As designers, we fully understand the meaning of the phrase ‘working solo’. We’re used to putting in long, lonely hours at the desk, chatting with clients, often until the small hours.
However, if you work with a team, then you’ve probably experienced the need for better collaboration tools for exchanging ideas, keeping track of revisions, and ensuring the project is moving along. Things get even more complicated when your clients are based all over the world and some team members work from home or at offices across the ocean.
Here we’ve collected some of the best available web collaboration tools that help design teams organize their projects, brainstorm and gather feedback in real time. Check them out, compare, and take your collaboration to the next level!
Top Eight Online Collaboration Platforms
Trello – from $0
One thing we web designers aren’t known for is our organizational skills. We like to think it’s because our minds are on a higher plane, musing much more exciting matters. That aside, if you know that your files are becoming a mess on your laptop, it’s time to get them sorted. Trello’s a great way of getting yourself organized, and you can also easily share files with others.
It’s mostly free, which makes it exceptionally attractive. But there’s also a Business Class subscription with more advanced management and security features.
Conceptboard – from $0
Conceptboard is well known for being one of the Internet’s most useful team collaboration tools, and it’s used by many major companies, such as Oracle and Go Daddy. The real-time whiteboards are a particularly nice feature, which lets everyone see the latest projects and work on them together.
A basic account with all whiteboard features is free, while team plans start at $6.00/month.
Miro – from $0
Sometimes, don’t you just wish you had a whiteboard online? Wouldn’t that just be the easiest way to jot down ideas, get feedback and converse with others? Well, the developers of Miro obviously agreed wholeheartedly… because here it is.
Plan for small individual projects is free and the Team Plan is $8/month.
Prevue.it – from $10
If you’ve got to present your design concept to your client, you’ll need client collaboration software that enables you to showcase your designs in the best possible light. Prevue.it lets you do just that – while also offering a range of other nice features, such as adding your own branding to material, secure password protection and more.
The Freelance Plan is $10/month and Studio Plan is available for $25/month.
Notism – from $24
Notism.io is one of the best project collaboration tools if you’re working on video content for your web project. It’s also pretty effective at turning static prototypes into interactive designs, without the need for coding. Did we also mention you can use it for live presentations? Yes, it’s rather useful like that!
Plans start at $24/month for 15 design projects and collaborators and go up to $49.00/month for 40 projects and collaborators.
GoVisually – from $25
You know that frustrating thing… when you’re trying to get feedback from a client, and having to go through a series of (often ambiguous) emails? Ugh. We hate that too! GoVisually is the perfect antidote.
Share and organize your designs online, in a really clear, easy-to-view format, and get feedback via a threaded conversation. You can even keep tabs on revisions by dragging and dropping. What could be easier?
The Solo plan is $25/month and the Team plan starts at $60/month for 1,000 projects and five collaborators.
Cageapp – from $0
Cageapp.com is a rather clever little collaboration tool, enabling you to communicate way more effectively, with a centralized feedback system, plus ability to keep track on revisions. It’s got a really simple-to-use layout, and is a great way of sharing key designs and getting valuable comments from others.
Personal plan starts at $0/month and there’s a top-choice plan for $14/month per user that includes up to 2 TB of storage and 25 team members.
Mural.ly – from $0
So many ideas, so little time! Sometimes, the best way to generate an exciting new design concept is to get together and brainstorm. However, over the internet, this can be a little challenging, especially if you have no way of sharing things on the ‘one page’.
Mural.ly aims to solve that problem, creating a collaborative environment where you can organize your thoughts in visual format and share with all your cohorts!
Plans start at $0/month for five whiteboards and unlimited members.
GetDevDone Uses the Collaboration Tools You Prefer
One of our top strengths is flexibility. Whatever collaboration software your team uses, we will adjust easily. Among the most popular tools are Jira, Trello, and Slack. However, it can be one of the platforms we have discussed in this review or another one you use in your daily operations. We are very flexible.
It’s Fun to Collaborate!
Whether you agree with the above statement or not, we hope that you’ll find at least one online collaboration tool in our list that works for you. Do you think we’ve missed anything off? If so, let us know! You can reach us via our Facebook or Twitter … and do feel free to leave a comment!