Photoshop V/S Adobe XD for UI/UX.
Today, I will compare two softwares of adobe (XD vs Photoshop). And in the coming discussion I will tell you about the benefits of using Adobe XD over Photoshop. Photoshop was first released in 1992 and XD was first released in 2016.
1. Cost
Photoshop will cost you more than Adobe XD. Where you have to pay a sum of 16,236 rupees (exclusive of GST) for the subscription of 1 year of Photoshop, Adobe XD is absolutely free. XD is one of the few softwares by adobe which are free.
https://www.adobe.com/in/creativecloud/plans.html?promoid=KTDZX
2. Reason why these software's are made
Photoshop was developed for image editing and it works on raster graphics(pixels). While Adobe XD was developed for designing and prototyping user experience for web and mobile apps, it works on vector graphics(shapes).
3. Responsive
We can create responsive designs on adobe XD easily. Whereas to make a responsive design in Photoshop we have to put a lot of effort and time and after all that, results are not that great. Adobe XD is pretty much smarter than Photoshop.
4. Artboards
We can create art-boards in both Photoshop and XD. But the main problem with Photoshop is, if you create multiple artboards in excess, Photoshop become slow and may crash or hangs while performing tasks, whereas in XD if we create multiple artboards it neither crashes nor become slow.
5.Plugins
There are plenty of plugins available for XD which are very useful some of them are: UI faces, map generator, unsplash random images, material palette, lorem ipsum, alignment, user profile, etc. Whereas in Photoshop there are plugins available but they are not useful for UI designing.
https://helpx.adobe.com/in/xd/help/plugins.html
6.Sharing
In Adobe XD you can share your designs for many purposes like you can share it for getting reviews about your designs, you can share with developers who develop your designs, you can also invite other designers to add to your designs whereas in Photoshop sharing is not allowed.
https://helpx.adobe.com/in/xd/help/share-embed-designs-prototypes.html
7. Storage size
As Photoshop works on raster graphics so it stores data of pixels hence for saving multiple design artboards and to store data of each pixels it needs a lot of space. Whereas adobe XD works on vector graphics and stores data of shapes which occupy less space than pixels so XD file is smaller in size. Where XD save a file work for few MB’s, Photoshop may take space in GB’s for the same file.
8. Assets
https://helpx.adobe.com/xd/help/assets-components.html
There is an option of creating assets in adobe XD which includes colors, character styles and symbols which can be used again and again in same and different files. And the best part is if you change something in parent element of assets it will apply it similarly everywhere in the whole design, now there is no need to repeat things. Photoshop doesn’t serve such facilities.
9. Prototype
Prototypes are used to visualize the navigation between screens or wireframes. It is a facility provided in XD so you can design and link the buttons and screens. And after prototyping the screens, we can play it. This facility is not available in Photoshop.
https://helpx.adobe.com/in/xd/help/create-prototypes.html
10. App
Android applications are available for both the softwares from adobe on play store. Photoshop for android is simple and used only for photo editing. Whereas Adobe XD app is used for visualizing the screen and actions. Simply after designing and prototyping in XD desktop software save it to cloud and open it in mobile phones to visualize the UI. It is hard to judge on desktop how an app UI looks in mobile, and mobile XD app makes its easier and simpler.
11. Tools
Tools are available in both Photoshop and XD. Photoshop is in image editing tool so there are too many tools for editing and tools are prioritizes according to the editing purpose. But in XD there are comparatively fewer tools but they are relevant and useful for UI designs.
Quick summary
Adobe XD was first launched in December 2016. It is absolutely free by adobe. It is specially made for designing and prototyping user experience. It is easier to create responsive designs. It occupies less storage on ROM. There are plenty of plugins available in XD. We can share documents with others for different purposes. We can create assets easily in XD for using it again and again. We can prototype and visualize the content flow. XD app is very useful for mobile designs. There are less relevant but sufficient tools in XD.
Users of XD
Adobe XD is dominating over a greater section in Designing industry within the release of just 3 years.
Thanks for reading
