7 easy ways to visualise your app idea with UI/UX tools

The use of user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) tools significantly simplifies the process of developing a website or mobile application. Entrepreneurs and startups who use UI/UX technologies to rapidly validate and iterate their ideas create better human-centered design solutions. But it’s important to remember that developing a quality product requires labor, time, and money.

The most beneficial technologies help clients and designers communicate more effectively by enabling a shared context rather than divergent perspectives. The primary benefit of incorporating these technologies into the design process is that “the sooner we fail, the faster we learn.”

Use of UI/UX tools

UI design tools equip designers with the tools necessary to create precise, high-fidelity wireframes, mockups, and prototypes, as well as minimum viable products. They communicate the functionality of a design by representing the nuts and bolts.

UX design tools are centred on the user and their interaction with the product. These tools can assist in structuring the information architecture as well as the flow of an experience. Due to the more conceptual nature of this, UX tools are intended to assist designers in painting a fuller picture of how content and structure will affect the user experience.

We’re going to help you familiarise yourself with some UI and UX technologies that every entrepreneur may find useful during the design process.

Top 7 UI/UX design tools

1. InVision 

InVision’s comprehensive suite of applications provides designers with all the UI design tools necessary to create fully developed and functioning prototypes complete with dynamic features and animations.

Along with these simple-to-use UI design tools, it facilitates communication by allowing developers to share their work in progress, receive feedback, and make recorded adjustments at each stage. Another significant feature of InVision is the digital whiteboard, which enables team members to communicate their ideas, collaborate, and obtain that all-important sign-off before proceeding.

Key benefits of InVision include:

• Supports cross-platform development experience.
• Allows for easy control and status setting of projects, facilitating effective project management.
• Enables size and resolution customisation based on the device’s design. This is a helpful feature for responsive design and mobile adaptations.
• Allows entrepreneurs to save the history of design versions, which can be referred to and compared as needed.

InVision runs on:

• Web browser
• Mac OS X
• Windows

2. Axure

Axure assists with prototyping and workflow management. It has a simple interface that allows you to document as you go. This tool is driven by high fidelity, resulting in detailed prototypes.

Axure also has plenty of other features seen in popular prototype and user interface design tools. It enables functional testing and compiles all necessary information for an easy developer handoff. This, paired with an emphasis on communication, ensures that everyone involved in a project is kept informed of progress and changes in real time, making Axure an excellent choice for user interface design.

Key Axure benefits include:

• In terms of widgets and design, Axure includes fundamental geometric shapes, headers, text, and form elements.
• It is one of the best rapid prototyping tools since it enables entrepreneurs to quickly construct prototypes without having to write code.
• This tool provides basic geometric shapes, headers, texts, and form elements in terms of widgets and design.

Axure runs on:

• Mac OS X
• Windows

3. Sketch

If you’ve had any experience with user interface design, you’ve probably heard of Sketch. And there are a number of reasons why it’s one of the most revered design tools.

The ability to make universal modifications — whether through its symbol library, layer styles, or text styles, or through its fluid resizing and aligning features — saves designers time and enables them to generate consistent prototypes. It eliminates excess effort and allows designers to jump in and create. And with a variety of third-party plugins that connect seamlessly, there’s no shortage of tools available for enhancing Sketch.

Key benefits of Sketch include:

• Sketch enables users to quickly switch between design screens and all screen sizes (artboards), add animations, and create working prototypes.
• The cloud-based interface of Sketch enables users to effortlessly share prototypes and receive immediate feedback.

Sketch runs on:

• Mac OS X

4. Marvel

Marvel is an app prototyping tool that can assist both beginner and professional web and mobile app designers. Its integration with Photoshop and Sketch enables simple screen import. With the ability to build both low-fidelity and high-fidelity wireframes, interactive prototypes, and user testing, it provides everything a UI designer needs, all wrapped up in an intuitive interface.

Key Marvel benefits:

• Allows for easy uploading of picture files via third-party services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Sketch. Additionally, it supports a variety of image formats, including PSD, JPG, and GIF.
• With Marvel, you can modify images in a variety of ways, including changing the background colour and scaling them.
• Includes a tool called Handoff, which provides developers with all the HTML code and CSS styles needed to begin building.

5. Balsamiq 

Balsamiq’s user-friendly interface makes it simple for enterpreurs to produce low-fidelity wireframes. Even those having no prior knowledge with wireframing can create ones that appear professional. With functionality that is similar to sketching on a notepad or whiteboard, it’s a tool that is accessible to anyone, regardless of their skill level.

Key benefits of Balsamiq:

• Balsamiq enables users to sketch ideas on a notepad or whiteboard, providing a unique creative experience for designers or beginners.
• Hundreds of pre-built hand-written UI components allow users to concentrate on the structure and macro-level of website/app design, minimising time wasted on insignificant details.
• The Balsamiq prototyping tool enables designers to share and present their work in PNG or PDF formats.

Balsamiq runs on:

• Mac OS X
• Windows

6. FlowMapp

When creating a user experience plan, designers must pay close attention to structure, flow, and associated sitemaps.

While many programs attempt to integrate UI and UX into a single platform, FlowMapp focuses only on UX design. Creating user flows and visual sitemaps are critical components of UX design, and these are the pillars of FlowMapp’s UX design app.

Key FlowMapp benefits include:

• Facilitates collaborative work in planning UX strategy and design
• Exports in a variety of formats for online and offline use.
• Activity centre for tracking project developments over time. Maintaining engagement and communication with all stakeholders

FlowMapp runs on:

• Web browser

7. VisualSitemap

VisualSitemap generates sitemaps — the list of pages that exist within a website. It’s convenient to have a tool dedicated to this task. This application is completely automated, capable of crawling password-protected websites that have not yet gone live and exporting to Sketch. VisualSitemaps accelerates the process of developing visual sitemaps for UX designers, developers, and anybody else involved in the process.

VisualSitemap key benefits:

• Annotate any pages quickly and easily to solicit input from your team and clients.
• 100% cloud automated.
• Automatically monitor the visual changes to any website. Maintain consistency in your design from release to release.

Where to from here?

We’ve come a long way from the days when clients were shown paper mockups of mobile apps. Today, we have access to a wide range of excellent prototyping options.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all tool that we can label as a ‘winner’ among the options listed, it’s a good idea to have a look at all of them and see which feel right for you and your specific needs. As an entrepreneur, you may always feel that something is missing, but you’ll enjoy the qualities of each tool.

If you need help with prototyping your app or SaaS idea, get in touch with us at Appomate and we’ll be happy to help.