Mobile App Design Tools that UI/UX Designers Love

UI/UX is the most important aspect of any mobile application. It is also believed that it is the main factor behind any app’s success. That’s why it has become highly important for mobile app designers to choose the right tools.

Moreover, UI is the first thing that users observe before even downloading the application. Based on the screenshots and descriptions, the user decides whether to download an application or not.

Due to this, UI/UX designers put the extra effort to deliver the best mobile application.

Over the years, there are a wide number of tools introduced for mobile app design. Therefore, it has become challenging for designers to choose tools that help them to initiate tasks quickly and provide better features in their designs.

Here, we will provide you with some of the best tools that all the UI/UX designers can use to improve their speed of work, and create highly intuitive designs that keep users hooked.

But, before that one needs to understand the factors responsible for good app design.

Let’s review them quickly.

Factors responsible for Good App Design

Before starting any project, UI/UX designers have to consider a lot of aspects of the project. This can be solved by asking this question, which is a good app design practice? Based on this, they will be able to identify the app design practices suitable for the application and apply it at the time of designing.

Several standard factors behind any app design are as follows:

• Following the latest platform guidelines
• Using standard UI patterns
• Seamless performance
• Using standard navigation patterns
• Optimized user flow

From the above points, you can observe that an app design stands out if it is quick to understand by the target audience and offers flawless performance. In short, users should be able to use your app without any hindrance.

How to choose the right tool for designing any application?

Before you start a mobile app design, you should carefully select the tool. There isn’t any precise tool to design all kinds of mobile apps. All the designers love to use different tools based on their proficiency.

The selection of a tool should be done based on the requirements of the project and expertise with the tool. Moreover, you should consider some standard factors to select the tool as given below.

Factors to decide the Best Tool for UI Creation

Key points to consider when choosing a tool for your upcoming mobile app design projects are as follows:

• Core Features
• Learning Curve
• Collaboration Possibility
• Maintenance & Support
• Platform compatibility (Android, iOS and other)
• Price
• Ease of use

Now, let’s review some essential mobile app design tools that designers can use to enhance their design process.

Top Mobile App Design Tools for 2020

 

Here we are providing you a list of some best tools for prototyping as well as mockup creation.

1.   Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop has been the go-to-tool of designers for a long time. It was initially released as image-editing software. But now, designers are using it for designing simple to complex wireframes, and UI mockups.

It is not too easy and not too hard. It’s simple for any beginner to understand concepts easily; however, to go somewhat advanced, they want to put more effort.

Compatibility: Windows and Mac

Price: $9.99/month with a free trial

2.   Adobe XD

Adobe XD is divided into two main tabs: Design and Prototype. Using the Design tab, you can build wireframes, screen layouts, highly-interactive prototypes, and other production assets. Using the Prototype tab, you can preview your designs and share them with other team members.

With the support of this tool, developers can instantly move from idea to prototype and then development. Moreover, they can publish and share the prototype with the clients in real-time to get instant feedback.

Compatibility: Windows and Mac

Price: $9.99/month per user

3.   Sketch

Even though Sketch looks like photoshop, it is one of the most robust tools used by designers across the globe. It is easy to understand primary features but to understand advanced features, you need to put more time and effort.

It allows you to transition easily between design screens, integrate animations, and build working prototypes. Moreover, you can share prototypes with the members and get instant feedback.

It has features of 3 awesome tools mainly illustrator, photoshop and omnigraffle.

Compatibility: Mac

Price: Buy for $99

4.   Invision

It is one of the most popular designing tools built by designers for designers. It allows you to convert any static design into a functional prototype. Moreover, it gives you the freedom to integrate various animations, transitions, and gestures for Android, iOS, and web apps.

The Invision tool is very simple to learn. It is a best-suited tool for a team because it offers them continuous communication, receives feedback, and instantly gets ahead.

Compatibility: Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Microsoft Edge

Price: For a single prototype, its price is $15/ month, but if you want to purchase for the whole team, then it costs $99/month.

5.   Marvel

Marvel is an all-in-one tool for designers who want to convert their ideas into reality. It allows developers to create realistic iterations that are important when you are considering user journeys and complex hierarchies.

Moreover, it not only allows you to synchronize your designs from various tools like Photoshop or Sketch or Illustrator but also cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox.

The Dashboard of Marvel is simple to use for both, newbie as well as highly-talented designers. In short, it offers a mixture of various elements along with prototype, design, and collaboration.

Compatibility: Apple App Store  & Google App Store and popular browsers.

Price: It is free for one user and one project, with paid accounts beginning at $12 per month.

6.   Axure RP

Axure XP is one of the leading tools for UI/UX designers. It comes with all the essential features that are useful for application design.

All the designers utilize this tool to create click-through wireframes, sitemaps, optimized user flows, and highly-interactive prototypes.

If you have knowledge of coding, then the app also allows you to do coding. It consists of built-in components and libraries to create designs with ease.

Compatibility: MacOSX and Windows OS

Price: It is available for purchase as well as a subscription. Subscription begins with $29/month and tool purchase begins at $495 per user.

Conclusion

You can use any of the tools listed above to create awesome prototypes and mockups. We suggest you apply app design best practices along with utilizing above UI/UX design tools to create a modern and unique app design.