Every designer's trusted partner: Top Prototyping Tools for UI UX
Prototyping is vital in UX design as it enhances collaboration, saves time, and helps gather feedback. Choosing the right prototyping tool depends on your project's goals.
There is no better way to confirm the requirements and expectations of a customer than building a prototype.
Though Business requirements specifications/software specifications are useful many don’t read all those lengthy documents and find it difficult to visualise.
A prototype can be defined as a model that is created to evaluate a design or product concept.
The article provides a comprehensive list of the best prototyping tools and explains the importance of prototyping in the UX design process.
Why Prototyping is Important
Prototyping helps in better collaboration and communication among designers as well as between designers and clients.
It allows the UX designers to show the stakeholders a visual model of the end product, which helps them better understand the design.
It also enables the designers to overcome hurdles that only become evident when real-life testing is done.
Another advantage of prototyping is that it provides feedback. Team members and test users interact with the prototype and can identify the areas of improvement.
This helps in iteration at a lower cost and also saves time. Quality prototyping can be done by using the best prototyping tools.
How to Choose the Best Prototyping Tools
Prototyping tools aid in demonstrating user flows and also assist in early testing. With the right tools, prototyping becomes easy, quick, and cost-effective. Now, how to find the right tool for your project?
It depends on several factors such as:
By considering these factors, you should be able to choose the finest prototyping tools that illustrate the purpose of your design, helps you save time and money, and obtain valuable feedback.
Which Are the Best Prototyping Tools for UI/UX Designers
Now, let’s take a look at the 15 best prototyping tools that will help UX designers to develop an interactive portrayal of their design ideas.
1. Figma
Figma is a cloud-based tool with browser and native app support that can be used to design, prototype, and collaborate.
It is easy to use, has excellent value for money, and does not require any coding knowledge to add interactivity to designs.
It’s quick sharing, real-time feedback, and seamless collaboration in the cloud makes it stand out among the online prototyping tools.
Consistency is essential in UX design. Figma simplifies the consistent management of text, grids, and other design elements in design projects.
The platform also has useful plugins like Autoflow for showcasing user flow and Figmotion for animation.
These powerful features make Figma a standout choice, drawing the interest of UX designers worldwide.
Figma offers a free plan, while the paid plan starts at $12 per editor per month. However, there is no trial available for the paid plan.
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2. Sketch
Sketch is one of the most widely used prototyping tools today. It is an entirely vector-based design tool, which means it is easy to adapt to change in size, style, and layout.
It is fast, efficient, and has a simple interface using which high-quality graphics and artwork can be created.
With Sketch, the transition between different screens can be done seamlessly. It also provides ease of repeating elements such as buttons, bars, etc. with simple copy-pasting.
Consistency and uniformity are two main attributes of Sketch. The well-defined user interface, ease of use, and lightning-fast prototyping make Sketch an industry standard for prototyping among every UI UX design company.
Sketch's paid plan begins at $10 per month, billed annually, and includes a 30-day trial period for subscribers to explore its features before committing.
3. Adobe XD
Adobe products are a league of their own, and Adobe XD keeps up this standard.
Adobe XD is an all in one app that lets you create wireframes, prototypes, and design for websites, mobile apps, voice interfaces, games, etc.
It allows seamless integration with other products from the Adobe family, which is a big plus.
Because of easy integration, designers can import files from Photoshop or Illustrator without trouble.
It is a feature-rich tool that allows designers to view designs on actual devices in real-time and comment on prototypes.
With Adobe XD, it is easy to switch from design to prototype mode, add interactions, share with the team, and receive feedback.
Its reliability makes it one of the greatest prototyping tools in the market. The Adobe XD Single App Monthly subscription is priced at $9.99 per month.
4. InVision
The acclaim for the most popular prototyping tool goes to InVision. Top companies such as Netflix, Amazon, Twitter, Airbnb, LinkedIn, etc. use InVision for their app prototyping.
It is a robust tool and is continuously updated with new features, thus improving its efficiency.
By uploading static images and adding animations and interactions, it is possible to create clickable prototypes easily.
It has a drag and drop design feature and is compatible with multiple image types. InVision supports real-time comments and provides an option to organize designs lists into to-do lists, under review, approved, etc.
Collaboration and communication are two strong pillars of InVision, and its well-established reputation makes it a favourite among designers.
InVision offers a free plan, and for those opting for a paid subscription, the starting price is $15 per month.
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