Get clear feedback on creative work with ConceptShare

ConceptShare is a new service, close to being released, that gives creative pros an intuitive way to share their work with clients and coworkers. Essentially, it's just a repository for images that people can add notes to, but it's focused and straightforward, it has a very clear interface, and it's unlikely to confuse clients.

The Flash-based interface makes it very easy to switch between different images (or "concepts") and see the notes that people have left on each. You can toggle quickly between different images and easily spot small tweaks between different concepts. Designers can upload images to the system, of course, as well as AutoCAD files and Web addresses (sites are converted to images).

ConceptShare is all about the comments people can leave on designs. Text can be attached to virtual sticky notes on designs, and users can draw lines and shapes to make their points.

What's missing: Basic work flow. While the simplicity of ConceptShare is great, it would be good if people could at least mark concepts as rejected or approved. You can get e-mail (but not RSS) alerts when people leave notes on concepts you're working with.

There's also a nascent consultant's marketplace on ConceptShare. People will be able to put themselves in the "experts" directory of ConceptShare, then users will be able to invite them to chime in on concepts, presumably for a fee. It looks like this feature is just being built, but it could be a good way for designers to get feedback from domain experts. For example, a graphic artist working on a Web site might invite a usability expert to evaluate the work before it's submitted to the client.

It would have been nice if the designers of Webware.com had been able to use this tool instead of their own home-brewed client portal to share design mockups with us. Not that anything was wrong with viewing the designs and logos on their site, but ConceptShare would have made the feedback cycle both faster and more comprehensive.

The ConceptShare beta should be opening up to more people this week. Pricing has not been announced.

If you do any visual creative work at all, watch for the release of this service.