4 Popular Prototyping Tools For UI/UX Designers

When we hear the “prototype” the first thing we think is that it’s a trial model of a newly developed product or item or software. It’s similar for UI/UX designers. But in their case, it’s how the design’s gonna work.

Now it might some confusing but hear me out. When a UI/UX designer prepares a design for an app or website it’s a still image. Though they might present multiple images of what will happen on various actions, those don’t completely help to see how the design would react.

But with prototyping this is possible. Prototyping is mainly showing how the design would perform each action if it were to functionalized.

In the beginning, something like this would have been hard to imagine. Looking up how a design would work without coding was like finding a pegasus on a crowded street. But now with the power of human imagination and determination as well as with the advancement of modern technology lots of new tools are found that not only allow you to check up hover and click actions but also animation and other effects as well.

And all this is possible with the help of some tools that would allow you to do such action. These tools work with all the still designs that you have created and give you the power to arrange them in the order that they are meant to be seen as well as what will occur when you would hover or click or any type of action. This includes animations as well.

Because of this, the value of a UI/UX designer has risen to new heights. Whether it’s for a job as a designer in the physical world, or if you are interested to earn from home online through sites like Upwork, Freelancer, Patreon, Streaming Plug, 99Design, etc. to be recognized as a truly experienced and expert designer you must be familiar with prototyping. Thus you must be aware of tools and the functionality those tools hold.

So let me introduce five such tools that have wonderful prototyping futures that are sure to take your design to a new level.

# Figma

Figma is a web-based application which means that it can be run on any os as long as it has browser access. Though it has a desktop app it’s just an extension of the online version.

It’s quite easy to use and very user-friendly. And with its bundled plugins and prototyping capability it’s one of the best out there. Its main strength is in its team collaboration features which greatly help in team projects especially when working remotely.

Though you can already get a lot of advantages from the free version utmost you could use it for three projects. For the rest, you would need premium designs.

# Adobe XD

It’s an extremely powerful product launch by adobe which was built while trying to give UI/UX designers all the abilities that they needed in one software. It’s one of the best prototyping software out there.

It has a lot of power tools that could allow you to create a simple prototype very fast. Also, it’s able to interact with other adobe products like adobe after effects to deliver slick animation when prototyping. It’s available for both MAC and Windows.

# Sketch

Now sketch is one of the first and most robust UI/UX designing software out there. But the drawback is that it’s mac software. But that doesn’t mean that it’s lagging. Don’t forget that it’s one of the first UI/UX designer tools out there. Also, almost all leading developers use a mac. And since it’s an apple product it’s not a big secret that it’s not free. But unlike other software that requires a monthly subscription, you just have to buy it once and you are set. You would get lifetime updates. And with its added prototyping features you can imagine how powerful it is.

# Invision

When it comes to prototyping UI/UX designers consider Invision as the best there is. It’s a web-based app that is popular for its prototyping capabilities. Though it’s also a powerful UI/UX designing tool. But with the introduction of tools like adobe xd which is able to integrate with after effects to deliver complex animations and provide a better user experience Invision is lagging a bit. In the free version, you are able to use for only one project as for more project you have to subscribe to it.