Curve

From an outside perspective, Curve was running like a well-oiled machine. The “agency of digital creatives” was building customized websites tailored to meet individual client’s needs. But behind the scenes, there were a few hiccups in that creation process. Peter McClory, Curve's managing director, described their situation, “I realized that our current wireframing simply didn’t cut the mustard. Shortly following a company-wide move to G Suite, we investigated using the Google Drawings app for all our wireframing, which did seem like a logical choice. But it was too basic for our requirements, so we went back to the virtual drawing board (no pun intended), and hunted around a little more.” 

Curve was looking for a platform that would provide a central document location, speed up the wireframing process, and create clarity for clients.

The Lucidchart solution

Peter and his team started comparing a wide variety of wireframing tools. When they discovered Lucidchart, they ran it through the gauntlet to determine if it was easy to use and understand. Soon they were relying on the software to wireframe a slew of websites, which included the tasks of pulling together different versions of a site to accommodate various screen sizes and aspect ratios. They even utilized Lucidchart for charting sitemaps and plotting out frontend and backend user journeys through websites and web-based apps. After employing the software in a variety of functions, they realized that Lucidchart fulfilled their critical requirements.

Peter explains how Lucidchart fit their needs:

 “It suited our needs in terms of collaboration within the team, and offered fantastic flexibility for working with clients. The interface has a lot of similarities with other apps, and is very intuitive. Even the keyboard shortcuts have a lot of parallels with other core creative tools we use regularly (such as the Adobe Creative suite). The pricing and G Suite integration made it an easy decision to make and we have stuck with it ever since.”

Safe, secure, and shareable storage

Due to its integration with G Suite, Lucidchart makes an excellent repository for the wireframes, sitemaps, and user journey flows the Curve team builds for clients. Projects start in Google Drive, and Lucidchart’s seamless integration allows all diagrams supporting a particular project to live where the team is already working. Peter describes:

“All of our processes are UX-focused and revolve around starting the discovery and analysis of a project with paper-prototyping and Lucidchart. The job bags start in Google Drive, and Lucidchart's seamless integration across G Suite simply makes our team life a lot easier. It's just one of those things that once connected up is invisible, but when you look back and realize all of the problems it solves... well, we would have a lot more project pain without it.”

Faster and easier wireframing

In addition to using Lucidchart for creating client websites, Curve used Lucidchart for wireframing when revamping their own website so they could collaborate without dealing with endless meetings. According to Peter, “Lucidchart has definitely improved the speed of our wireframing process. For example, master pages are a huge time-saver—especially as the projects we’re involved in get larger and larger. Previously, even the smallest of changes would have meant additional trawling through all the pages to make sure they’re all kept consistent.” 

Collaborative client communication

Lucidchart features such as hotspots allow employees to communicate a design or idea to clients much more clearly and effectively. Rather than reading annotations about what something does, clients can actually interact with it.  Employees and clients can collaborate in real time over a wireframe so that feedback can be acted on immediately.

Peter and his team work in a fast-paced environment, and Lucidchart helps them keep up:

“This enables us to progress projects at a quick pace, which is always good for the typical project that has a launch requirement of ‘yesterday’!”