Sketch vs. UXPin

Here’s the proofread version: Sketch is a simple and lightweight tool for vector graphics, ideal for individuals. I would recommend it to anyone working alone on design tasks such as UI or website design. I have started and completed many projects in Sketch, ranging from simple websites to complex automotive UIs with extensive libraries.

Incentivized

UXPin is an excellent resource for creating website and app flows and to better help our clients understand how their websites and apps will function. It also gives them a visual reference and some real-life application. It can be difficult for clients to truly understand how a website or an app flows from one page or screen to another via a phone call or web conference. UXPin helps us to illustrate these flows in a hands-on, visual format. UXPin also helps our clients understand the purpose of a sitemap. We used to send our clients a sitemap in an outline format. While many understood that the top-level items on the outline were the main navigation of their website and other items were child pages, several did not. We have found that using UXPin to show the main level navigation, how in-page navigation and child pages (drop-down menus from the main navigation) work has been an integral step in getting approval on sitemaps.

Incentivized

• Sketch is great for drawing and creating shapes, like buttons or icons. It lets you adjust every curve and line perfectly, so you can make your designs look exactly how you want. (All design tools can do that, though).
• Sketch is built just for Apple computers, so it runs smoothly and uses all the special Mac features. If you’re already using Apple tools, Sketch feels like a natural fit. (The downside of this is that non-Apple users can't use it.)
• If you make something, like a button, and need it in many places, Sketch lets you save it as a "Symbol." You can use it repeatedly, and if you change the Symbol, it updates everywhere automatically. (Figma can do this too.)

Incentivized

• Smart elements are super nice because they allow me to create complicated features that will appear on every page. When the client wants to change something it is very easy to do so in one place.
• Working on grid is important to me. Having the ability to change and manipulate that grid in UXPin is just what I need.
• There are tons of add on features like Font Awesome icons and prebuilt stuff that not only looks great, but also just lets me get ideas across fast without committing to what the final design is going to look like.
• I love the ability to edit things if I want. I can control several details, but it's not too overwhelming. They include various font options from Google fonts as well. You can design as much or as little as you want. The interface doesn't get in the way. It's there if you want it but has a simplicity that is nice.
• Having a link on a live webpage is a necessity. As soon as you make changes, they are live. No more worrying about which is the latest version.
• I'm a photoshop user so it has a few keyboard commands that are familiar like hold 'alt', click and drag to duplicate is nice!

Incentivized

• The software can be buggy right after a release. It appears that they do very little QA testing right after releasing a new version
• The software can crash a lot. And when it does, I continuously have issues with it reloading my plugins.
• Only available for Mac. If you have a cross platform team, it may not be the best.
• Lack of features in the software, so you will have to use plugins for those additional features (Designs system management, accessibility, repository and live collaboration without paying a premium)

• No search and replace for fonts (missing or just to replace).
• Tool is built for design/dev teams but does not integrate content teams in well.
• If you are not careful you can get lost in designing interactions when you should be just creating building blocks - don’t over animate!!!
• There is currently no “scrub” or click-drag interaction which limits touch capability testing/concepts.
• Editing adaptive versions of designs is very time consuming, edits to not ripple through from master viewport size. All updates are manual, even when creating an adaptive version.
• When a library item is updated, it can revert changes you have made unknowingly.
• Video integration is limited to online video host aggregators such as IMGR, YouTube, and Vimeo.
• Not a ton of info for a designer on how to use the expressions effectively.
• Prototypes with a lot of interactions can get slow, especially on computers with a lot of security software. It’s best to work with UXPin to figure out what is blocking APIs, and JS.

Sketch is a core tool for us and the cost to keep it going with our teams is low. It provides a good alternative to other screen design tools for our team members who prefer to use it.

Incentivized

We'll definitely continue to use UXPin. Right now it provides us with everything we need in order to deliver quality projects to our clients. If at any point in time, UXPin doesn't provide us with what we need, we'll start vetting other software out there that may be similar. My guess is that UXPin will continue to make updates and improvements so we'll likely stick with it for quite some time.

Incentivized

At the end of the day, it's just simple. This goes a long way in design and goes even further when your talking productivity, intuitive design and turnover rate. It's not difficult to figure something out even if it's not something your directly familiar with, i.e. if you want to export in certain file formats or change the size of the canvas, you don't have to delay your end product trying to figure it out. Similar situations took me less than 30 seconds to solve without a Google search. That's Usability.

Incentivized

The support is relatively decent, and they are quick to respond. However, their releases are not great. Sketch could use more robust testing of their software before releases. Over the last four years, I have had many days lost while waiting for Sketch to patch issues with their releases. It's actually a running joke in our office. So, support, good. Releases in the first place? Not great.

Incentivized

As far as I know, my teams have only had to use the UXPin support once. The experience went really well. We just needed a bit of assistance with using the Documentation feature. UXPin's support was quick and helped my team in a matter of minutes. We will definitely reach out to their support without hesitation in the future.

Incentivized

Sketch's approachable UI allowed those using outdated technologies to transition efficiently. Among its peers, Sketch performs comparably with most prototyping tools. It falls behind compared to those that can better handle movement, like InVision Studio, which combines animation and prototyping into a single platform. However, these types of programs have a steep learning curve, whereas Sketch is approachable immediately.

Incentivized

Adobe XD is so much more than UXPin, with Adobe Cloud you can easily share designs as well. We used Adobe XD before changing to UXPin. At first UXPin seems so advanced and helpful, but don't get fooled. You're heavily limited in the long run, and after all the training and implementation of UXPin (both app-wise for IT but also training designers etc) it is not worth your time.

• Saved time -- Intuitive interface saves us lots of time/money because it is reliable and easy to use. Other programs have caused serious confusion, leading to project delays.
• More captivating wireframes -- Stakeholders have been finding it easier to visualize potential “final products” with vector-based Sketch designs. Because of this, we’ve been able to have more targeted, focused discussions that lead to improved final products (with fewer immediate post-launch revisions!).
• Increased productivity -- Because Sketch is so easy to use, our designers have had more time to do more work. Rather than finagling difficult tools in previously used products, our designers feel no hesitation with Sketch, and are producing more often and more creatively.

Incentivized

• Saving money by using one tool for lo-fi wireframing, high fidelity wireframing, prototyping, and user testing, rather than four separate tools.
• The ability to create and use team libraries enables us to create visually consistent designs with less effort than creating every single design from scratch, which allows us to save considerable time (and therefore money!)
• In-platform collaboration saves our team a lot of time and energy. With everything in one place (wireframes, prototypes, user feedback, collaboration comments), we can all be on the same page about the design workflow and pinpoint discussion points that are based on up-to-date designs.

Incentivized