Easy Design Feedback with Notebox

Collecting feedback and incorporating them in the design revisions is as important to a designer as his/her creativity. The easiest and the most common way a designer collects feedback is by emailing a PDF file or an image and the client will revert back in an email with the changes that has be done.

Misinterpretation and confusion creeps in with this asynchronous feedback model and often times few comments from the customer can go unnoticed. Notebox is a design and concept feedback app that helps designers to get client feedback literally on their designs.

Overview

With Notebox both you & your clients can now make notes directly on your design, allowing the notes to appear in context. Built by designers who themselves understood the importance of getting relevant feedback from clients, Notebox is simple and intuitive to use.

Notebox makes it extremely easy to upload the concept image, organize clients, projects and designs, and get email notifications when notes are added. The look and feel of the page & notes can be changed and add custom branding elements can be added. So, there are no more PDF downloads and asynchronous feedback via email – just instant point, click and add goodness.

Pricing

Including a free trial, Notebox has 3 plans in total. The free trial lets you access most of the core features and allows getting feedback with upto 5 designs. Notebox Lite allows unlimited design uploads and the Pro version allows extreme customization & branding including the option to perform advanced CSS editing.

Sign up is quick and the design looks great. However, when loading the sign up page for the first time, there was a strange transparency issue. Also, selecting the free trial link from the pricing page takes you to one more page that explains the same things displayed in the previous in detail.

Dashboard

After signing up, a strong password is emailed to you. The dashboard is minimal and clean looking with a textured background.

Unlike a lot of other apps I have seen, Notebox’s dashboard design is so intuitive, you don’t have to stumble upon links and buttons to begin using the app. The design makes it very clear to a first time user that app usage begins with adding a new client.

Adding a Design

It’s a bit to strange to see that the first step in client creation is just a single field to enter the client name. But the design aesthetics and the textured background add a sense of beauty to this minimal design.

The next page also has a single field to add a name to the project and the app advises us to keep it under 12 characters as it will used in the URL to be shared with client. Once that is created, another minimal page for naming the design shows up.

Once the naming has been done, it is time to upload the design for the client to review. Design images in jpg, png and gif formats are supported.

You can also style the notes from this page so as they stand out on your design by choosing a few simple colours. An URL and a short URL are displayed at the bottom of the page to share with the client.

Adding a Note

All the client has to do is to visit the URL, click on the Add new note icon on the top left hand corner and start commenting. Names can be added to comments to avoid confusion and URLs can be added to the notes as well. Yep! That’s it. I was surprised that it was just this simple to add a note.

Final Thoughts

Considering the fact that we went through to upload the design, the app falls flat with just a single feature. Apart from adding a note there is nothing else we can do with the app. Notes are not shown until you mouse the mouse across the screen to find them. Tiny icons or pins can avoid the hassle of scouting for the comment on the design.

Inspite of being a one trick pony, Notebox does give you a quick and elegant way to get concept feedback that your clients will love!