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Adobe UX Design App Now Available
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While UX designers often use Adobe’s tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator for their work, Adobe has yet to offer a dedicated UX application until this week. The Adobe UX app is Experience Design CC, and it is now available as a public preview on the Adobe website. Experience Design CC is the next iteration of a tool that Adobe showcased several months ago under the name of Project Comet. The app is currently available only for UX designers working on Mac OS computers, leaving out those who use Windows. If an when it moves to its final version, this tool is likely to be integrated into some of the UX courses offered at American Graphics Institute, or possibly a stand-alone class.
First App Specific to UX Designers from Adobe
Experience Designer is the first app from Adobe built specifically for User Experience designers, and is intended to streamline workflows that often span between other Creative Cloud apps such as Photoshop and Illustrator. In developing Experience Design CC, the company spent time with UX Designers to better understand their workflow using current design tools. Recognizing that as part of designing the UX and UI for apps and websites, multiple visits were required for resizing images or rebuilding prototypes to various sizes. Experience Designer attempts to make this workflow easier for those involved in UI and UX roles.
While Experience Designer, also known as XD, provides drawing tools for creating UI assets, it also includes options for creating wireframes and prototypes as well. The prototypes can include interactions and animations, all of which can be previewed within the same app, which offers both a prototype view for testing the UX, and design view for making revisions. While it can serve as a dedicated UX design tool, Experience Designer can also import assets created using Photoshop and Illustrator. As the CC part of its name suggests, it also integrates with the Creative Cloud.
When working in the design mode, tools are available for drawing, adding and editing text, and creating a layout for a prototype. There are included user interface (UI) kits for designing apps that will be used on iOS devices and Windows computers. Considering that the tool can be used to design Windows apps, it’s odd that Experience Designer is a Mac OS only program.
When a design is ready, it can be shared online at a public URL with one click. You can then get feedback on the UX of your project, iterate, and share again. A free preview of Experience Designer is available at Adobe’s website.
About the author
Jennifer Smith is a user experience designer, educator and author based in Boston. She has worked in the field of user experience design for more than 15 years.She has designed websites, ecommerce sites, apps, and embedded systems. Jennifer designs solutions for mobile, desktop, and iOT devices.
Jennifer delivers UX training and UX consulting for large Fortune 100 companies, small start-ups, and independent software vendors.She has served as a Designer in Residence at Microsoft, assisting third-party app developers to improve their design solutions and create successful user experiences. She has been hired by Adobe and Microsoft to deliver training workshops to their staff, and has traveled to Asia, Europe, India, the Middle East, and across the U.S. to deliver courses and assist on UX design projects. She has extensive knowledge of modern UX Design, and worked closely with major tech companies to create educational material and deliver UX workshops to key partners globally. Jennifer works with a wide range of prototyping tools including XD, Sketch, Balsamiq, Fireworks, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Blend for Visual Studio. She also works extensively in the fields of presentation design and visual design.
Jennifer is also an expert on Photoshop, digital image editing, and photo manipulation. Having written 10 books on Photoshop, and having consulted and provided training to major media companies and businesses around the globe.
Jennifer is the author of more than 20 books on design tools and processes, including Adobe Creative Cloud for Dummies, Adobe Creative Cloud Digital Classroom, and Photoshop Digital Classroom. She has been awarded a Microsoft MVP three times for her work with user experience design in creating apps for touch, desktop, and mobile devices. Jennifer holds the CPUX-F certification from the User Experience Qualification Board and assists others in attaining this designation in leading a UX certification course at American Graphics Institute. She is a candidate for a Master’s degree in Human Factors in Information Design.