How to make good use of design tools

As designers, isolated situations we often encounter . Whether we work on our own or at home, we sometimes have to a person to take on a number of roles that could have been shared by the entire design team.

In recent times, that is, in my previous job, this situation I personally experienced . At that time, I was the only user experience designer in a company that employs thousands of people. I have no way to study, the wireframe, prototype design, functional specifications, visual effects design. There are no teams to help me with these tasks, but I still have deadlines and this is the same as when I have a team.

On the one hand, it would be a good experience for a person to assume all the different roles when doing a job. On the other hand, I rarely have the opportunity to focus on one of these roles and take the role to the level I want.

This is me, under too much pressure

Does it look like you too? Are you also an isolated and helpless designer who works in a company where the goal is to get you to accomplish a lot of tasks that normally require a team to cope with. Maybe you are a freelancer, and some projects require many characters to produce good results.

How we cope with multiple roles

I suggest that we should build our own team. This team consists of you and your various design tools. To help me cope with these different roles and eventually get a better result than myself, I will use a lot of valuable tools and resources (and relatively affordable), and then I will share these tools and resources with you.

I use four of tools and resources to help me to create a good plan to complete the task within the deadline.

These four tools and resources are: Data collection tool (ClickTale), Design prototype gallery/library, wireframe/prototype design (Axure) and design resource sites (such as Designmoo and 365PSD).

You can use your favorite tools and resources to replace the specific tools I will mention below. But I want to provide some references by sharing my tools with you.

Tools don't replace people.

Before we go any further, I declare that the results of a team are almost always more fruitful than the results of a single person taking on all the roles. But when you're working in a company that doesn't have enough budget to make up a design team or as a freelancer, you should take advantage of what you have and do your best to ensure that you end up with the best results.

As mentioned above, let's look at these four types of tools.

Data collection Tools

Let's start with ClickTale. It's a good research/analysis tool that shows you how users interact with your Web pages. It allows you to track web browsing behavior and get some basic analysis reports. You can also get a free analysis of this report through Google Analytics. Its advantages lie in its Getoux, click Tracking, scrolling distance (where the user scrolls to your Web site), and a time to record the interaction between the user and your website/product. With this, you can see how users are browsing your site, and you can get analytics data from some well-designed sites.

In the research phase of my website project, I will use this tool. Those detailed reports will help me find ways to improve my Web layout and web interface. In fact, I did not do the relevant research. I just need to sift through the very good data set that it gave me.

With tools like ClickTale, I can learn more information. We can use reliable information from the user base to help us modify our work or create new designs. And we can see how the user base interacts with our products.

Other tools like ClickTale are:

~~~google Analytics (It also has thermal diagram function)

~~~crazy Egg

~~~clickheat

~~~clickdensity

Design Pattern Library

Once I have collected the user experience data to our existing work, I will revise many parts of the website, such as the website navigation, the page layout structure, the webpage form design and so on. All of this is based on our existing knowledge to try to improve the interactive experience.

Usually I have to work under pressure and a certain period of time--a rush mode, and it's helpful to see that the design pattern library is the guiding principle. So I can see how they deal with other designers when they face the same problems as I do.

I can also look at the associated anti-patterns (which can be found on the Dark Patterns Web site) to check if the user is interested in the interface you are creating.

Here are some of the design patterns libraries that I found helpful:

~~~ui-patterns.com

~~~pattern Tap

~~~patternry

~~~elements of design:a Web design Showcase

~~~yahoo! Design Pattern Library

~~~interaction design Pattern Library (welie.com)

It should be noted, however, that these design patterns do not replace the status of some design principles: the creation of a user experience based on project objectives and needs. But when you need to start a project quickly, they can be a good reference.

Also, if you are interested in learning more about design patterns, you can view the following articles:

Website Navigation design mode guide

~~~popular Content Presentation Design Patterns

~~~user Interface Patterns for dealing with Interactive Content

Wireframes and Prototypes

When it comes to wireframes and prototypes, I use the Axure tool. It is a wireframe/prototyping tool that allows you to create an HTML-enabled prototype in a block diagram, and has the ability to output Word format files based on them. If you can create your wireframes and documents at the same time, you can achieve stone!

This tool saves me a lot of time, and it's helpful to have a functional, not lifeless prototype and a static wireframe with graphical design tools that will enable customers to better understand the dynamics of applications/Web sites.

Functional prototypes are also helpful in fast iterations and usability testing. It allows you to test the functionality and dynamics of many things before you enter the visual design phase.

Of all the tools and resources, this tool is most helpful to me.

To find out more wireframe tools, you can read the following article:

~~10 a completely free web prototype (wireframe) tool

If you don't believe this stage of a design project is important, you can also read this article:

~~~the Benefits of Wireframing a design

Designing a resource Web site

Like design pattern libraries, I've found that visual design resource sites are also important to complete projects on time and within budget. I have a visual design background, but for those user experience designers or Web developers, these repositories are good for them because they lack the experience of visual design.

To be honest, even if I am a visual effect design, with the required expertise in this area, when the time is more urgent, I also need inspiration and find a good breakthrough. Many times, I don't have much time and resources to create user-specified design elements, so these sites will undoubtedly be a lifesaver.

Designmoo and 365PSD are two sites that I find very helpful. Not only do you find some good design documents on these sites, but each site also gives you the opportunity to give back to the design community that allows you to upload your own design. These designs can be downloaded and applied by others.

End Parting

I hope you find these resources useful, as I do. Let me emphasize the previous statement: These tools and resources can help you build a range of Web sites and applications, but there are no tools to replace people who have real skills.

Don't be discouraged when you are overwhelmed by your immediate work. Look at some resources, even if the situation is bad for you, but you have to take advantage of the opportunity to do the daunting work.

Do you already have design tools and resources that will help you a lot? Welcome to discuss them in the comments below. [中文版]