Google Jamboard is a collaborative whiteboard, available as an add-on to Google Workspaces.
$4,999
InVision
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
InVision is a collaborative design and prototyping platform with features such as freehand drafting mode and interactive mockups, collaboration, idea management, user testing, and integration with Slack and other collaboration tools. According to the vendor, 1 million designers are using the free version.
Google Jamboard is ideal for live, synchronous sessions to support collaboration and engagement. It can be used for the entire class, small group, or independent work. Create a Jamboard for a simple student knowledge check, or annotation exercise, or sorting activity. Insert a Google document, spreadsheet, or presentation, and have students annotate the file. There are many types of active learning activities you can do with a Google Jamboard!
InVision is well suited for design reviews and immersing yourself in the experience of an app-to-be. As a Product Manager, it's difficult to take abstract concepts, user pain points, and business needs, and produce a vision for an app without a visual aid to communicate a vision. InVIsion offers PMs, designers, and developers the opportunity to sketch a vision, communicate about it with inline commenting, and shareable with other stakeholders.
I didn't need to contact InVision support, as I've never needed it. They have an intuitive UI, and most of the questions are answered in their help portal or in tutorials online. Since many people use it, there a great resources available on for example YouTube. No problems so far with InVision.
Google Jamboard is a much simpler tool. This is not necessarily a bad thing e.g. if I just want to set up a warm-up exercise for students before we start the session using Miro would be flash over substance. Do not get me wrong, everyone who knows me knows I love Miro but I also appreciate the simplicity and a variety of tools I can use. Another product that TrustRadius does not take into consideration is Padlet or MS Whiteboard. Another argument supporting the choice of Google Jamboard, especially for Google users, is that is kind of part of the package. Non-Google users are also welcome!
We only tested out using Adobe XD for similar uses and found it to be more challenging to fit within our processes. It didn't have as robust a set of capabilities as InVision and wasn't as easy to use enterprise wide. I recall also having issues with working with Sketch.
InVision helps our team better and more professionally portray the value and the work we do as designers, leading to more company buy-in in supporting and funding our work. In the past, we would create PowerPoints with screenshots to portray a user workflow that we would share out to stakeholders. Once we began to use this app, where stakeholders could click through and comment as though they were “real” users, stakeholders began to better understand our work, designs, and workflows. This has led to more productive conversations that, in turn, lead to more effective end products that have more consistently served our business goals in tangible ways.
InVision helps us save production time, effort, and cost, as we are able to solve design issues early in the process by having clickable prototypes to show to internal stakeholders and external users. It’s, understandably, difficult for people to provide effective feedback on screenshots. Using the clickable prototypes we created in InVision, we are able to get more effective feedback to solve user workflow issues before we spend time and money developing problematic designs (and later having to redesign them).
It’s easier to market designs to potential buyers with clickable prototypes than with screenshots. With these prototypes, we’ve been able to sell more digital products before product release dates, which has helped to secure many contracts and new business relationships that continue to this day.
