Great idea, which I'm endorsing. In my opinion it needs some front-end polishing, especially navigation clarity.
Beware: I always tend to review things with a super-dummy approach, so feel free to disregard any of the following of course.
My first dummy instinct was to click on GETTING STARTED (because of positioning and highlightying), but it wasn't clear from there what to do. I was tempted to go with PROJECTS on sidebar, but then I went with FORM TEMPLATES given positioning order. I clicked on PREVIEW, expecting to see a sample of the form, but instead I was presented with customizations options, so I strated filling in. At the end I realized that after last step nothing happened, so it was a preview indeed but of the whole form making process. I went back to FORM TEMPLATES and now I click on the form image above PREVIEW. Now I am under the feeling to be in the right place. I follow all steps, make necessary editing, add to my templates, get the form link and simulate client receiving it: works great but I have a suggestion:
(form backgrounds can make form highly unreadable, depending on the background image: I'd suggest to add opacity to the form tables on the form shared with clients. ALso, when client finished filling form, there is an OK button which does nothing. This might induce dummies to believe that something is stuck and to be unsure about designer having received the form's data. I'd take that button ok off or make it close tan, or redirect.)
Back to control panel, I now hit PROJECTS and I discover that the whole above process could have been started and completed from here (editing forms, making them as my template). I think you could improve navigation for clarity's sake. Again, feel free to disregard all I'm saying of course, but I'd consider something like this:
Replace GETTING STARTED with something like TUTORIAL, and move it to the left or sidebar. In place of where GETTING STARTED is now, add a CREATE NEW PROJECT button which opens the PROJECTS window with the new project popup active.
Not sure how viable it is, but maybe you could consider to show an img/pdf form preview on PREVIEW of forms, instead of step by step process which is time consuming and not really productive. Probably a bit complicated when it comes to show preview of own template. So maybe alternatively you could change PREVIEW in to PROCESS PREVIEW or something. I would make the form image unclickabe and would add a button MAKE YOUR OWN or EDIT ABOVE PREVIEW button.
All in all, what I'm saying is that however you do it, you should make it more clear what does what and the optimal path to follow according to app's scope.
These are personal suggestions and won't affect my rating because it is normal at launch to have things that need improvement.
I'm endorsing and rating it 5 because I love the app and will use it, so congrats on your launch and can't wait for it to evolve. About it, it would be interesting if designers could have a public section of their profile where they can add a portfolio and rates and the chance for being sent the form and quote. Great incentive for independent designers also to spread the word about the platform. Plus, wWhen client returns the form, you could redirect them there after they click OK 😉
dotBRAND
