7 Helpful Design Collaboration Tools for the Web Creation Workflow

March 21, 2023

Words by Caitriona Burke

design collaboration tools

Teamwork makes the dream work—especially when you’re making use of the most helpful design collaboration tools out there.

Behind every amazing piece of web content is a team of creatives ideating, prototyping, creating and reviewing the design. For many agencies and marketing teams, this workflow remains messy — involving multiple hand-offs, versions, and feedback loops. But it doesn’t have to be. Equipped with the right design collaboration tools, designers, writers, and developers can work naturally and stay on the same page.

Why You Need to Invest in Design Collaboration Tools

Design collaboration tools exist in many forms, helping creative teams with specific parts of their process. You may not need all of them, but the main types of tools that are worth investing in include:

  • Tools for concepting. The planning stages of a project are all too important. It’s where the best ideas are formed, so invest in a tool that encourages creativity and streamlines stakeholder feedback.
  • Asset management tools. We know, it’s a bore — but losing track of your design files, video and photo assets, and brand assets as you scale projects and more people get involved is much, much worse.
  • Communication platforms. Too many teams still use email to share updates and gather design feedback from clients and stakeholders. 
  • Tools for bringing your ideas to life. Finding the right tool to translate designs into responsive, publication-ready web experiences is arguably the most important of all, especially when working as a team.

With the right design collaboration tools, creative teams can enjoy a more productive and rewarding workflow — scaling quality creative faster, while cutting out the low-value admin that gets in the way of creativity.

7 of the Best Design Collaboration Tools

Let’s take a look at the top design collaboration tools out there, and why you should be using them.

Vev

First on the list is our very own web creation tool. Vev is an all-in-one design platform empowering creative teams to scale their most exciting web content, just as they imagined it — the immersive, interactive projects that are often too complex, time-intensive, or expensive to build.

The beauty of Vev lies in its inclusivity. It provides one space for creatives of all backgrounds to collaborate naturally together. Designers can create fully-responsive sites without touching any code, writers can refine content without fear of breaking anything, and developers can weave in custom code in real time all within the same project.

Used by world-class creative agencies, publishers, and brands alike, Vev is already redefining how professionals create on the web — helping teams break free from CMS templates and produce premium campaign content at speed and scale.

Figma

Up next is a tool most designers use on a daily basis… Figma. The self-described “collaborative interface design tool” has been a game changer when it comes to web creation, easing the (once dreaded) developer handoff process by giving them full access to the designs and any information about color, typography, dimensions and more.

This design collaboration tool doesn’t stop being helpful there. Figma also lets designers edit files together in real time, as well as leave comments directly within the design, removing confusion over what part of the design a piece of feedback is referring to.

We’re massive Figma fans at Vev, and have even built a handy Figma plugin to let you import Figma design directly into Vev to turn them into quality code. In a few clicks, you can jump from Figma prototype to interactive, live site!

Miro

Miro is your visual gateway to sparking new ideas. This online whiteboard allows teams to strategize in the planning stages, and brainstorm solutions into any roadblocks along the way. Our design team uses this as a very basic wireframe and idea gathering tool, before crafting a more high-spec prototype in Figma.

A huge plus is that you can see other users making edits and suggestions in real time, making remote team work easier than ever. No matter where you are in the world, your team can connect and collaborate on projects.

Basecamp

This should be your go-to for end-to-end project management. Basecamp was built by a team at 37Signals when they couldn't find a project management app that wasn't ridiculously overcomplicated. Soon after, word of this magical tool spread through admiring clients, and Bassecamp became a staple for design teams everywhere. From to-do lists to file sharing, this design collaboration tool is a pretty sweet all-in-one tool for keeping projects on-track.

Trello

Ever have so many ideas being fired around that it’s hard to keep track? Trello is perfect for dumping these ideas down, before moving them around to their different stages and priorities, allowing teams to easily track a project to completion. You can assign owners, chit-chat on each idea, and stay on top of projects and campaigns that may otherwise be overwhelming.

Slack

Communication is key to any design project. Slack is used not only by designers, but teams worldwide as a quick way to communicate. Let’s face it, emails are amazingly inefficient. Chains become way too long, and countless messages get lost in an onslaught of ideas and opinions from all who have been copied in. Slack saves us from this mess. You can even create private channels to invite clients or external collaborators to keep all communication in one place for the duration of a project. You’re probably already using it, but we thought we’d include one of our staples just in case.

Mural

For creativity to blossom, maybe a design collaboration tool unlike any other is what you need.

Mural has a unique UI, and is also incredibly easy to use. With built-in tools that streamline your collaboration process and anonymous voting systems in which your team (and clients) can give feedback without holding back, the results of your final project will be better than ever. Honesty is the best policy, especially when it comes to testing and reviewing designs, and Mural should be by your side to make sure this happens in your team.

Experience the new design workflow for web

From ideation and prototyping to publishing a living, breathing web page, Vev gives designers full control over the entire creative process. Whether you’re designing a landing page, microsite, report, or visual story, work naturally from a tactile canvas and explore complex interactions without writing a line of code.

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