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Figma vs Miro: What are the differences?
Key Differences Between Figma and Miro
Figma and Miro are two popular collaboration tools used in design and brainstorming settings. While they both serve similar purposes, there are key differences between the two platforms that set them apart from each other.
Design and Prototyping Features: Figma is primarily focused on design and prototyping capabilities, providing a comprehensive set of tools for creating and iterating on designs. It offers powerful vector editing, interactive component libraries, and seamless design-to-prototype workflows. On the other hand, Miro is more geared towards ideation and visual collaboration, emphasizing real-time collaboration features such as virtual whiteboards, sticky notes, and mind mapping tools.
Workflow and Collaboration: Figma excels in facilitating efficient design collaboration. It allows multiple users to work simultaneously on the same design file, and enables seamless handoff between designers and developers. Miro, on the other hand, prioritizes real-time collaboration and teamwork. It provides a virtual canvas where team members can brainstorm, share ideas, and collaborate visually in real-time, making it a great tool for remote teams and collaborative workshops.
User Interface and User Experience: Figma is known for its intuitive user interface and ease of use. Its design tools are clean and well-organized, making it easy for designers to navigate and work efficiently. Miro, on the other hand, has a more freeform and flexible interface, with a focus on simplicity and clarity. Its visual collaboration tools are designed to be accessible to a wide range of users, including non-designers and remote team members.
Integration and Ecosystem: Figma offers a robust ecosystem of plugins and integrations, allowing users to extend its functionality and integrate with other design and development tools seamlessly. It integrates well with popular prototyping and collaboration tools, making it a versatile platform for designers. Miro also offers integrations with various tools such as Jira, Slack, and Trello, but its focus is more on providing a standalone visual collaboration platform.
Pricing and Accessibility: Figma offers a freemium pricing model that allows individual users and small teams to use the platform for free, with additional features and team collaboration available on paid plans. Miro also offers a free plan for individual users, but its pricing structure is more team-centric, with different plans available based on the number of team members and additional features required.
Use Cases and Industries: Figma is widely used in the design industry, particularly by UI/UX designers, product designers, and design teams working on digital projects. Its design-first approach makes it a go-to choice for design professionals. Miro, on the other hand, is more versatile in its use cases, catering to a wide range of industries such as marketing, project management, agile software development, and remote collaboration. It is often used for collaborative workshops, brainstorming sessions, and visual collaboration across teams.
In Summary, Figma is a design-focused tool with a strong emphasis on efficient design collaboration and prototyping, while Miro is a more versatile visual collaboration platform that prioritizes real-time collaboration and teamwork for remote teams and ideation sessions.
Hello, I want to start an unlimited graphic design service. (yes, yet another one, but bear with me)
It’s the second week that I’m working on this project, my goal is to test the market as soon as possible.
One element that is missing is the solution to handle communication between the clients and the designers.
• Mandatory: it needs to communicate instructions, progress/status, and design files (exported from Adobe Illustrator or similar). • Optionally it would also display the design inside the app so the files don’t need to be opened. • Optionally it would let the client easily mark the design where he wants revision.
• Mandatory: it needs to have unlimited clients and unlimited projects (I’ll have hundreds of clients and each will have at least one project) • Optionally it would auto-assign a new project to the first available designer, or let the designers choose themselves which project they want to work on • Optionally it would have groups (corresponding to a subscription plan) with different clients and different designers in each • Optionally it would communicate with other apps so that client and designer management tasks (access, payment, etc) can be automated
I’m open to all suggestions, not just the selection above. Ultimately I guess I’ll have a custom app developed on a no-code platform, but to begin with I need something simple and ready.
Reminder: it is only for graphic design, between my designers and my clients
Zeplin is great for Developer handoff and setting as source of truth for Design and Developemt. InViosion is the standard for communicating/testing design ideas and prototypes with stakeholders. Both applications offer unlimited projects. I use them on a daily basis at big enterprises and for small weekend projects.
I have been using Basecamp since 2008 to handle my client communications. I have gone through all of its three iterations.
I'd recommend Basecamp above the others because:
- It is a communication tool through and through. Looking at your description, that seems to be what you need. Zeplin is a developer handoff tool. It isn't designed to cover a more broad use case as you describe. Invision has some features that you want, but it is primarily a tool for building quick low-fidelity prototypes from website mockups. Figma is a great design tool. For the last two, communication is a secondary feature.
- It was designed by a design agency (37 Signals) for their own needs, which were quite similar to yours. (They later closed the agency to focus on Basecamp as a product full-time)
- It has flat pricing that doesn't count the number of projects, clients or team members you have. You don't have to think twice about opening another project or inviting another user. You always pay the same price.
- It can separate team and client communications. The team can talk about something without the client ever seeing it, in the same context.
- It can keep todo lists, which I think you will need anyway.
- Access control is based on projects. Every team member or client will only see the projects they are invited to. They will not even know the existence of others. (Except admins. They can see and join all projects)
- It is easy to understand and use. The design is free of clutter and easy on the eyes. Your clients (especially the tech-averse ones) will appreciate it.
- It has mobile/desktop apps with the full functionality of the web app. You won't have to wait for someone to sit down to get a quick approval.
The only real downside for me was the lack of language support in the user interface. You will be fine if your users understand some very basic written English. Some of my clients did not, so I had to walk them through it.
Pros of Figma
- Web-based application18
- Intuitive interface and perfect collaboration10
- Free software8
- Works on both Mac and Windows7
- Highly Collaborative7
- Great plugins, easy to extend6
- Works on multiple OS's5
- Imports Sketch files5
- Large community, tutorials, documentation5
- Hands done the best design tool for collaboration!5
- Prototyping, design files and comments all in one place4
- Interactive, event-based prototypes4
- No more syncing between Sketch and InVision3
Pros of Miro
- Vector Canvas and Export4
- Suitable for interactive presentations1
- Very active community1
- Best visual collaboration tool for remote workshops0
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Cons of Figma
- Limited Export options6
