Designing a great user experience is challenging, even for experienced designers. Fortunately, plenty of tools are available to help today’s UX/UI pros streamline their workflow and create amazing products. In this article, we’ll cover some of the most useful software products that are currently available on the market—including Sketch, Adobe XD, and Origami Studio—and explain how they can be used to make your life easier as you design UX/UI elements or improving existing ones.
Sketch
Sketch is a vector-based drawing tool, meaning you can work with your designs in an infinite resolution. This makes it a great choice for users and developers alike, allowing them to create mockups and prototypes that look exactly like their final product. It also has a dedicated community of designers who use the software on a daily basis.
Many designers and developers use Sketch because it offers the perfect combination of ease of use and advanced features. For example, one feature that sets Sketch apart from other design tools is its ability to quickly switch between artboards—something that’s incredibly useful when working with multiple screens or screens within screens (such as app icons). If you’re unfamiliar with Sketch’s capabilities, I recommend reading our review here: http://uxplanet.org/review-sketch/.
Another great thing about Sketch is that it’s compatible with other design tools. For example, you can export your mockups in a format that works with Framer (a Javascript library similar to React) or Principle (a mobile prototyping tool). This makes it possible for designers already familiar with these programs to continue using them while enjoying the benefits.
InVision studio
InVision Studio is a powerful web-based prototyping tool that helps you create interactive prototypes, collaborate on designs with others, and get feedback on designs before they are built.
It’s best for creating interactive prototypes (like mobile apps and websites) that demonstrate user interaction through clickable buttons, sliders, switches, and other interactive elements. And because it’s web-based, you can also use InVision Studio to design directly in a browser as you would with any other tool.
InVision Studio is free for individuals, teams of up to 5 people, and small businesses. Larger teams can upgrade to InVision Cloud for $15 per user per month.
Figma
Figma is a tool that allows you to create prototypes and wireframes. It’s an open-source tool, meaning it’s free to use. This is a good thing because Figma allows users to create some pretty slick products. The UI is intuitive and easy to understand, so as long as you know how to work with basic HTML5 elements, then using Figma should be no problem for you. You can download their free version here: https://figma.com/free/.
The free version of Figma is a great tool to use if you’re starting out, but there are some limitations. You can only create one project at a time without support for adding external files.
Adobe XD
Adobe XD is a powerful tool for creating digital prototypes, wireframes, and mockups. It’s great for creating prototypes and wireframes but not good at creating final designs. The reason why I say this is that Adobe Photoshop is still the best tool out there when it comes to designing logos, icons, and other illustrations you may need. However, if you don’t have access to Photoshop (or if you’re starting out), then Adobe XD is a perfect choice as it has all of the same tools as Photoshop and costs nothing unless you want advanced features like branding identity kits or custom product templates.
Origami studio
Origami Studio is a design tool for creating responsive web and mobile prototypes. It’s lightweight, easy to use, and lets you create high-fidelity prototypes. Origami Studio doesn’t require any coding knowledge to do this.
You can use the templates provided by Origami Studio or start with a blank canvas. You can also import your own wireframes into Origami which is great if you already have some ideas sketched on paper. The program also supports drag-and-drop interactions between pages and transitions between them (like fade effects).
The program is available for Mac and Windows. It has a trial version, so you can try it out before purchasing.
Conclusion
The tools for UX/UI designers in 2023 are a lot like the tools for web developers. They help us create amazing and beautiful products, but there is always room for improvement. The future is bright for UX/UI design tools, and we can only imagine what will come next!
