Marvel vs. Sketch vs. SketchUp

The best Marvel scenario is when you have an application that has different navigability options, and it is a long project. Marvel works to design these applications, as well as give a demo in the design to present it to customers and visualize how your application will be on the client side. This is an advantage for the whole team because the client knows what to expect, and the developer know what to develop. I also appreciate the logical order between options and navigation, which allows you to carry everything out very cleanly when working. Now, if there are projects that are short and do not have a level of design that requires you to present your application to a client in a visual way, it is not necessary to work on Marvel, since the ideal use of this application is to really see the scope of a project, to see in a visual way what will be presented and how it will look, and to see functions and features that will be available in some way when the application is developed. That is the great advantage of using marvel.

Sketch may still be a solid tool, especially for Mac-based designers focused on high-precision design and creating static design systems. However, Figma excels in real-time collaboration, cross-platform support, and interactive prototyping. If you need features beyond simple vector design—like collaborative prototyping or working across different operating systems—Figma is a more comprehensive solution.

Incentivized

Real estate is not really the most likely use for Sketchup, since it has so many choices and possibilities. But, it is an innovative way to differentiate yourself from the competition. The program is very well-suited to the myopic seller or buyer who can't visualize future changes and their effect on value.

Incentivized

• Extremely intuitive and clean interface. The design is beautiful and simple to navigate.
• The links are easy to share and allowed our teams to collaborate (leave comments, annotate, etc.) designs.
• It's very fast and easy to create simple prototypes.

Incentivized

• Auto Saving your work
• Great library of plugins to use to make the software your own
• Easy to understand interface that is very similar to other prototyping applications
• They have been around for 12 years so you know the support and legacy stands

• Quickly exploring solutions in 3D: We get a lot of "what if" and "what would that look like" questions. While hand-sketching and hand-drafting can be fairly quick, SketchUp allows me to quickly create 3D and 2D views of a detail or solution, change dimensions and materials in a flash, and show a client or installer the plan in minutes.
• Creating professional design documents in LayOut: Projects of any scale need good documentation. Using a combination of SketchUp and LayOut, I can create a Design Intent Set, plans for permitting, a set for mechanical trades to mark-up, etc. Having clear, appropriately-scaled drawings with dimensions or notations is a must, and we don't always have the time or budget to get an architect involved!
• Using live files to guide discussions: Not all clients are "visual" people, so opening their model and orbiting around their space in real time has been extremely helpful. Clients and trades enjoy the perspective views so much that we often include them in the full-sized drawing sets to give a good "overall" view of the project intent. For complex or tight spaces, sometimes un-rendered plans and elevations just aren't enough!

Incentivized

• Would never hurt to have a greater range of micro-interactions!
• A greater range of project frames/devices
• I would like to see an easier way to demonstrate responsiveness to clients, rather than having to have separate mockup files

Incentivized

• The Sketch interface can feel a bit clumsy when you're working with a document that has many pages. As an example, I regularly work in a document that captures 10 different aspects of a product. Sketch doesn't allow me to organize all those pages into any type of folder hierarchy. I have to scroll through the complete list of pages to try and find the page I want. You can drag pages into a different order in Sketch, but that doesn't remove the lengthy list or provide visual demarcation between groups of related pages.
• Nested symbols are extremely useful, but the interface available on the right panel of the screen to manipulate a nested symbol in a canvas is not clearly organized to find what you're looking for quickly. It displays as a list of items in your nested symbol with no visual delineation between objects, so it can be a bit of guesswork to make sure you're making changes to the correct element.
• It would be nice if Sketch offered the ability to create a workflow with automatic connection of objects via lines and arrows, like a sitemap or process flow. I use Sketch to create all my screens, but still need to leave the app to create my visual diagrams in a separate app.
• A fresh take on the UI to better delineate things visually would be a great help. As mentioned, pages can't be organized, nested symbols are cumbersome to read through, etc. Separating the main central area of the app where canvases are displayed visually from the tools on the left and right would make for a cleaner work environment.

Incentivized

• Exporting/importing files from other programs may not always be compatible.
• I'm an engineer and I feel SketchUp is more geared towards architects. However, I still find it useful for certain aspects of my job such as creating renderings.
• Has a tendency to slow down as the file size gets larger. Apparently, it runs on an outdated engine that has trouble with very heavy models.

Incentivized

Sketch is a core tool for us and the cost to keep it going with our teams is low. It provides a good alternative to other screen design tools for our team members who prefer to use it.

Incentivized

We typically wait a few years in between renewing, as even older versions are powerful tools for modeling, and we make sure the amount of feature changes are worth the re-investment.

At the end of the day, it's just simple. This goes a long way in design and goes even further when your talking productivity, intuitive design and turnover rate. It's not difficult to figure something out even if it's not something your directly familiar with, i.e. if you want to export in certain file formats or change the size of the canvas, you don't have to delay your end product trying to figure it out. Similar situations took me less than 30 seconds to solve without a Google search. That's Usability.

Incentivized

It is very user friendly and easy to learn. It's simplicity allows for a low learning curve so more people can learn it faster. The downside is that most schools are no longer teaching it, so many younger professionals come out of school not knowing it and knowing more complex software and they have a hard time "dumbing down" their skillsets

Incentivized

The support is relatively decent, and they are quick to respond. However, their releases are not great. Sketch could use more robust testing of their software before releases. Over the last four years, I have had many days lost while waiting for Sketch to patch issues with their releases. It's actually a running joke in our office. So, support, good. Releases in the first place? Not great.

Incentivized

Sketchup is so intuitive; I can't recall ever looking for official support. However, there are many user forums online that can answer more questions. The usefulness of the online forums is, however, tempered by the fact that there have been many versions of the software under different ownership and support regimes, and thus finding the right information for the right version of the software can be a challenge.

Incentivized

Marvel isn’t the most robust prototyping tool, but its simplicity is what makes the tool rise to the top when it comes to creating quick, simple prototypes to elicit feedback on designs and iterate upon them. While tools like InVision and Axure provide many tools to make more realistic, animation-heavy designs, Marvel is a go-to for a simple interface that enables designers to “just design.” Sometimes it is not necessary to have all of the bells and whistles of a stronger tool, particularly when a designer is low on time. Marvel’s simplicity allows designers to quickly design and iterate in time crunches without the distractions of fancy bells and whistles.

Incentivized

I constantly use various tools, selecting the right one for each task based on my experience and understanding of their strengths. This allows me to combine the advantages of each tool to complete tasks more efficiently and achieve better results. For example, I primarily use Figma at work, but if I need to draw an icon quickly, I prefer Sketch and then export it to Figma.

Incentivized

To me, SketchUp is better to study designs because it is easier to manipulate than Revit. Revit has each part of the model connected so it is great to "keep your design honest" however, in trying to be creative, you are often inhibited. It is not as easy to push/pull and manipulate quickly to see if an idea works. You also have so many people working in a model and each view impacts one another, so if you are in the middle of studying one area, another person cannot work on that same area

Incentivized

• Creating prototypes of applications, or sites in marvel, guarantees me a considerable return, as it saves time and effort, because the client is quickly introduced to the various stages of prototyping, which avoids rework.
• Another plus point, it's free!
• No need to download programs, it's all done online.

Incentivized

• Saved time -- Intuitive interface saves us lots of time/money because it is reliable and easy to use. Other programs have caused serious confusion, leading to project delays.
• More captivating wireframes -- Stakeholders have been finding it easier to visualize potential “final products” with vector-based Sketch designs. Because of this, we’ve been able to have more targeted, focused discussions that lead to improved final products (with fewer immediate post-launch revisions!).
• Increased productivity -- Because Sketch is so easy to use, our designers have had more time to do more work. Rather than finagling difficult tools in previously used products, our designers feel no hesitation with Sketch, and are producing more often and more creatively.

Incentivized

• Increased revenue by allowing our customers to see the final products faster, input comments and finalize design decisions.
• We develop furniture and the rendering capabilities and graphics found in the basic package allow the fabricators a broader understanding of what is being created.
• We develop all of our work in SketchUp. I initially felt it was a simplistic cadd software. By re-tooling my thinking I have found fantastic results with the program. I must admit that I learn something new every day. There is a wealth of information on how to do and create things on YouTube. It has a very large community of supporters.

Incentivized