With the rise of no-code and low-code alternatives continuing their path to prominence, I have compiled a list of tools that I find useful (or even essential) to involve in the product design process.
This list is by no means exhaustive of the useful product design tools out there, this is just an interpretation of great ones to lead you in the right direction.
Webflow is a fantastic tool when it comes to web design. It has a modest learning curve to become efficient with the tool. For example, you must use the right-hand sidebar to control all styling aspects of your design. Yet once you become more experienced with the tool you can apply the best practices of Webflow to other aspects of front-end product design, and I find it even helps with code development!
The benefits include:
Some things to note:
Figma is given massive praise for the simplicity yet extensiveness of its design tool, and deservedly so. After using Photoshop to conduct any UI or layout design, Figma is a breath of fresh air. It has a very flat learning curve to perform many basic tasks, such as designing a static web page. Yet there is so much to uncover with Figma beneath the surface, as I was long to discover. My favourite inspirations for Figma are Jordan Singer and Joey Banks.
The benefits include:
Some things to note:
The community tab is an excellent place to get started learning what is possible with Figma. They have also released a collaborative ideation tool called FigJam, which again focuses on simplicity and ease-of-use.
Zapier makes you happier: their slogan, and it is fairly true! Zapier is basically a drag-and-drop integrator of a vast collection of different APIs. You can connect your Webflow site to Google Sheets, so that a form input creates a new row; you can connect your Facebook Ad to ClickSend, so that a new lead gets sent an sms automatically, etc.
Zapier is great for when you have designed a product, and you want to add some automated integration into the behind-the-scenes processes.
The benefits include:
Some things to note:
Airtable is perfect for quickly creating convenient yet powerful databases. If you need to store data for your product, you can do this easily and effectively with Airtable. You can quickly create tables to keep track of any data, and use the powerful reporting and automation features of Airtable to achieve the results needed.
Zapier is best friends with Airtable! It is super easy to integrate various apps to flow into Airtable via Zapier integration. It is comparatively easy to integrate direct through Airtable too.
The benefits include:
Some things to note:
Spline was publicly launched just around a year ago. Since then, it has made great strides developing its product: a lightweight 3D design editor that takes many perceived cues from Figma. It is still in very early stages of development, and the team admit that themselves. But I think it shows great promise as an intuitive and convenient 3D design tool to supplement product design - you could design icons or assets in Spline after some time diving into their documentation guide.
It is hard to mention no-code and not mention Makerpad. Makerpad is a no-code learning resource, with over 350 tutorials on how to utilise no-code or low-code design tools to your advantage. If you find this article interesting, I thorougly recommend trying Makerpad out to explore the varied collection of tutorials on the site, to help both deepen and widen your understanding of useful no-code product design tools. Their paid tier even includes 1-1 consultation and weekly workshops.
Even though every item above is a tool or learning resource, I find it hard to excuse the principle of design thinking from this article. Design thinking should be one of the first ‘tools’ you obtain as a product designer. It is the principle and frameworks of understanding your user’s key problems and needs, and designing your product and systems in a way that best serves your customers and solves their problems. A great resource I recommend for brushing up on design thinking is reading IDEO, the design consultancy’s writing on the subject.