As a rapidly growing design, development, and inbound marketing agency, Big Presence is continuously looking for software and processes that allow our team to communicate with our clients in a more efficient and productive manner. Traditionally, design reviews have been done through PSDs, screenshots, email chains, and a myriad of often confusing and inefficient processes that lead to lost change requests, inconsistencies, and unplanned man hours on both sides of the fence.
UXpin is a UX (user experience) design platform we use to create wireframes, mockups, and design concepts for all projects that will require feedback from our clients. By creating an online design that can be viewed by our clients at any time, we’re able to receive feedback through annotations the client leaves right on top of the design, making the notes clear and concise, and allowing both teams to work fluidly regardless of schedules or location. (The red dots in the image above are new comments, and the green dots represent resolved comments.)
Why Invest in UXpin?
UXpin is not a free platform by any means, and it may be more expensive than other options on the market, but for our team the time and money saved during the design phase of all our projects far exceeds the current cost of subscribing to UXpin. (Not an excuse to raise our rates though UXpin.) The advantage on the client side is that you get a real opportunity to participate fully in the design process, and know exactly what you’re getting before the more expensive hourly development portion of the project ever begins.
The design process is often the most interactive part of our website development workflow between our agency and the client. Everyone from the design and development teams to the project and marketing management teams will be reworking or reviewing the design constantly, until the design is ready to be signed off. @mentions and notifications help out tremendously by notifying a member of the project when a comment is made that relates directly to them.
This allows our team to keep their heads down and push through the design process knowing they will get notified when a relevant comment from our internal team or the client comes across the wire. Our clients seem to dig it since it connects them with each member of our team on a more personal level. It makes them feel like they are a part of the team and contributing meaningfully to their own project.
** This is not a paid advertisement for UXpin, but merely the first of many posts where we feature the tools we’re using to improve our relationships with our customers, and help other designers and developers choose the right tools to deliver services to their clients.
