Cage: A beautifully simple way of sharing and collaborating on designs

If you create graphic designs for others, be they clients, friends or family, you’ll know just how frustrating it can be to get feedback on your work in a simple way. Cage is a new Web app from Oklahoma-based BitConfused that aims to solve this problem in style.

Cage does away with the need for sprawling group email threads discussing revisions, replacing them with a simple interface that lets anyone view the current draft and highlight any element they’d like to discuss by drawing a box around it.

Each highlighted element then has its own discussion thread, allowing everyone involved in the project to have their say in a format that’s easy to keep track of, and, most importantly, tied closely to the design work itself.

Each design can be shared, either via a password protected Web page, or publicly, if a designer wants to get wider feedback by crowdsourcing suggestions.

It’s easy to see how Cage could be integrated into project management suites like Basecamp, but even on its own it’s an elegant solution to a common problem. Cage has just entered open public beta and it’s presently free to sign up and use.