<![CDATA[Research: The Best Places to Get Feedback For Your Work (Top list of 35+ Online Feedback Resources)]]>When looking for a few good places to receive designer feedback (and let's face it, aren't we all-ways?), I came across several new resources and a few free ones I really liked. Through trial and error I also found some that were paid, some that were unreliable and a few I did not like so much, so I thought I'd share my research with you below.
Table of Contents
Feedback Tips & Tricks
Before you start, make sure you understand how to obtain the specific feedback you're looking for and asking the right questions. I recommend reading 5 Steps to Improved Client Feedback.
Social Networks
I've listed Social networks first because I feel they have been the most helpful when gathering or promotion unbiased feedback, and as a bonus your own network often grows during the process. In a previous blog post I've written my biased opinions on the most helpful social networks, Twitter vs. Facebook vs. Linked, I decipher which social network tested best for performing research or gathering feedback. I must admit, LinkedIn's Answer section could definitely stand tall with the best of the resources listed below. Wikipedia has a nice List of Social Networking Websites you can use to find the network that's best for your needs.
There, now I said it and we can move back on to feedback focused resources.
Ayos Website Design
Ayos Website Design is run by a professional website designer hoping to do his part to help by offering advice on three simple questions.
- Is the website attractive and easy to use.
- What was the first impression the website gives.
- What can be improved.
Price: $35
Backboard
Simplify document feedback for your workgroup. Backboard is a commercial tool to gather feedback on a work easily. The users of the product can leave feedback in the textbox nex to your work and if they prefer can leave sketches on the images. You can also use backboard right from your desktop with their plugin.
Price: $6/mos - $50/mos
Basecamp
Basecamp provides users with tools to share files, meet deadlines, assign tasks, centralize feedback, make clients smile. Additionally, Basecamp works with a avariety of iPhone apps, third-party invoicing and time tracking tools, graphic design review software, widgets and more.
Price: 24.95/mos - $149/mos
Concept Test
Concept Test is a free resource designed for medium to small businesses and claims to be powered by a professional community.
Price: Free
ConceptShare
ConceptShare gives users the ability to easily share media and invite others to add and reply to comments, approve artwork, and markup on visuals. ConceptShare can handle a wide variety of file formats so you can easily share almost anything visual for review and even imports screenshots of website by entering a URL. In addition, they also allow you to print a summery, including video frames.
Price: $24/mos - $99/mos
Creattica
Creattica is a professional design community which offers an array of professional design resources including feedback. Your design is voted on by the community and the best work is accepted and featured in the gallery which receives thousands of visitors every day.
Price: Free
CrowdSound
Crowdsound provides a widget which can be embedded into your website to gather feedback effectively but has a couple more features such as iphone apps and suggestion moderation if you pay $10 a month.
Price: Free-$10/mos and also offer an "Enterprise Edition" if you call them to discuss
Design Critique
Design Critique will tell you what they think of your design in 140 characters MAX. Obviously Twitter based, follow @DesignCritique at http://twitter.com/designcritique. In addition to critiquing your design, they also ask their followers to any of their tweets critiquing a site design.
Price: Free (Twitter Account)
Dream Success Management
Don't forget about me! Although I consider myself more of a producer than a professional designer, I've learned a lot from producing marketing campaigns and playing with photoshop the past decade. I would be honored to review your design and submit my honest feedback if you contact me.
Price: Free
Feedback Jar
Feedback Jar provides a feedback tab for merchants and business websites that when clicked upon, opens a new window and feedback form for visitors to fill out and send back to you. Feedback Jar comes with a community willing and ready to give merchants and business feedback, which also can opt in with their facebook accounts if they please.
Price: Free
Feedback Army
For $10 and about two minutes, Feedback Army allows designers can submit 3-6 questions about their site and receive ten responses from Feedback Army Reviewers.
Price: $10/review
Five Second Test
With FIveSecondTest, a test-taker is given 5 seconds to look at your design and afterwards is asked to list what they remember. The website's clean interface, easy approach, helpful community, sleek design and organized keywords are very resourceful. The process is dead-on simple, it's hard for a user to lie about what they remember - the most important part of image branding and often selling your product.
Price: Free
Get Satisfaction
Cut down repetitive support costs and gather customer or employee opinions with Get Satisfaction. It's free and relatively quick to register, but businesses are persuaded to manage their own communities and gain access to pro widgets and deeper analytics for $99 a month. With the pro model you can also reward your best customers for their participation. For $279 you can gain access to Get Satisfaction's API but want to host it on your own URL and that's going to cost you $899
Price: $99/mos - $899/mos but Free to Register and Start
GetSignOff
Since every designer can attest to the pains of getting that final approval, GetSignOff makes the process easier by providing a mechanism for presenting your site designs, managing feedback and organizing multiple versions of a design.
Price: Free - $59/mos
IdeaScale
With IdeaScale you can create a page for visitors to contribute ideas to your current project, discuss it, vote the product and watch its progress. Additionally IdeaScale includes features for your blog/Twitter/RSS integration of IdeaScale, along with HTML/Logo customization, a custom url, surveys/polls integration and wiki-like editing of your posted ideas for paid members.
Price: Free - $99/mos
Ididwork
Ididwork allows you to keep a work log, see how it impacts the team and receive feedback from your manager - even if your manager does not have ana account.
Price: Free
Kampyle
Kampyle provides a small triangular floating badge which stays at the bottom right of your website. Clicking it makes a popup appear which allows you to provide feedback to the web designer.
Price: Free for 1 feedback form and 50 feedback items per month. Up to $999/mos
Launchly
If you are a new web application company or launching a new web application, Launchly provides free feedback tools to help you get free feedback from your website and launch successfully If you're not a developer but love being the first to test new applications, joining the Launchly community gives you access to all of their latest apps from developers requesting user feedback. The more feedback you give, the more you can "earn reputation" that you can spend for free website launches in the future - whatever that means.
Price: Free (for web application startups)
Loop11
Loop11 is a web-based user-experience testing tool, allowing companies to conduct online, un-moderated user testing on any kind of digital interface. Loop11 claims to not be a survey or web analytics tool, but a user experience tool used toward helping people to understand user behaviour. No software to install and test in over 40 languages.
Price: Register for private beta to request an invitation.
Open Hallway
At Open Hallway you can create usability test scenarios and ask users to give their feedback. Then, a lot like spying on your audience, you can watch them stumble through the process. Furthermore you can share video results with your clients or team members and their is no software for anyone to install.
Price: $49/month
PBWorks
Pbworks has many features to help manage your project, but their bread-and-butter is how they centralize the group editing process of documents.
Price: Free - $20/mos
Please Critique Me
PleaseCritiqueMe is comprised of Industry Design Professionals who do their best to give feedback in an effort to give something back to the design community, and are proud to provide a place where designers can submit their work and have it reviewed (albeit publicly) by one of their industry peers. Fill out the form on their website and hopefully they'll have some time to review your work.
Price: Free
Pro Blog Design
Pro Blog Design is a blog design company, but be a fan of Pro Blog Design on Facebook and upload an image to their gallery and they'll critique your blog. Why not? As a bonus they'll also help you with your wordpress issues and design questions.
Price: Free (Facebook)
QBN
At QBN you can push send and hope the feedback is positive, but don't expect it to be. This community is steamed from criticism. Nonetheless, there's always something learned through criticism, even if it's your beliefs. And don't be afraid to stick to your guns and throw out what is not relevant, albeit room for improvement, there's probably a reason you were originally inspired the way you were.
Price: Free
Raed Skaik
Write your details, give a brief description and upload your design to receive free professional feedback from Raed Skaik. Why does the author do this? In his own words "I love design and I am good at it. I love to see young designers or less experienced designers be able to receive constructive criticism which can help them learn, grow, improve their work and satisfy their clients or bosses."
Price: Free
redmark
Graphic Designers can register and utilize the tools provided by redmark to send their clients or colleagues links to review their work and leave feedback. In addition, someone in need of graphic design work can use redmark's network to find the perfect designer for their project.
Price: Free (redmark is offered free of charge! Rather than charging for it in the future, we will introduce separate, independent pay-based services. Right now they currently offer two services, both are free.)
Reformal.ru
Reformal.ru is a free Russian feedback service, that gives you a tab to place on your website to gather feedback from users. The website is in Russian, and might be difficult to use if you cannot understand the language.
Price: Free
Rev.iew.me
Rev.iew.me is a comprehensive website review community which encourages you to submit your website for your friends and the community to review and critique. A unique feature within the Rev.iew.me community includes a 'review auction' that allows members who WANT to review you, to bid on your site (for you to pay them with your 'points' which are the community's currency) and promises to have many new social features on the way
Price: Free - Pay-by-credit
Skribit
Similar to CrowdSound, Skribit allows community members and your website visitors the ability to suggest new features and content for your website by using their handy-dandy widget that can be embed in your webpages
Price: Free
Suggestionbox
Suggestionbox is a paid service that allows you to embed a "suggestion box" on your website that allows you to capture user feedback and gives users the ability to track their feedback's progress.
Price: $49.50/mos or $495/year ($49.50/year for non-profits)
Uclue
Uclue is a paid answers service where everyone is invited to register, browse and answer questions but only Former Google Answers Researchers may register as Uclue researchers. Those who register are able to search through previous questions and answers that someone (else) had to originally ask and pay for. The going rate for asking a question seems to be about $10 - $20.
Price: Free to browse but $10+ to ask a Question
Usabilla
Usabilla provides a tool to actively involve your users in the process of design & improvement. Create an online test and start collecting visual feedback for your website or image in five minutes.
Price: Free (beta)
User Voice
"Uservoice communities are the easiest way to turn customer feedback into action", and with one forum and less than 100 members you can use their service for free. Paid models allow you to monitor analytics, moderations tools, API's and remove
their paid ads from your community.
Price: $589/mos or Free for 1 Forum with >100 users
Wave
In their own words "WAVE is a free web accessibility evaluation tool ..used to aid humans in the web accessibility evaluation process. WAVE shows the original web page with embedded icons and indicators that reveal the accessibility of that page." Made especially for programmers, users can even make things even easier and Download the Wave Plugin to analyze a website on the fly.
Price: Free
Webproof
Webproof is a good online design and document collaboration tool. Invite people you want to review in the order you want and by SMS.
Price: $245 - $14,500 (Yes, that's fourteen thousand and five hundred dollars!)
YSlow
YSlow's grading regime can often be strict and un-resourceful for novice web developers, but being able to monitor how long it takes different elements to load on the page can be very helpful when determing what's really needed. Plus it's free!
In their own words, "YSlow is a Firefox add-on integrated with the Firebug web development tool. YSlow grades web page based on one of three predefined ruleset or a user-defined ruleset. It offers suggestions for improving the page's performance, summarizes the page's components, displays statistics about the page, and provides tools for performance analysis, including Smush.it™ and JSLint."
Price: Free
Design Forums
Don't forget about trying to join niche design forums and asking for the communities advice. If you find trouble getting feedback, try giving other members feedback first.
Price: Free
- HOW Design Forum – Critiques
- DesignersTalk – Logo and Brand Identity Forum
- All Graphic Design – Critiques and Reviews
- Graphic Design Forum – The Showcase
- MySpace Graphic Design – Critiques and Discussion
- Graphic Design Forums – section for logo design
Hopefully these help find the answers you're looking for. If there's anything I missed, please let me know.
@AnthonyCerreta
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