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They allow designers to test ideas, gather valuable feedback, refine designs before investing time or money into production - saving both time and money while ensuring users are happy with what they end up purchasing.
Integrating powerful Software as a Service tools into your design workflow will enhance efficiency and accelerate SaaS prototyping.
Cloud-based tools offer great ways of streamlining prototyping and designing, offering collaboration opportunities as well as version control features.
This article will highlight the advantages of employing SaaS-based tools in your design workflow and will demonstrate some tool list which you can utilize quickly and affordably to create product prototypes quickly and efficiently.
What Are Prototyping Tools?
Prototypes provide teams the chance to refine a product prior to its release and show stakeholders how it will operate in real life.
Teams can create interactive prototypes of websites and additional applications without needing to know any code, providing users with an opportunity to collaborate, provide feedback, and address potential problems before turning the project over to developers.
Product Prototyping Has Many Benefits
Save Time and Increase Productivity
Implementing SaaS tools like Miro into your design agile workflow will save time. These product management tools offer limited features such as drag-and-drop design elements, ready-to-use templates, and export options that speed the creation of digital prototypes.
SaaS tools automate repetitive tasks and streamline complex processes, freeing designers and non-designers alike to focus on creative aspects of their work and fast project completion times.
As a result, high-fidelity prototyping becomes possible at significantly reduced project completion times.
Collaboration And Communication Streamlined
Modern SaaS apps are specifically tailored to facilitate communication and teamwork among team members, offering tools that facilitate seamless coordination across locations for designers, developers, and stakeholders - with noteworthy features like real-time editing and in-app messaging enabling real time cooperation among team members regardless of location.
Improved collaboration results in improved alignment of project goals, more effective decision-making process, and reduced miscommunication or mistrust during the development phase.
Centralized Design And Version Control
Prototyping presents unique challenges when managing multiple design files and revisions at once, including keeping track of revisions and keeping an overview.
SaaS tools offer solutions by offering central repository spaces, robust version control systems, and centralized repository places for designs to reside and revisions to be managed.
Thus allowing team members to have access to the latest files, track changes over time and revert back to earlier versions when needed.
Centralizing design and version control decreases the chance that files will become outdated or lose relevance, as well as making it simpler to ensure design continuity throughout a project.
Enhancing Data-Driven Decision-Making
Many SaaS tools feature built-in reporting and analytics features that allow designers to gather user engagement data and feedback, which they can then use to inform design decisions that optimize for its target audience.
Integrating such tools into your workflow will enable better, data-driven design decisions which lead to superior user experiences and higher conversion rates.
Top Product Prototype SaaS Tools To Integrate Into Your Design Workflow
Figma – Collaborative Design Software
Figma is an advanced web-based collaborative design tool that enables designers to prototype and iterate projects quickly in real-time.
Figma's user-friendly interface and powerful features have become the go-to software solution for design teams in many different industries.
Figma's Key Features Include
- Vector-based Design Tools: Create high quality visuals from simple shapes to complicated illustrations using Figma’s versatile vector tools, including their modern pen tools and instant arc design.
- Responsive Design: Create responsive layouts that are easy to adapt to wide range of screen sizes and devices.
- Real Time Collaboration: You can work on the same file with your dev team and see changes made in real-time.
- Native Prototyping: Turn your static designs into interactive ones with Figma's native prototype features.
- Version History: Access older versions of your design file. You can even autosave your files and name them so that you can return to important milestones or checkpoints.
- Component Library: Create reusable design elements and manage them to ensure consistency throughout your project.
- Developer Handoff: Export the design specifications and assets to developers, thereby streamlining the handoff procedure.
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Integration Of The Design Workflow
Figma's cloud-based features and seamless collaboration capabilities allow it to fit smoothly into your design workflow.
Here Are Some Tips To Get You Started:
- Figma team accounts are ideal for team collaboration, simply inviting team members to sign up.
- Libraries and folders in Figma help organize projects effectively while its vector tool enables designers to import existing design assets or create brand new ones quickly and efficiently.
- Figma features real-time features to enable real collaboration within product teams, shared feedback, iterated ideas and prototyping testing tools for prototyping designs to share for approval from stakeholders.
- Export assets and design specifications directly to developers for an easier handoff process.
Sketch - The Place Where Design Happens
Sketch is an advanced vector-based design tool primarily used for user interface and experience design. With its intuitive user interface and comprehensive feature set, Sketch has quickly become one of the preferred choices among designers for wireframing interactive prototypes and creating wireframes and interactive prototypes.
Furthermore, Sketch boasts an expansive library of design components as well as responsive mode compatibility that seamlessly integrates third-party extensions and plugins.
Integration Of The Design Workflow
Sketch's intuitive user-interface and integration with other tools make it simple to add it to your design workflow automation.
Begin by importing design assets or creating them yourself using our comprehensive library of components. With responsive design mode, quickly adapt designs for different screen sizes and resolutions, ensuring prototypes work as intended on all devices.
Sketch's version control and sharing features make collaboration simple, enabling team members to view, comment on, and edit designs in real-time - ideal for getting feedback and iterating prototypes quickly and iteratively.
Sketch integrates with popular prototyping software such as InVision and Framer, so you can build interactive models and conduct user tests quickly - check out their complete list of integrations!
Balsamiq - Wireframing As "Easy As Microsoft Office"
Balsamiq, an immensely popular SaaS app allowing users to quickly build wireframes, is highly acclaimed. Don't let its simple exterior fool you; Balsamiq may lack some features found elsewhere.
Balsamiq was initially created for desktop use but now provides cloud services at an economical price point when compared with its rivals.
Balsamiq offers designers an intuitive, user-friendly platform for quickly creating wireframes that resemble sketches - an efficient means of conveying ideas to team members and stakeholders more easily.
Some key features of Balsamiq include its extensive library of user interface components, drag and drop functionality, and capability of making interactive prototypes.
Integration Of The Design Workflow
Balsamiq can speed up and enhance the early prototyping stages by being integrated into your workflow. Designers can quickly generate wireframes before iterating on them to test different design ideas and explore various concepts.
Balsamiq Integration Into Your Design Workflow
- Balsamiq provides an intuitive user experience. Quickly evaluate and visualize concepts for desktop application projects.
- Balsamiq makes sharing and receiving feedback on designs created using Balsamiq's cloud-based platform, easy.
- Refine the design ideas behind your desktop application and get feedback to improve them as a group. Iterate until there is unanimity on its course.
- Once your wireframes have been approved, send them off to your product development team so they can start creating what's in your product vision.
- It is advisable to keep updating these wireframes throughout your project's progress.
- Balsamiq can help speed your design process and build desktop applications on solid footing.
How To Successfully Integrate SaaS Tools
Choose Tools That Complement Your Existing Workflow
When adding SaaS tools into your design workflow, it is key that they enhance and compliment existing workflows.
If your software development team currently wireframes with Sketch alone, switching straight to Figma without first discussing whether this change would save both time and money may not be wise.
Select tools that meet the needs of your team, the type of project you work on and any specific requirements, to facilitate an easier transition and enable team members to quickly adapt to any new tools.
This will make for an effortless experience overall and allow team members to easily adapt.
Read More: How to Develop a SAAS Product Step by Step?
Train Your Team Members On The New Tools
Train your team on how to use SaaS tools effectively so they can maximize the benefits.
Utilize resources like webinars, documentation, and tutorials to introduce team members to the features and capabilities of your tool.
If you choose a major platform, tutorials from its manufacturer as well as communities built around it should help quickly familiarize yourself.
By tapping into such networks quickly and gaining expertise quickly, all participants in the design process can participate equally and quickly.
Continuously Evaluate And Adjust The Integrated Workflow
Your integrated workflow must be continually evaluated and refined, as with any new product development process, to ensure its efficiency and effectiveness.
This will guarantee optimal efficiency.
Take time to seek feedback from team members about any challenges or hiccups encountered using SaaS tools.
Being proactive allows you to adjust your design workflow according to the needs of your team.
Prototyping Tools: Overviews Of The Best Prototyping Tool
Here is a short introduction of some of the leading prototyping software platforms and their most useful features, along with screenshots showcasing their intuitive user interfaces.
Invision
Best Animation features include
InVision Studio features design, prototyping, and animation tools with an easy drag-and-drop interface and powerful responsive tools that enable you to adapt designs across various screen sizes.
Animations are one of the main draws to this tool; users can quickly and easily create animations that play as they scroll between screens, with elements easily moveable by selecting and then choosing how to move.
Advanced design features like vector creation, layers and an endless canvas allow designers to add elements with ease; collaboration features allow multiple collaborators to work simultaneously; and rev history settings ensure you won't lose your work in case something unexpected comes up during design creation.
Invision can be obtained for free or as part of Invision Pro plans at an annual subscription cost of just $9.95 per user per month.
Mockplus
These features for advanced team collaboration offer some of the top benefits.
Mockplus, an interactive prototyping software tailored towards product managers, allows them to quickly develop interactive prototypes of mobile apps and websites for testing across platforms, devices, screen sizes, and screen types without the need to code or program manually.
Mockplus features team collaboration features that make sharing designs and collecting feedback simpler for multiple users working concurrently on one prototype - thus streamlining the feedback collection process and saving product managers valuable time and energy.
Mockplus features an intuitive drag-and-drop interface to allow users to rapidly add elements, link screens, and create interactions.
Mockplus includes pre-built components designed to help build navigation menus and forms, as well as other common user interface elements. Prototyping applications that include multiple interactions and complex navigation menus is now much simpler thanks to marketing software that makes prototyping accessible and manages components and pages without starting from scratch.
Users can keep an eye on changes made via this method as they impact final products, giving a preview of any possible final outcomes. Mockplus design systems give users an effective tool for maintaining consistency across digital products. By centralizing all design elements such as fonts, colors, and branding standards in one central place, users are assured a uniform user experience when purchasing these items from Mockplus design systems.
Mockplus allows users to quickly group pages by category for easier searching and organizing of information they are seeking.
Page layers can also help when working on large projects with many stakeholders; they allow the users to keep an overview of everything that's going on while staying informed on who made changes and when. Mockplus features version control which enables revert backs as well as bug tracking changes made - providing greater transparency and accountability within team environments.
It even lets product managers convert static images or artboards into clickable, testable virtual products using lifelike interactions like animations or time based changes for an authentic user experience on any device!
Mockplus offers a limited version of their software for up to 10 users.
Read More: How to Build a Cloud-Based SaaS Application in 10 Steps
Framer
Direct web publishing may be your optimal option. Framer gives you the power to develop prototypes quickly and publish them online.
Customer experience Designers can swiftly prototype websites, apps, and individual components with Framer's drag-and-drop functionality.
Editing features allow designers to craft the perfect design.
Framer can save time with its expansive library of components, visual assets and layouts. Plus there's an active Discord community and training library to help newbies learn the product!
Your mobile app also enables you to preview how your product will appear on iOS or Android operating systems.
Sites is an innovative feature I really appreciate; you can publish the Framer-created pages directly onto the internet without needing a developer.
This makes creating stunning websites easier than ever!
The Pro plan costs $30 per user per month; free options exist for up to two editors as well as custom SaaS development services for enterprises packages.
Infragistics
Design-to-code Conversion should always be your top priority, with this being one of the easiest methods available to turn designs into code.
Infragistics is a software designed for building prototypes. With drag-and-drop ease and real time view capabilities, designing is made quick and painless - plus there's even a large collection of templates and layouts in Infragistics to jumpstart the design process quickly! Use Infragistics together as your team members collaborate using one editor.
It features a theme builder which makes creating and deploying colors across an app easily and rapidly, helping speed up its UI creation process while real-time viewing makes designing easier than ever.
Furthermore, developers have access to this tool which makes their job much simpler when building apps; once completed, they can download and run it using any preferred IDE for viewing/running/testing their app(s).
This tool makes it possible to convert designs created on other platforms - like Adobe Sketch and Photoshop - to code.
The tool costs $49.00 monthly; however, to gain access to its drag-and-drop editor you will be charged an extra fee of $149.
Axure
Best for web apps and dashboards
Axure RP was specifically created to assist UX product professionals in designing interactive prototypes. A powerful set of design prototyping features allows you to do just this; drop-down lists and text fields using working forms can easily be created as prototypes.
This tool makes it simple and fast to create interactive prototypes using keyboard, mouse, and touch interactions triggered by keyboard, mouse, or touch events; conditional logic may further augment their design; and when your prototypes are complete, they're easily uploaded into the cloud, giving developers or reviewers more context of what was designed and completed.
Axure offers several plugins that integrate it with other design programs, enabling seamless interaction. Import features from Figma or Adobe Sketch into Axure for analysis, or use the integrated features from Slack Teams, Jira, Confluence, or Confluence as part of an automated workflow process.
Pricing begins with $29 per user per month with unlimited prototypes. A 30-day free trial period allows potential clients to try the software out for themselves.
Usabilla
Feedback Collection The ideal method
Usabilla is an easy way to receive feedback about your designs quickly. Perfect for web, apps and email assets!
This on-premises solution works by enabling you to add questions at key points along the user journey and collect feedback on specific aspects of their experience.
These can easily be integrated into your product lifecycle to increase response rates from customers - use their feedback as fuel for new prototypes of future product versions!
Usabilla can integrate seamlessly with various popular tools. Integrating Google Analytics can help increase the relevance of feedback collected using Usabilla; similarly, Zendesk platforms enable sending feedback directly to them for processing.
Usabilla does not publish pricing online. You may still contact the sales team through their website.
Adobe XD
Creative Cloud Users Enjoy Special Discounts
Adobe XD provides you with everything you need to design websites, apps, brands and games easily and precisely the way you envision.
Packed full of features for design customization - animations, videos and 3D effects as well as responsive designs so your designs adapt easily across screens - Adobe XD provides everything needed for creation!
Adobe XD makes creating prototypes simple if your work has already been done with Adobe Creative Cloud, such as importing directly from Illustrator or Photoshop.
All designs are stored securely in the cloud with shareable links and comments easing collaboration; plus it comes equipped with tutorials to help beginners quickly get up and running.
Adobe XD works seamlessly with numerous third-party applications such as Slack and Jira.
Cost for individuals per month or $79.99 for small to midsize teams is $29.99 each month or sign up now to take advantage of a 7-day free trial period!
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It's Time to Get Designing
Integrating SaaS into design workflows can reap many rewards, from speedier prototyping and greater success to saving time, increasing productivity and encouraging better collaboration and communication within teams.
These powerful tools offer immense promise to designers looking for ways to speed their work up while improving results.
Data-driven decisions and centrally designed plans ensure consistency throughout a project.
As part of your design journey, we encourage you to utilize and explore the tools described in this article. For SaaS development services for startups you can contact us to get better results.
Integrating SaaS tools into your workflow will enhance prototyping and enable you to design products that exceed customer expectations, meeting users' demands.
SaaS tools offer huge potential when applied within a design workflow. Take full advantage of them today.
