Our Workflow Evolutions

Since then we’ve added InVision to our workflow, which has improved our prototyping ability, developer handoff, and feedback system. We have implemented and explored Sketch plugins for prototyping animation, system consistency, version control, and style guide execution.

Throughout this journey, we accepted the limitations of Sketch — which was held up as the industry standard along with its integration partner, InVision. 

Figma Arrives

A new product, Figma, came to the market as a web-based design platform with collaboration at its core. In more recent releases, Figma added prototyping and development hand-off functionality, two features not offered by any other comparable web design tool on the market.

It took a few years for Figma to get competitive, but recently there's been a trend of long-time sketch users transitioning to Figma. 

Results of a 2020 UX tools survey

A New Tool in our Toolbox

The Lyquix design team initially experimented with Figma, lured in by the premise of the web-based, instant collaboration aspect of Figma. However, we quickly became aware of the most impressive benefit of this design tool: it improved the Lyquix workflow. Think about the difference between collaborating on Google docs as opposed to a Word doc — now Lyquix can do that with website designs. We can share files faster, provide feedback faster, and we can make decisions faster. 

Interaction gifs from the Figma Website

We also love that Figma is an all-in-one app. Since designing, prototyping, and developer handoff can all be handled by the same application, there are fewer steps in our workflow. No more time was spent waiting on “sync” times between prototype edits or organizing prototyping slides before a presentation. There are even Figma features for limitations we hadn’t resolved like version control, prototyping advanced animations, and smarter design scaling.

Results of a 2020 UX tools survey

Sketch and Invision are Staying

Lyquix wants to stay innovative — pushing the boundaries of what we can offer our clients and the ability to design in Figma is an incredible way to accomplish that. However, we are keeping both Sketch and InVision fully operational for access to our archival projects, our current clients, and as an option for clients moving forward, should they prefer it.