva Create, the platform has put a bigger emphasis on AI features, enabling users to effortlessly edit videos and images with just a few clicks.
Slack & Microsoft Teams
No collaborative design process is complete without the ability to communicate really easily. Teams that are already embedded in a Microsoft universe will possibly never move to Slack but from an interface and integration perspective, Slack is definitely the winner.
Slack’s integration with tools like Figma, Google, Loom, Hubspot and many more ensures files can be shared effortlessly, huddles and messages are immediate and everyone is in sync all the time.
The real magic of tools like Slack and Teams are that they allow us to communicate internally in a way that we wouldn’t over email. Interfaces are designed for friendly updates and emoji-fied communications, meaning you can respond with just a thumbs up if you want. Channels help you organise conversations by project and keep team communication fluid, friendly and rapid-fire.
Effective collaboration can make or break the success of a digital design project. The remarkable shift to online working that took place through the COVID pandemic and beyond has meant that there’s been an acceleration in the creation and adoption of online collaborative tools. There’s just so much out there.
Every organisation will choose the best ones for them, depending on the organisation or the project complexity. Which you choose should depend on how well they integrate with each other, and may also rely on your IT framework and size of your organisation. The ones we’ve highlighted here are the top five tools that we see as being the most adopted in our industry.