Call it love at first sight because we are head over heels for our new Tier Ranking Template in InVision Freehand. The latest Freehand Template seamlessly conveys an honest ranking system simplifying your need to identify and subjectively rank a multitude of items while simultaneously allowing teams to spark discussions and maintain inclusivity when making time-sensitive decisions.
Below, we will walk you through how to navigate and best use this template within Freehand.
What is a tier ranking template?
A tier ranking is a visualization map that organizes a diverse set of ideas and perspectives, providing a digital space for a cross-functional approach to discussing concepts and problem solving. Often, tier rankings take the form of lists with color coded rectangles, with the top tier of rectangles signifying the most important items on the ranking and the bottom most rectangle tier identifying the least important items.
Sometimes these rectangles or tiers can be organized to be more custom where the top identifies the most time sensitive items while the bottom most rectangle establishes the least urgent items. With Freehand’s Tier Ranking Template, you can customize just what each tier is identified as.
Why does tier ranking matter?
A tier ranking Template can facilitate collaboration across teams and timezones while bringing original concepts and ideas to the forefront. More importantly, it brings teams together to interact and communicate on time-sensitive problems in order to get to solutions in less time.
For InVision’s marketing team, a tier ranking template helps prioritize campaign goals (for say, promoting a great tier ranking template) . The good news is that any team can find it useful to distill difficult decisions into smaller pieces creating a quicker path to forming decisions.
However, you can also use the template for pure entertainment with friends. For instance, you can create a custom chart to discuss your favorite movies or most loved contestants on the Bachelor. The options to personalize your tier rankings are limitless.
When to use a tier ranking template
As we noted above, tier rankings are also helpful tools for all types of teams, including design, product, human resources, and marketing. Some examples include:
- Making the ideation process more inclusive by giving everyone a chance to rank options and solutions.
- Creating better alignment across stakeholders on how to approach the most important tasks on the path to a product launch or campaign
- Bringing colleagues together through team-building exercises in a new, fun, and engaging way
How InVision uses the template
Here at InVision, rather than send each other Valentine’s grams or perhaps an indulgent box of chocolates, we came together for a more interactive celebration of Valentine’s day. With InVision’s collaborative spirit, we conveyed just how to use the Tier Ranking Template as a creative outlet. Check out just how we used the template to spark a diverting debate on popular candy and cinema’s most treasured romantic comedy movies below.
“Strong prioritization is synonymous with a successful content strategy,” says Nick Lioudis, Director of Content Marketing at InVision. “Tier rankings give us a chance to not only put the most important projects first, but also ensure the rest of the marketing team has a transparent way to see why.”
Not only were we able to identify similarities and engage in others’ perspectives, but just as importantly, we also established which candy was favored the most with Sour Patch Kids coming out on top and Reese’s being a close second. As for the best romantic comedy movie, amongst our team the most popular choice was a tie for Notting Hill and 10 Things I Hate About You.
Here’s how to make a tier ranking in Freehand
Now it’s your turn — collaborate and connect in real time to get to the bottom of important decisions with an eye on greater team inclusivity. (PRO TIP: If you are creating a tier list with friends, add a section box with images at the bottom for ranking options).
To get started on creating your own Tier Ranking Template in Freehand, simply follow the 6 easy steps below.
- Click “Try Template”
- Login to InVision
- Name your Freehand and pick a custom icon
- Start creating your own tiers
- The final step when finished completing the Tier Making Template is to share with your colleagues or friends by clicking the share button
- Once done sharing, your colleagues or friends can create their own tier and see how everyone’s compares
Laura Furlong is the Content Marketing Manager at InVision. Her extensive marketing career has allowed her to work with lifestyle brands on developing elevated and innovative content. She currently lives in Southern California.
