Item: Freehand by InVision
Rating: 9
Author: Nicolette (Nic) Nieves

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In my organization, we use InVision Freehand to help with the following: brainstorming, wireframing, jotting down notes during initial user sessions and meetings with stakeholders, creating affinity maps and feedback grids, making user flow diagrams to help understand the journey users will take how each decision should affect their path, and collaborating and sharing with the team. It has been a great tool that's helped us, especially in the early planning and later research phases.

Pros and Cons

Sticky notes for research analysis
Collaboration with brainstorming sessions
Easy-to-create sitemaps and user flows
Sharable ideas with stakeholders
A digital whiteboard to use during meetings

Grouping and arranging objects is tricky for me.
When I try to change the colors and fills, I feel like it's limited on opacity and color options.
I would like to be able to change the standard scroll because for me, it feels backwards and I have to mentally adjust.

Most Important Features

I like the ability to do digital white-boarding in the remote working environment.
I like that we're able to share what's created with other team members and stakeholders.
Automatic saving is super helpful.
Being able to create on live meetings and provide visuals for others is invaluable.
I love the templates and easy arrow connectors for user flows.

Return on Investment

It allows us to ensure everyone is participating in user sessions and feels heard when we put on screen what they are saying versus telling them we are writing it down.
It definitely helps speed up the process so we can use our time elsewhere.
We've been able to identify and challenge use cases better with everyone's collaboration.
Understandably, as with anything, my company sees it as another thing to pay for, so they question it a lot. Still, since I use it so much, I tell them we need it because it truly is helpful, especially when working remotely.

Usability

There are some things that didn't feel intuitive, like scrolling and the arranging of different elements on-page. I know they are doing their best with it being in a web browser and would love for them to keep improving it, so it will be even better. There were a few things I wasn't able to do, like customize colors or some shapes, and maybe they offer it, but I'm so slammed with work that I don't have time to search.

Alternatives Considered

Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Adobe XD and Miro

Honestly, Zoom and Teams don't compare for their whiteboarding. Mainly because those are glitchy and unreliable. I've tried using them in meetings and especially with Zoom (maybe because they are newer) it loads and freezes up. I like to be "on it" in meetings and can't have buggy software affecting the sessions. I feel Miro would be the main competitor. I've used Adobe XD sometimes because I usually have it up and am able to design quickly in it, but it is not easily sharable like InVision Freehand. I do like the many shape and color/opacity options Adobe XD offers. When I've used Miro, I wished there were more ways to know who's doing what, especially if someone is a guest. The user interface is quite beautiful for it and I can tell they've worked hard on having it compare with InVision Freehand and other whiteboarding tools. I feel like Miro has more of a learning curve. I love when I can go into a new design application and the commands are very similar, so I can jump right in with the exception of only a few things.

Key Insights

Do you think Freehand by InVision delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Freehand by InVision's feature set?

Yes

Did Freehand by InVision live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Freehand by InVision go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Freehand by InVision again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Miro, Microsoft Teams, Zoom

Likelihood to Recommend

I've been using InVision Freehand for close to 4 years. I've used it when designing for responsive sites and native apps and it has helped, especially with the large variety of complex enterprise projects I've worked on. So far, it has been great for collaborating and sharing with the team during brainstorming, user flow diagram, and wireframing sessions in the early planning stages. In the research stage, it has also helped with creating and sharing affinity maps, feedback grids, and being able to color code when multiple team members are working together to document possible solutions has also been great! Overall, I definitely appreciate how much they've stood out on top of making improvements to simplify the whiteboarding and even automate some parts of the process. One feature I appreciate most is the ability to use templates so more time-consuming parts (like commonly used icons) are readily available. I didn't give a full 10 because, for me, the scrolling is something I have to get used to each time I use it since it's opposite from how I regularly scroll. It would also be great to have more color and opacity options, but it's definitely not a deal-breaker.

Users and Roles

5 - On the UX team, InVision Freehand is used by Junior and Senior UX Designers as well as the UX Manager. This is mainly used for team collaboration and helpful to share with Product Owners and Stakeholders. The dev. team also has access to view and be involved in the process. When working on an agile team this helps us all understand where we are at currently and what steps can be taken to move forward. At times, the InVision Freehand tool is brought up on screen when defining user stories with the Product Owner, Devs, and Scrum Master.

Support Headcount Required

5 - One of the main skills required to support InVision Freehand is effective communication. This can make meetings both effective and fun for the attendees while ensuring everyone on the team is heard. You don't need management skills, or research skills to use it. One thing I love most about InVision is everyone can take part in brainstorming, product planning, even sketching ideas for possible solutions to user pain-points.

Business Processes Supported

grouping and analyzing user feedback
understanding trends and the users journey
getting everyone on the team involved
having a central sharable board of ideas
remote sketching before jumping into the wireframe and prototyping phase

Innovative Uses

Jotting down notes during meetings
creating Lean charts to understand where each team member can grow
Card Sorting

Future Planned Uses

More involvement with dev. teams
Possibly creating the design system in the beginning phase

Likelihood to Renew

Honestly as in any organization it's up to budget. I feel like every organization I go to I'm constantly striving to keep InVision as part of the main funded tools used by the team especially in a remote environment. I feel there is a push to move to Figma and Zooms new white boarding tool but I'm still not a fan of Zoom's tool. Microsoft also created a white boarding tool which has been buggy.

Products Replaced

Not Sure

Key Differentiators

Product Features
Product Usability
Prior Experience with the Product

Prior experience would be the single most important factor. Once a tool is used in one organization it makes it that much easier to jump into a new role and be able to mentor others on your team based of what you've learned was the most effective way to use the tool. The new features are an added bonus and show InVision is working to improve which is a must in an innovative environment. I'm looking forward to what new features may come about to improve the user experience with the tool itself.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Technical support not required Convenient	Unnecessarily complex Lots to learn

Easy Tasks

I love the ability to copy and paste from another whiteboard project, even from a different browser window.
Adding images was a breeze.
Creating user flows was easy.

Difficult Tasks

I feel I get lost a bit too often when scrolling and zooming in and out.
Arranging and grouping is still a bit challenging for me.
I would love to have more options with images, like being able to mask them.

My Favorite White Board Tool in a Fully Remote Environment!

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with InVision Freehand