SaaS Interface for Applications

The important thing is to use MVC or some other way to separate form from function so that you can change the UI whenever you need to. Then the timing is less important for when you involve the UI person.

That said, with web-based applications often the UI and the back-end go hand-in-hand. Yes even with MVC, and even with Great and Powerful Ruby, often UI decisions -- specifically how things are "Ajaxified" -- have a direct impact in how the back-end works.

So in the end I prefer to get the UI "right" ahead of time. I think it results in less overall time for development.

Is your decision between choosing to partnering with a UI specialist or outsourcing it?

If that is the question then I would suggest partnering with a UI professional. Reasons being:

1. If this is your first iteration there are going to be a lot of changes. This would get really expensive if you choose to continually outsource the changes.

2. Vested interest of a partner will always surpass the interest of an outsourcer. Both of them have very different aims and goals. If you want to get the product right you need to have the UI person in house.

3. Understanding user interaction and taking the product/service to second and third iterations will always be easier when you partner with the UI professional.

Hope this is what you were looking for.

Great posts. Both are providing me with the detail I'm looking for. I'm trying to figure out if it is even possible to convert a UI service to a UI product that would actually work and save the SaaS app money. I know there is no way to remove that human interaction or UI thought process throughout the life cycle of the app build but trying to develop a work flow that is flexible enough to work with most app builds yet allow a set price to be placed on the work as well.

Any other thoughts would be very appreciated.