Sketch Vs. Adobe’s XD

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  • Gordy22

    Thoughts? I use Sketch at the moment but thinking of trying XD. Anyone any experience and opinions?

  • kona1

    hot topic here gordy.

    this time last year i finally talked my last company into moving over to sketch. large, laaaarge internal design ux group working for an antiquated company and process. sketch worked well for us there because it saved the design team time by not having to redline every psd document.

    granted, the designers would somehow get all their files to 2-3gb in photoshop before we made the switch and would complain of performance issues. i always thought it was because they'd put color overlays on everything and everything was a smart object but i digress.

    sketch seemed powerful enough and worked well in that particular instance. they'd design in sketch, then export to zeplin. we'd invite the dev teams to the zeplin groups and they could grab live css from there. viewing work and showing walkthroughs was pretty easy.

    then i came here and it's a much smaller shop. adobe's released some new features for xd and photoshop even. the team uses markly in photoshop if they aren't building in xd specifcally. exporting 2x and 3x is easier in photoshop now as well.

    personally, i've been on ps since PS3 so it was hard for me to switch over to sketch. if i have to use it it's for wireframes.

    my personal opinion, and i'm going to catch flak for it, but i think sketch was designed by engineers and developers to bypass designers. while powerful, there are just some things you can't do in sketch that i need when i design.

    really, it's up to you what you're more comforatable with and what will work best with the process you're in.

    • Nah brah! Photoshop ain't meant for UI design. And you know this! Isn't that why people used Illy for web design before Sketch?studderine
    • I find that Sketch is for layouts, it's not good at all for actual high fidelity design. I'll take PS with smart objects any time.zarkonite
    • lol studderine.kona
    • Don't you LOL me brother! I guess if you are doing a bunch of photo editing or art direction then use Photoshop? Tell me otherwise!?!studderine
    • Its not meant for UI, sure. But designers are so used to it, theres so much you can do in PS. its a more flexible space to work in than most dedicated apps.sofakingback
    • But, if you spend a ton of time on any app, you're gonna get good at it and you're gonna be able to use it for your purpose. I know people still using fireworkssofakingback
    • With that being said, I hope these new applications catch on. New tools lead to new solutions. its all good. :)sofakingback
  • nocomply0

    I've become a huge Sketch fan since I first tried it about 2 years ago.

    But I use it primarily to wireframe web layouts and for web-based UI design.

    I've found it to be far for lightweight and efficient than Photoshop for this purpose. But I still fire up Photoshop almost daily to crop a photo, tweak a graphic, etc...

    I can't speak to XD because I haven't used it yet, but from what I've seen I don't think it's a tool that fits well into my workflow and the type of client work that I do.

  • Gordy220

    Cheers guys. I use Sketch a lot and for the most part love it, but was toying with seeing what XD was like tho' I like the fact Sketch is 'the little guy'.

  • Al_dizzle0

    Sketch.

  • SigDesign0

    Sketch is great for web and mobile applications. Adobe XD is good as well, but Sketch has a lot of plugin development that really helps with workflow. Eventually XD could become the standard, but they've got a ways to go.

    I still use Photoshop for photo editing and more heavy image making stuff, as well as Illustrator for any logos or illustration. Still use InDesign for print stuff and Keynote for decks...

    InVision made this nifty tool for Sketch and Photoshop that lets you sync Artboards. They also recently released 'Inspect Mode', which is essentially a Zeplin competitor, and it works nicely.

    I choose Sketch over Photoshop for web and app design, because it's more lightweight, and if you're designing multiple screens with the same elements (navbar, etc), you can create symbols that you only have to edit once. XD does this as well, but Sketch is more integrated with additional tools.

    • +1 Sketch plus Invision is great for my workflow.monkeyshine
  • sublocked0

    Sketch seems more established, while XD is the upstart in this arena. I think Sketch + InVision is a lot deeper than XD, but you can get quick/dirty results with XD.

    I put together the prototype here (http://subimage.com/blog/2016/0... using XD.

  • Gordy220

    So, a little off topic but related to sketch; I'm working on a product that has a light theme, and a dark theme. I'd like to be able to use the same base layout and toggle between the different version (e.g a button changing from blue to green) - does anyone know of any plugins that can handle this?

    • Don't know but if you find one let me know...skwiotsmith
  • Ranger0

    Anyone got any decent sketch tutorials? I finally got around to sitting down to get my head around it and went to the sketch website's learn section and it's crap. There's nothing on there about getting started. It's about how to develop plugins, etc. Then links to various subscription websites for tutorials. I'm sure it used to have some decent beginner tutorials on there. Adobe is beating them in this respect.

  • mg332

    Yo - are any of you using XD these days after they've added new features and such?

    I had a meeting with an XD rep last week to give us a tour and talk about our design team's workflows and such. I hadn't paid much attention to it in a couple years, and I'm impressed at how it has evolved. Getting off Sketch and into the CC ecosystem for all our design work would create a lot of efficiencies, particularly using Libraries. Right now with Sketch, all our ui kits, style guides, etc. have to be created again if it's a Sketch project. We do as much print work as digital; to have one source of a brand's styles, fonts, imagery, etc. would be huge for us and save so much time.

    I've been excited to check it out and transition a project over from Sketch. As long as XD provides a suitable level of tools, sharing capabilities, dev inspect mode, and other useful features, I'm excited to see what we can gain with it.

    • I moved our team to XD 3 years ago and haven't looked back. We now how a solid workflow built around its shared libraries and reusable components.aliastime
    • Wow, good to know! I might hit you up with some questions. I warned our Adobe rep that they're going to get a lot of "but in Sketch I can" questions from me :Dmg33
    • "We do as much print work as digital" .... sounds like XD is the right tool for your work.nb
    • so if i wireframe in Illustrator and design in photoshop, does this just merge the two plus adds animation? or is this just another cumbersome clusterfuck lol?_niko
    • I also develop so no need to send my vision off to developers; just seems like it adds an unnecessary layer to me._niko
    • XD has added lots of new features and integrations recently. I’m liking it a lot.Gnash
    • I have it as part of the suite so I'll give it a whirl_niko
    • Wireframe in illustrator? Da fuck?nb
    • Ya, wire framing on XD waaaaaay easierGnash
    • yeah I've used moqups in the past but i love illustrator for how quick and dirty it is :)_niko
    • Sketch has been a pain-in-the ass to manage. XD has sounded good for a while but now with my fellow QBNr's endorsement, I think I'll take a closer look.brandonp
    • If you're not using Sketch nor XD yet, go straight to Figma. XD is good if you need to sync with the Adobe universe. Otherwise Figma.nb
    • It’s XD vs Figma
      For me sketch is out of the picture now.
      XD really is impressive though in terms of features, collaboration, prototyping, it’s ultra fast.
      Bullitt
  • bogue2

    If I was going to make a switch from Sketch to anything it would be Figma. And I have made that switch, and it's great.

  • Gnash0
  • Chimp0

    I'm in the process of switching to Figma. Although I have a big portal project for a retainer client all done in Sketch with a whole design system. I'll probably leave that project in Sketch though.

  • _niko0

    So curious when do you go into a wireframing tool like XD?

    A
    1) you mockup design options in photoshop or illustrator for the overall look and feel and get client sign-off

    2) based on chosen designs, you prototype the flow/journey interaction in XD - basically a working website

    3) program site

    4) Profit!!

    or

    B
    1) you mock up wireframes in XD as more of an enhanced sitemap ie basic boxes and shape outlines etc

    2) you mock up design options in photoshop based on the wireframes

    3) program site

    4) Profit!!

    or

    C
    1) do both design and wireframing in XD

    2) program

    3) drink!!!

    • If anything like Sketch or Figma, I'd assume you'd likely do both steps 1 & 2 within XD.duckseason
    • Clearly didn't read down to option C... ;)duckseason
    • Doing more of C than I was a year ago. I used to use illustrator and the move to XD was very straightforwardDaithi
  • whatthefunk0

    Can you build atomic symbols and overrides in XD like you can in Sketch? I've yet to meet an agency or enterprise organization managing a large scale design system in XD. I've said it before, but Sketch, Invision for code inspect, and Abstract for version control is the way to go imho.