A design can make or break your mobile app.
A good design is achieved with a compilation of a professional’s skills and the use of the best design tools. The right mobile app design tool not only saves your time but also makes your app look professional in real-time.
Whereas, a poor app design is what is built by overlooking the design process. Put simply, the overall feel of the website quite evidently tells if it’s designed by a professional or by someone with no experience.
Since app design is an important element of the app development process, today, I’ll be exploring the must-have mobile app design tools that every designer out there should know about. All of these are mandatory for fetching your user-friendly mobile app design goals in 2022. The best part, they can make the app design process a lot faster and more efficient!)
But before we dig right into the design tools, let me quickly give you an overview of what mobile app design is.
What is Mobile App Design?
The mobile application design is all about how your app feels, responds, and looks. And, when it comes to building mobile applications, every designer needs to consider the UI/UX design). For instance, the design process comprises two components that together make your app design stand out. These include:
User Interface (UI): The look and feel of the mobile app such as the color, font, style, etc.
User Experience (UX): How the app functions and the experience it offers to the users.
The UI and UX are both necessary and together make a mobile app successful. Besides, new designers are quite likely to overlook the two design elements by thinking UI and UX are the same. Yet, they’re not. If you’re curious, here’s a complete guide that can help you understand the differences between UI vs. UX.
Best Mobile App Design Tools
Let’s check out the tools that can help you create an eye-catching UI design for your upcoming mobile project. Besides, I’ll also be mentioning the pros and cons of each so you get a better idea of what you need to get your hands on next!
#1 Sketch
This is an all-in-one tool for mobile app designers based on macOS. The Sketch is much like Adobe Photoshop but is built mainly for prototyping with the highest prototyping and wireframing space.
Pros:
- • Many UI-centric features like responsive grid guides, layout settings, text style, and more
- • The symbol features allow users to create icons, avatars, and more design elements
- • Ability to modify the design and revert to the original iteration when needed
Cons:
- • To edit photos, you need to combine Sketch with other tools like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop
- • Not great at supporting real-time preview on Windows and Android devices
Platform: macOS.
Users: Apple, Google, Facebook, etc.
Integrations: Jira, Zeplin, Avocode, etc.
Pricing: Paid plan starts at $9 per month.
#2 Figma
Figma is a vector graphics editor and prototyping tool for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. It focuses on user interface and user experience design, with an emphasis on real-time designer collaboration.
Pros:
- • Easily brings advanced transitions to life via Smart Animate
- • Allows design scaling for almost all screens
- • The Figma prototype can be seen on a mobile device
- • Allows reusing published components in the library by other team members
Cons:
- • Doesn’t have access to many resources like icons or components
- • Backed up by a small community
Platform: Web.
Users: Microsoft, Uber, Slack, Braintree, etc.
Integrations: Jira, Trello, Slack, Zeplin, etc.
Pricing: It is free and the paid plan starts at $12 per editor/month.
#3 Marvel
Marvel is a collaboration-based prototyping software for mobile apps. It lets you turn your basic sketches into interactive and tappable prototypes and also lets your test users interact with it.
Pros:
- • Allows collaboration (multiple people can work on a project at once)
- • Huge collection of free-to-use presets, icons, and images for iOS and Android apps
- • Static mockups can be made into interactive prototypes in a matter of minutes
- • Intuitive user interface
Cons:
- • The free version lacks many features
- • The paid version is a bit costly
Platform: Web.
Users: Buzzfeed, IBM, Stripe, Deliveroo, etc.
Integrations: Jira, Dropbox, Slack, Sketch, etc.
Pricing: Free. Paid plans start at $12 per month.
#4 Adobe XD
This is a great vector-based UX design tool. Using this, you can quickly and effectively create interactive prototypes without spending time on writing codes. Adobe Experience Design is not the most popular software by Adobe, yet, it is constantly growing in demand.
Pros:
- • Easy to create elements with character and layout tools
- • Make changes on the fly and see them reflected in your phone right away
- • Easily create high-fidelity designs for iOS and Android screens
Cons:
- • Features like Repeating Objects don’t work
- • Fewer plugins
Platform: Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.
Integrations: Jira, Slack, Zeplin, Avocode, etc.
Pricing: Paid plans start at $9.99 per month.
#5 InVision
InVision is a relatively new platform for designers with which they can design, prototype, and animate. It allows inclusive collaboration within digital product design and development. Also, help quickly turn your ideas into powerful screen designs.
Pros:
- • Makes a static prototype an interactive one
- • Innovative vector-based drawing and visible layers
- • Ability to seamlessly navigate the entire design process
- • Easily add transitions, animations, gestures, interactions, etc.
Cons:
- • Slow navigation
- • Poor web/mobile app performance
Platform: macOS and Windows.
Users: Airbnb, Amazon, HBO, Lyft, etc.
Integrations: Jira, Trello, Slack, etc.
Pricing: Free. Paid plans start at $7.95 per month.
The Last Words
Indeed, design can either make or break an app. However, with the help of the above-mentioned tools, even beginners can get on their way to producing amazing designs. Even though these tools are great, it’s necessary to have the know-how of how to use them. In other words, consistent effort and practice are the way to go.
Besides, if you don’t know where to start, getting mobile app design and development services) from an expert is the best move! Visit Codment) to explore all the possibilities.
Like what you read? Keep an eye on this space for more!
This article was also published here.