You’re starting a new project. What are the top 10 product design tools to help you succeed?

Sketch: UI/UX design, wireframing, and prototyping. Adobe XD: UI/UX design, wireframing, and interactive prototypes. Figma: Collaborative interface design, wireframing, and prototyping. InVision: Digital product design, interactive prototypes, and project management. Axure RP: Highly interactive prototypes with advanced interactions and animations. Proto.io: Web and mobile app prototyping with drag-and-drop functionality. Marvel: Creating interactive prototypes and collaboration. Principle: Designing interactive animations and transitions for interfaces. Adobe Creative Cloud: Graphic design, illustrations, and animations. Zeplin: Collaboration for design handoff, style guides, asset exporting, and code snippets.

I am personally still a fan of just simple sketching on paper, post-its, or even napkins if I have no paper that I can use. Looking at digital tools, there are tons of options you can choose from. 📝 To generate quick ideas and put down scribbles, tools like Procreate and Sketchbook would be my personal choice. 🎨 For more refined ideas I'd recommend a combination of one of the tools mentioned above and vector tools like Figma, Sketch, or Illustrator.

Effective sketching is vital for product designers, enabling swift idea exploration. Tools like Procreate, Sketchbook, Paper by WeTransfer, and Adobe Fresco bridge traditional and digital realms. From advanced digital drawing with Procreate to Sketchbook's versatility, and Paper's intuitive interface, these tools cater to diverse needs. Adobe Fresco, integrating seamlessly with other Adobe tools, enhances the design workflow. Whether on paper or digitally, incorporating these sketching tools ensures a streamlined ideation process, propelling success in any new product design project.

As an automotive design engineer, During the initial stage of my career, I used to create sketches in sketchbooks by using Pencils, Fine liner pens and also include Rulers and curves then you will get precise lines and shapes.

The simplest tool for sketching ideas is a pen and paper, however if you take so many tries, I would advise against using paper since there will be a lot of waste. If you have an iPad, you can utilise it instead.

In launching a new project, wireframing tools are indispensable for product designers to define features and structure. Balsamiq, Figma, Adobe XD, and Sketch are standout options offering efficient wireframing capabilities. Balsamiq excels in low-fidelity layouts, prioritizing simplicity. Figma and Adobe XD facilitate collaborative design with real-time editing and feedback features. Sketch, known for its versatility, enables precise wireframing. Integrating these tools into your product design toolkit ensures efficient creation, editing, and collaboration on wireframes, a crucial step in laying the foundation for a successful project.

Balsamiq is the easiest tool for wireframing. Anyone can use it in the first attempt. However, if you want your wireframes to be more specific and neat, you can use Figma instead.

Jeda.ai generates wireframes on the web page from a text prompt. Its a great platform to create concepts with AI before you take it to other design tools like Sketch.

For wireframing, I'd recommend tools like Balsamiq or Figma. Figma offers a wide range of plugins that speed up the process and help create quick wireframes, user journeys, and more.

Embarking on a new project, prototyping tools are indispensable for product designers seeking to assess functionality and user experience. InVision, Framer, Marvel, and Principle stand out for crafting high-fidelity mockups and dynamic simulations. InVision excels in collaborative design, facilitating seamless feedback. Framer offers intricate animations for realistic prototypes, while Marvel's user-friendly interface caters to diverse skill levels. Principle focuses on smooth interactions and animations. Integrating these prototyping tools into your toolkit streamlines the creation, testing, and refinement of realistic prototypes, a pivotal step in ensuring the success of your product design endeavor.

You should utilise Figma for prototyping if you intend to create your project on the platform. And continue utilising that tool if you are currently using one. You'll find it simpler to handle things. Additionally, Protopie is a more professional tool than XD and Figma. For that reason, if you'd like to be more precise, you can also try it.

Who doesn't love a good prototype? They are fantastic for user testing, sharing your work with stakeholders, and understanding detailed interactions within your features. Figma has become a lot better for prototyping, allowing smoother transitions, and offering more options. There are also lots of tutorials that help you quickly get up to speed with Figma and the prototyping possibilities it offers. Principle is also a good option with an easy onboarding experience and easy interface to get accustomed to. For more advanced prototypes, Protopie is a better choice but it has a steeper learning curve, so be patient when you start your first prototype in this tool.

Figma is my go-to buddy for everything design-related – from sketching out ideas to trying new things, diving into research, and even hosting some awesome workshops. It just makes the whole creative process so much smoother and, honestly, a lot more fun!

Often underrated in the design of physical products, user research is an absolutely crucial aspect of product design. However, rather than using cookie-cutter tools available online, it would be important to customise the user research process to the nature of the product. For instance, a design of a refrigerator would require dramatically different user research than design of a consultancy website. It is important to also link these tools to the question of “what am I trying to glean from this user research?”. Is it market analysis? Inclusivity of the product? Is there a target demographic? A product viability timeline? Aesthetic appeal? This should then be taken forward to govern the research approach and tool.

Usability testing can help both to improve a product that is in the development phase, and to provide input to be considered in the development of a new product. A good idea is always, before a usability testing session, to capture the real needs of users. Subsequently, it is up to the researcher/designer to identify whether or not the product is meeting these needs.

Initiating a project demands profound user insights, and user research tools are vital for comprehending needs and behaviors. SurveyMonkey, UserTesting, Hotjar, and Google Analytics are instrumental in conducting diverse user research methods. SurveyMonkey facilitates survey creation for targeted data gathering, while UserTesting allows real-user feedback through usability testing. Hotjar provides heatmaps and analytics for comprehensive user behavior analysis. Google Analytics offers robust insights into website or app usage. Integrating these user research tools into your toolkit ensures a data-driven approach, enhancing your ability to meet user needs and create a successful product design.

Depending on the kind of study you are conducting, many user research tools are available. You might require usability testing or interviews for qualitative research. You can utilise Google Forms, questionnaires, and other tools for quantitative research.

Jeda.ai complements Google Analytics or another type of raw data in CSV or Excel format to create visual analysis just by asking questions.

Launching a new project demands continuous improvement based on user insights, and user feedback tools play a pivotal role in this iterative process. UserVoice, Feedbackify, Usabilla, and Qualtrics are essential for collecting, managing, and prioritizing user feedback. UserVoice stands out for its comprehensive feedback management system, while Feedbackify offers customizable feedback forms. Usabilla specializes in gathering feedback through visual elements on websites or apps. Qualtrics provides robust survey capabilities for in-depth feedback analysis. Integrating these user feedback tools into your toolkit ensures a user-centric approach, allowing you to refine and optimize your product design based on valuable user insights.

In today's world, we don't want collaboration tools but rather tools that let us collaborate. When we work in teams, we look to Google Drive, Notion, and other platforms that let us get our work done together. Product designers spend more time managing copies and versions of their files than designing when working in old-school systems, lets stop doing that when we can! New collaboration platforms for Product Design are those like like Onshape for 3D CAD, or Flux for PCB design. Tackling the challenges that file-based systems pose to all of us.

Jeda.ai: With all the cool visual gen. AI capabilities, Jeda.ai is also a powerful canvas-based collaborative platform where users can seamlessly collaborate and take notes on Canvas.

To start the project, we have used Miro boards as a collaborative tool. There we can insert the audience's needs, moodboards, insights, kanban (for management) and elements for critique sessions.

Figma is your all-in-one design platform, merging every step of the design process from brainstorming to final handoff. More than just a tool, it allows you to sketch, brainstorm, prototype, design, and inspect code all in one place. With an extensive library of widgets and plugins, Figma is designed to cater to any additional needs that may arise during your design journey. Whether you're looking to integrate real data into your designs, automate repetitive tasks, or enhance collaboration across your team, Figma has you covered.

When it comes to websites, I highly recommend Webflow. It's a brilliant tool for translating your idea into very clean, exportable code. If you're used to any UI design tool like Figma or Sketch, you'll quickly become familiar with Webflow. In addition to building the structure of your product, it allows you to create very complex animations and even add custom code - there are almost no limits to what you can create. Once you are done building your product using the visual builder, you can export the code (⚠️ subscription neccessary) as HTML, CSS, JS and use it as if it was code written by a developer.

Honestly, I use Figma for basically everything. There are some other tools like Miro or Notion that I use to orgnanize my thoughts. But no pressure to have 2935 tools to get something done. We don't need a different tool for sketching, flows, prototyping, UI etc. You *can* use specialized tools, but no pressure to have something unique for each phase.

Another set of tools worth noting include accessibility design tools and assistive technology tools like screen readers such as NVDA and text to speech tools like Speechify. People with disabilities (PwD) may work beside us or on remote teams - and are an important user or customer group who may require accommodations or use these tools to interact with digital and physical products. Accessibility designers use annotation tools, extensions and plugins, for example, to note things like alternative text in product design phases. This helps developers complete their part, making accessibility part of the design and development process, before a product is released. These tools may include Figma’s Ready for Dev and the Stark Plugin.

More than listing a series of names of tools that could be functional or essential for any project. I doubt there is such a list because each project is and will be unique due to context, temporality, resources and other criteria. I would like to add that for me flexibility, critical thinking and negotiation are necessary tools or skills to complete or explore better solutions in projects. The needs for tools for each phase of the process as well as good practices are clear, but sometimes identifying new perspectives or changing the scope of the initiatives added to the good use of the tools will help deliver more value than expected in any project.

Honestly? I cannot touch an implement until I can see it fleshed out in my head from my references. After that? It’s a tablesaw. After that? Depends on the wishes of the client I represent at that moment.