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Can you bring some prototyping competition for Adobe Xd?


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Not sure whether it would be done in Affinity Designer or if it warrants a new app (I lean toward new app myself) but it would be really nice if Affinity put some competition out against Sketch and Adobe Xd. The others, like Figma and InVision, are web-only, so not really even in the running as far as I'm concerned. And Sketch is Mac Only, so again, not an option. This leaves just Adobe Xd as the only viable prototyping software in 2019. It would be awesome to see Affinity put up some competition, considering how formidable you are against even their powerhouse apps, I think the simpler nature of prototyping apps would allow you to utterly dominate them.

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53 minutes ago, TelFiRE said:

The others, like Figma and InVision, are web-only, so not really even in the running as far as I'm concerned

All what I have read everywhere is pointing almost the opposite : Invision and Figma (specially) being preferred (mostly the team work (ie, real time collaboration in Figma) and cross platform aspects of both) by quite some teams and companies (very serious stuff, indeed). Of course, there are Sketch (and was the first, is very mature now) die-hards, it should have to do it really badly or competition do it incredibly well for those to leave that Mac OS-only ship, but definitely, Adobe XD does not seem a strong enough competitor in many areas to the other 3.

53 minutes ago, TelFiRE said:

This leaves just Adobe Xd as the only viable prototyping software in 2019.

For the above stated, and some other reasons, I don't think that can be taken as a fact... (with all respect). I know some friends doing quite some huge bucks with Sketch, others with Figma.

Now, for those needing both prototyping and more involved design, for print or simply more complex design (it is complex in the concept, and all UX knowledge, I am speaking about complexity of nodes, more advanced design operations,  etc)  all those fall short compared to Affinity Designer, Corel or Illustrator. They're different animals, IMO.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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I and many others will never go with a cloud-based solution. I just can't stomach putting all my eggs in one startup's basket or not controlling my files. To each their own. Even if Affinity doesn't succeed, I have my files and they can be converted to other programs.

The collaboration features are great but they just don't come anywhere close to overcoming that for me.

8 hours ago, SrPx said:

For the above stated, and some other reasons, I don't think that can be taken as a fact... (with all respect). I know some friends doing quite some huge bucks with Sketch, others with Figma.

 

For the above stated, and some other reasons, it is a fact. You don't get to decide what's viable to me. Sorry, but what your friends are doing has no bearing on my decision. I already gave my reasoning as to why Adobe Xd is currently the only option for me.

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I work with Justinmind and have worked with Axure. Both are professional level tools widely in use, and leave Adobe XD in their dust. I never understood why anyone views XD as a high-level prototyping tool, because it is very limited compared.

Axure and Justinmind are off-line desktop tools, btw, and available for Windows and Mac.

https://www.justinmind.com/

https://www.axure.com/

 

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5 hours ago, TelFiRE said:

For the above stated, and some other reasons, it is a fact. You don't get to decide what's viable to me. Sorry, but what your friends are doing has no bearing on my decision. I already gave my reasoning as to why Adobe Xd is currently the only option for me.

Quote

This leaves just Adobe Xd as the only viable prototyping software in 2019.

In your original post (second quote here) it was a general statement, and I was even quoting it.  The "for me" part wasn't in it (neither it is at the time of me writing this), but stating Adobe XD is the only viable prototyping software in 2019. Neither I was saying what is viable for you or what not. And even less if I can "decide" or "get to decide" anything for your use cases. The mention about some colleagues was only a not so important addition compared to the other reasons, you can just simply google what is the general consensus about it all, generally pretty matches what I said. Anyway, basing on English language, I was only replying to a generic statement , as if not specified, was understood it was mentioned in general, for most people, as you did not specify that the others were bad only for your use case but not in general. It is extremely different to say that a product is not viable or not good, than saying is not good for me, or does not fit my particular needs. The former would leave those other products in a bad place for everyone, while the latter can have many factors in it (own level of pro experience,  personal taste, etc).

But I agree about cloud subscriptions, I dislike them as well.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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10 hours ago, Medical Officer Bones said:

I work with Justinmind and have worked with Axure. Both are professional level tools widely in use, and leave Adobe XD in their dust. I never understood why anyone views XD as a high-level prototyping tool, because it is very limited compared.

Axure and Justinmind are off-line desktop tools, btw, and available for Windows and Mac.

https://www.justinmind.com/

https://www.axure.com/

 

Cool! I had not heard of JustinMind. And Axure looks to have come a very long way since I used it years ago. I will definitely have a look at these.

Edit: Ugh, software that charges monthly again. No. NO. This is not an acceptable business model, I am completely disinterested. F**k these companies, I am so filthy sick of money-grubbing greedy ass pieces of shit who think they can do something once and then get paid over and over forever. F**k these companies every bit as much as Adobe. I can't believe they have the nerve to do that when they aren't even providing a service like Figma and Invision.

10 hours ago, ashf said:

Figma may not be completely offline solution but they have a desktop client.
Also they utilize WebAssembly which is cutting edge web technology so their performance is very good. as good as Affinity or Sketch.

Fastest Design Software for MacOS(French article)
https://www.macg.co/logiciels/2019/07/quel-est-loutil-de-design-le-plus-rapide-sur-macos-107331

In order for me to use it software has to have a native client that works fully while offline and allows me to control my own files and convert my files to other programs if desired. Sorry but no matter how good a web app is, it does not perform on the level of a native app. That's simply not possible in a browser. Too many unnecessary bottlenecks, and wrapping the app in your own mini-browser and claiming it's native doesn't solve them. But even if it did, Figma still fails the offline and file control tests.

10 hours ago, ashf said:

New competitor in prototyping league showed up called Drama.
Mac only solution like Sketch though.

https://www.drama.app/beta

Not an option if it doesn't run on both Windows and Mac. Don't see why anyone would bother making an app that isn't cross-platform in 2019.

8 hours ago, SrPx said:

In your original post (second quote here) it was a general statement, and I was even quoting it.  The "for me" part wasn't in it (neither it is at the time of me writing this), but stating Adobe XD is the only viable prototyping software in 2019. Neither I was saying what is viable for you or what not. And even less if I can "decide" or "get to decide" anything for your use cases. The mention about some colleagues was only a not so important addition compared to the other reasons, you can just simply google what is the general consensus about it all, generally pretty matches what I said. Anyway, basing on English language, I was only replying to a generic statement , as if not specified, was understood it was mentioned in general, for most people, as you did not specify that the others were bad only for your use case but not in general. It is extremely different to say that a product is not viable or not good, than saying is not good for me, or does not fit my particular needs. The former would leave those other products in a bad place for everyone, while the latter can have many factors in it (own level of pro experience,  personal taste, etc).

But I agree about cloud subscriptions, I dislike them as well.

4
4

It's obviously not possible for me to make that statement with regards to others' preferences. It is implied that I am talking about my own situation. The word "viable" doesn't even make sense out of a specific personal context which I had already shared. Sentences are not meant to be read in a vacuum. Intentionally refusing to acknowledge the context in order to be pedantic and rude for no reason is going to cause you and the people you interact with a lot of problems in life.

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Sure, I agree with that being cross platform is important.

Serif seems to need to release new software constantly in order to gain their income.
If there's much demand for something, it might be possible.
They seems to be developing DAM software now.
So it will be next to DAM if they agreed.

But on the other hand, I feel it might be better to implement prototyping feature to current Affinity products.

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22 hours ago, TelFiRE said:

Cool! I had not heard of JustinMind. And Axure looks to have come a very long way since I used it years ago. I will definitely have a look at these.

Edit: Ugh, software that charges monthly again. No. NO. This is not an acceptable business model, I am completely disinterested. F**k these companies, I am so filthy sick of money-grubbing greedy ass pieces of shit who think they can do something once and then get paid over and over forever. F**k these companies every bit as much as Adobe. I can't believe they have the nerve to do that when they aren't even providing a service like Figma and Invision.

Both companies also offer full perpetual licenses, aside from subs. Click on the perpetual links on their pricing pages.

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  • 4 months later...

Currently Affinity is very incomplete in terms of typography especially for non-Latin language users.
So it's not useful for printing/publishing.
In order to make Affinity usable, there need to be additional use cases.
Such as alternative to Powerpoint, XD.

I know many people using Affinity for presentation or prototyping.
 

Or please make the typography feature complete first instead.

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  • 5 months later...
On 8/9/2019 at 8:42 PM, ashf said:

Sure, I agree with that being cross platform is important.

Serif seems to need to release new software constantly in order to gain their income.
If there's much demand for something, it might be possible.
They seems to be developing DAM software now.
So it will be next to DAM if they agreed.

But on the other hand, I feel it might be better to implement prototyping feature to current Affinity products.

1. What is a DAM software? @ashf

2. I totally agree with you, Affinity should develop and release a new prototyping tool. With this new product they could expand their business.

iOS Swift Developer  SwiftUI Designer and Animator @ SwiftUI Masterclass Course

robert-petras-ios-developer.png

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@Robert Petras
DAM = Digital Asset Management = Lightroom (just to mention a common name in the game)

IMHO a good alternative to Lightroom would be the most important next step - because workflows are different when you split it between LR and PS compared to AP. You usually do the RAW development including batch adaption to similar pictures in LR, and only the finer work in PS. Many photographers do 70% or more of their work in LR. This initial step is missing for AP. Furthermore the initial import of pictures into LR creates a lock-in of users into the Creatice Cloud, so they continue working in the Adobe ecosystem.

I use GraphicConverter on my Mac to replace LR, which is a fine piece of software. But of course it is not integrated into the Affinity Suite, which reduces the ability to really set up a workflow.

With building a replacement to PowerPoint, I disagree. PP draws a lot from its integration with other office programs, and has a different approach than the Affinity Suite. That people use it instead of PP may be driven by not having, or not knowing PP good enough. So they stick with what they have and use. There are good alternatives to PP (like Keynote), so there is not much to gain from this extension.

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1. Thanks @Blende21! I see now what DAM stands for.

2. As for PP. I consider it rather an office presentation tool than a professional prototyping software. I still consider developing new design/prototyping app to be beneficial for Serif. But who knows, this field turned to be quite saturated so it could be late for make this move.

We shall see what developers at Serif is cooking this year for us. An eBook export feature in Affinity Publisher would be welcome for lots of us for sure ;-')

iOS Swift Developer  SwiftUI Designer and Animator @ SwiftUI Masterclass Course

robert-petras-ios-developer.png

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