The Adobe Experience Design (XD) secret software project (dubbed Project Comet) has been an eagerly anticipated release. Now that it’s finally here, it is packed with potential and streamlined for ease of use. Adobe XD has been released as a public preview to invite contributions from the UX community with the goal, explains Adobe, of ensuring that the new product syncs with the diverse and evolving workflows of UX designers. Visual design, prototyping, wireframing, testing, and demoing are all built in. Part-prototype tool, part design app, XD is focused around two tabs: Design and Prototype.
The Design tab features simple vector and text tools, and is used for creating your design. The Prototype tab is for previewing and sharing your design. Finished, or in-progress, designs can be easily shared via public links that can even be opened on mobile. The ultimate aim of Adobe XD is to reduce the friction moving from design, to prototype, and on to presentation, and at least one expert reviewer has said that “the result is an app that can take you from a blank canvas to a custom app simulation in, literally, just a few minutes.” Adobe expects a full commercial release in the next year once feedback is evaluated and bugs worked out.