Two vital design aspects are User Interface (UI) & User Experience (UX). Both are related to people using a product but looking at things differently. UI focuses on the visual elements of how somebody interacts with a particular product, such as typography, colors, menus, etc. UX focuses more on how the users use that product. The two are clearly related & sometimes designed in similar ways, but there are many differences. Deciding on the core user experience should come before the aspects of user interface design. There are the Best UI/UX design tools come into play.
Whether focusing on UX or UI or trying to bring them together, you need quality tools to achieve your goals.
Best UI/UX Design Tools
1. Sketch
Anybody familiar with UI design knows about Sketch. It is one of the most popular & Best UI/UX design tools. A sketch can execute universal changes by the library of symbols, text styles, layer styles, resizing alignment features, & many more.
The tool helps to save designers time in delivering reliable prototypes. It takes the tiresome jobs out of the designers’ work so they can start creating afresh. Sketch also offers a variety of plug-ins that can be incorporated with it. Like this, designers can use various other tools fully compatible with Sketch.
2. Adobe XD
A list of best designing tools is incomplete without a product of Adobe. All designers are familiar with Adobe graphic products, like Photoshop, InDesign & Illustrator. These flagship software are part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud & are a helpful tool for UX/UI designers. For instance, you can use Photoshop to edit, combine, & make images, graphics, & art.
Adobe Illustrator can be used for creating vector art & illustrations. One part of this Creative Cloud particularly aims at UX/UI designers. With Adobe creative suite, you can make realistic web designs, app designs, brand designs, & game design prototypes. You can subscribe to Adobe XD only to avoid buying the complete Adobe Creative Cloud.
Adobe XD offers many helpful features to help your prototyping. These contain features like vector drawing tools, 3D transforms, reusable elements, repeat grids, auto-animation, content-aware layout & many more.
3. InVision Studio
This platform offers a range of UI software designers must have to create purposeful & fully realized prototypes with active animations & elements.
InVision Studio also makes communication much easier. It offers collaborative features that help designers share their work while it is still in process. They can get immediate feedback & be up to date with vital changes in the design at every step. InVision Studio offers a digital whiteboard that helps all team members share their ideas, interact, & get instant approvals.
4. Balsamiq
Balsamiq is a well-known UI wireframing tool that can reproduce the experience of sketching on a tablet or whiteboard on a computer. You can use it to generate ideas & communicate about the formation of the software or website you are creating. Of course, you should have a good interface formation before you conclude your visual design or write any code.
Balsamiq allows you to focus on formation & content rather than being distracted by elements like colors & other details prematurely. You will find several in-built & community-generated UI controls & icons.
You can easily make templates, masters, and reusable & customizable element libraries you can include in future designs. Balsamiq’s linking capabilities allow you to produce simple prototypes for demos or performance testing.
5. Axure RP
Axure helps UI/UX designers to develop prototypes & to keep track of the workflow. It offers a smooth documentation interface for its users. The prototypes from Axure are extremely well-detailed.
Axure also comes with several other tools. It helps designers to test functionalities. It also helps to put everything together to assist in easy developer exchange. With easier communication, every team member is updated & notified of vital changes & development in real-time.
6. Marvel
No, we aren’t talking about the studio which presented Ironman, Hulk, or Thor. This one of the Best UI Design Tools is famous for making the design method easy for beginners & professionals equally. It can help designers to produce high & low fidelity wireframes. It can also be used to generate interactive prototypes & perform user testing.
Marvel’s interface is very intuitive. It comes with a feature called Handoff. Designers can use it to get all the required CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) styles & HTML (HyperText Markup Language) code.
7. Framer
Framer is a robust design tool to produce striking interactive designs, all on the canvas. You can design realistic websites & apps quickly, with in-built interactive elements, polished resources, layout tools, & many more. It can design UI for apps for iPhones, Androids, MacOS, & many more.
You can select from a range of ready-to-use templates to save your time & stimulate any project, design, or wireframe. These comprise UI kits, like a Landing Page Kit, a Material Design Kit, & an iOS Kit. Additionally, Framer comes with various project management design templates, interactive design templates, website design templates, app design templates & much more.
8. Proto.io
Proto.io offers designers everything they must have to manage, create, test, & incorporate perfect mockups. It makes the collaboration procedure much smoother, helps to develop communication between team members through video feedback & comments, & provides integration with some of the most popular & famous testing tools. Proto.io is quite famous among students as learning the software is very easy.
9. Origami Studio
Origami Studio offers the essential tools to design, animate, & prototype all-in-one software. Yet, it works surprisingly well with other design software– importing from design software like Sketch or InVision is simple as copying & pasting. This is a free design solution that lets designers develop & share interactive interfaces quickly.
It comes with a Canvas where you can visually drag, drop & resize to outline your prototype. Draw & edit various shape layers, text, images, insert videos, & layers imported from Sketch or InVision. You have the ability to group, mask, animate, & modify layers.
Use in-built elements to accelerate your workflow & create your library to share. Visually outline your elements in the Canvas & unite them with robust interactions in the Patch Editor.
Why Should You Use A UI/UX Tool?
Best UI/UX design tools help designers to make interactive & visually appealing digital apps. The following processes benefited from UI/UX design tools during the design procedure:
- User testing.
- Wireframing.
- Prototyping.
- Visual design.
- Optimization.
- Exchange.
FAQ
Q: What are the 4 types of UI (User Interface)?
A: The 4 types of UI are:
- Graphical User Interface (GUI).
- Command Line Interface (CLI).
- Menu-driven user interface.
- Touch user interface.
Q: What are the Best UI/UX design tools for free?
A: There are various free wireframing tools. Adobe XD, Figma & Miro are some companies offering such tools. However, the entire designing suit is not free.
Q: How are these tools different from drawing tools?
A: These tools are much more technical & practical. These tools allow you to outline a fully working prototype. After all, you can’t design an app in MSPaint.