Here are some of the best
UI design tools around.
The best UI design tools can fit almost every design process and
hopefully meet your creative requirements. Now is such a great time to explore
new tools and see what's available to design and showcase your projects.
With so many UI design tools out there, though, which ones
should you use? Over the last few years, the combination of Sketch and InVision
has been a popular choice for many designers, but other tools have offered
competitive features and options. There has never been a better selection of
prototyping and wireframe tools out there, so we thought it was a good time to
have a closer look at some of the best.
For more general tools, see our web design tools roundup.
Wireframing
01. MockFlow
MockFlow is a suite of applications that are very helpful for
several tasks in the typical project process. Primarily, the WireframePro app
is a good alternative prototyping tool for you to use, especially if you're
testing out some new ideas.
If you just need to create wireframes, then take a look at
MockFlow. It's great for working on initial ideas and enables you to build
basic layouts quickly, which is sometimes all you need to get thoughts into a
presentable form.
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02. Balsamiq
If rapid wireframing is what you're looking for, then Balsamiq
is a strong suggestion. You can quickly develop structure and layouts for your
projects with ease. The drag-and-drop elements make life easier and you can
link buttons to other pages. This means you can quickly start to plan your
interfaces and then share them with your team or clients.
03. Axure
Axure has always been one of the best wireframing tools on the
market and is great for more complex projects that require dynamic data. With
Axure, you can focus on mocking up projects that are more technical and require
extra attention when it comes to structure and data.
04. Adobe Comp
Adobe Comp is a nice addition for those that find themselves
creating and conceptualizing on the go. Got a tablet with a smart pencil? This
will be worth the download just in case inspiration strikes for developing a
new concept for a layout when you are away from your main workspace.
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UI design and prototyping
05. Sketch
Sketch is a very popular tool within the design community that
enables you to create hi-fi interfaces and prototypes. One of the great features
is Symbols, where you can design UI assets and elements for reuse. This helps
create design systems and keep your interfaces consistent. From there, you can
easily export your design into a clickable prototype. If you are an InVision
user, make sure you check out the Craft plugin (more on that below)
06. InVision Studio
Many UI designers' dreams are about to come true with InVision
Studio. Still, in its early release, this tool will help you create beautiful
interactive interfaces with a bucket load of features. You can create custom
animations and transitions from several gestures and interactions. To top that,
you can stop thinking about creating numerous artboards for multiple devices
because the responsive design can be achieved within a single artboard. This
saves loads of time, so you can think of more ideas.
07. Craft
If you use Sketch or Photoshop for UI design, you need to be
using Craft. This plugin does everything, seamlessly syncing your files with
your Invision prototypes, and populating your mockups with real data and stock
photography.
08. Proto.io
Proto.io is an incredible contender for creating lifelike
prototypes from rough ideas right through to fully-fledged designs. The tool
also provides a lot of possibilities for your projects, including detailed
animations and custom vector animations too. You can start by developing
initial ideas with a hand-drawn style, then work them into wireframes and
finish off with a high-fidelity prototype. The Sketch and Photoshop plugins
help if you want to design using other tools but Proto.io does handle the
end-to-end design process well. Other features like user testing will also help
validate your designs. This is an all-in-one place solution with a great number
of trusted brands already using it.
09. Adobe XD
Adobe XD offers the best environment for digital projects under
the Adobe Creative Cloud collection of design tools. If you're a keen Adobe
user and new to XD, you may not find the interface very Adobe-like, to begin
with – it is a jump if you've been designing in Photoshop for a while. But it
does stack up to the other leading tools out there and is worth it if you are a
big Adobe fan.
Also, check our recommendations for Adobe XD plugins.
10. Marvel
Marvel is another prototyping tool that's a great choice when it
comes to producing quick ideas and refining an interface. As with many of the
other applications of this type, Marvel offers a really neat way of building
pages and enables you to simulate your design through a prototype. There are
some wonderful integrations with Marvel, which means you can insert your
designs into your project workflow.
11. Figma
Figma enables you to quickly compose and design interfaces. The
Figma platform prides itself on being a collaborative design tool whereby
multiple users can work simultaneously on a project – this is very effective
when you have multiple stakeholders in a project that are involved in shaping
the outcome. This is the kind of tool that would be ideal if you have a live
project where a developer, copywriter, and designer, for example, need to work
on something at the same time.
12. Framer X
Framer X is a really exciting new design tool that is certainly
worth a look for experienced UI designers who want more from their tools.
Prototyping and creating interactions is easy. If you're a big React fan, then
look no further as you can design and code in sync. Besides being a great tool,
there's a strong community of designers behind Framer X offering UI assets and
kits.
13. Flinto
Flinto is a nice and simple design tool that enables you to
create unique interactions within your designs. You can utilize several
gestures and create easy transitions by designing the before and after states.
Flinto simply works out the differences and then animates it for you.
14. Principle
Interaction design is what Principle excels at, especially when
it comes to mobile applications. Tweaking and getting animated interactions
just right is a breeze with Principle. You can look at individual assets and
how they independently animate, right down to timings and easing.
15. UXPin
Described as the 'end-to-end' UX platform, UXPin is essentially
another design tool but with a powerful ability to create design systems. UXPin
serves larger design teams that need to work off the same styles and guides,
saving time with product development when collaboration plays a large part.
16. ProtoPie
ProtoPie enables you to create quite complex interactions and
get pretty close to how you would want your design to work. Perhaps the most
standout feature is the ability to control the sensors of smart devices in your
prototype, such as tilt, sound, compass and 3D Touch sensors. Depending on your
project, this is a great tool for encompassing native app features. It's easy
as pie with no code required.
17. Justinmind
This tool, Justinmind, helps with prototyping and integrating
with other tools like Sketch and Photoshop. You can choose your interactions
and gestures to help put your prototype together. It also contains UI kits,
enabling you to put together screens quickly.
18. Origami Studio
Given Origami Studio is built and used by designers at Facebook,
you might assume this must be a great tool. And you'd be right. There's a
wonderful amount of features with Origami, including adding rules and logic to
your interactions. How many times have you wanted a button to display or behave
differently because of something else? There's an opportunity to create a
true-to-form prototype with Origami, but it is very technical and requires some
learning. This tool is perfect for developers and designers working together.
19. Fluid
Fluid is an intuitive tool to build rapid prototypes and work up
designs. It packs some nice assets out of the box to get you going with rapid
prototypes and, once you've upgraded, it's easy to assemble your symbols with
your preferred UI assets.
20. Keynote
As well as being a great tool for creating presentations,
Keynote – specifically it's Magic Move transition – is one of the ways to
rapidly animate your designs and communicate your ideas.
Other UI design tools
21. Golden ratio typography calculator
Stuck deciding heading sizes? The GRT Calculator uses the
science of the golden ratio to generate out a typographic scale that can be
used in your interface designs.
22. Zeplin
Zeplin is not necessarily a prototyping tool, but it very much
fits in that post-design and pre-development stage alongside prototyping. It
enables you to take your design and prototypes, hand them over to developers
and make sure that your ideas are executed well. You can upload your Sketch,
Photoshop, XD and Figma files to Zeplin and it will create an environment for
developers and designers to hand over the project, without the tedious task of
creating guidelines. However, it's worth making sure that you need it first.
Reference by - https://www.creativebloq.com/how-to/20-best-ui-design-tools
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