Item: Adobe XD
Rating: 9
Author: Michael Berchak

Overall Satisfaction with Adobe XD

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am using Adobe XD as part of my digital product development process. I work on the visual and strategy side of the process, and XD helps me develop ideas so that clients can understand and provide feedback to make sure the goals are being achieved. I can build both wireframe mockups quickly as well as prototypes that they can use to check the process out.

Pros and Cons

Pros

It's easy to use, similar to other Adobe products.
Connects well with the Adobe library and other applications

Cons

Given that it's still on the new-ish side, tools and add-ons are still being developed.
Because it is so similar to other Adobe products, I can forget and use the wrong commands from time to time.

Return on Investment

The ease of building wireframes lets ideas get processed and developed quickly, reducing cost.
Building wireframes & prototypes has let stakeholders and users do some early testing to discover problems before going to the development process.

Alternatives Considered

Axure RP

Adobe XD is very comparable to most of the other wireframing and UX builders on the market. One of the big advantages is that it works on both a Mac & PC environment removing a possible tech barrier. The similarity with the other Adobe products makes it easy to get up to speed, with only a little bit of designer training. It was easy to start using it as it's part of the Adobe Creative Cloud system and interacts well with all the products in that line.

Support Rating

I have not had a need to connect with the Adobe XD support team as of yet, but from past experience when dealing with the other products, the support has been very very good, and I would have no reason to think that this product would be any different. There are a good number of training videos on the Adobe site for this product as well as on other social media sites so a quick search should let you find the answers in several different ways.

Key Insights

Do you think Adobe XD delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Adobe XD's feature set?

Yes

Did Adobe XD live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Adobe XD go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Adobe XD again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat DC, Microsoft 365 Business

Likelihood to Recommend

Once you have moved past the pencil-sketch phase, Adobe XD is a great tool to start to build things in the digital realm. It's great at building multiple versions that can be used for testing with users and stakeholders. Adobe XD can produce quality prototypes that are great for helping people to understand your ideas.

It does not have any kind of coding option so you cannot build any kind of functioning asset. I have not discovered a great way to export it to a development arena as of yet but more research might show this.

Using Adobe XD

Users and Roles

1 - Design and creative services. I am responsible for interacting with clients and users to build and test different digital products. As a small independent contractor I need tools that will support me and help me to provide results that are easy to understand and can translate to the build team.