Affinity designer vs sketch 2018 free download

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hard to tell since it depends on what you want to do primary here vector or bitmap drawing and photo manipulation. You can download a. The perfect app for creatives and other professionals looking to create high-quality concept art, illustrations, logos, icons, UI designs, mock-ups and. It doesn’t have the depth of software like Adobe Illustrator or Affinity Designer, but we think it has everything that most people need for UI.
 
 

 

Affinity Designer for Windows 10 – Free download and software reviews – CNET Download.Affinity Designer: award-winning graphic design software

 

We care about your privacy and automatically agree to the following NDA. If you are a UI designer on Windows, until recently your only options were Photoshop, Illustrator, or online tools like Webflow. Traditionally, user interfaces were designed as high-fidelity mockups in Photoshop. They were then delivered to stakeholders for approval.

Here are some common characteristics of them:. Our goal is to create a team page that would display team members and allow a new team member to apply. Figma — the most noticeable difference in is background blur on the images.

Adobe XD does them more nicely. Adobe XD interface click on the image for large version. The hamburger menu on the top left hides menu for the files operations. Right from it there are two tabs for switching between the Design and Prototype mode.

On the bottom there are icons for Layers and Symbols. In the middle, there is a canvas to which you can add an unlimited number of artboards. On the right, there is a property inspector, which displays all options of the currently selected item.

The property inspector cannot be hidden for now. To start working with Figma, sign up on their website. While Figma is a web based tool, I strongly recommend getting a desktop app. Not only does it allow the use of keyboard shortcuts more consistently, but working with the desktop app gives you a somewhat more realistic feeling. Even though Figma is fast as a web app, it feels even faster as a desktop app. Figma desktop app displayed click on the image for large version.

On the top we have the application menu, which is a duplicate of the hamburger menu used in the web app. Below there is a row with the clock icon linking to the dashboard with your files, then the tabs with opened files. In the middle you can rename a file, and on the right there is a Share button, View settings , Zoom level, and Export functionality.

Below is the Objects panel, with frames, groups, and layers, followed by the canvas and Properties Panel. Figma has rulers and guides. Sign up to get a 10 day trial version of Affinity Designer.

Affinity Designer interface click on the image for large version. The slightly more complex interface of Affinity Designer is reminiscent of Photoshop or Illustrator. We can see this is a multipurpose tool oriented on illustrators too. Contrary to Figma and Adobe XD, it allows you to reorganize panels.

It also has advanced grid and guides managers. Grid and guides manager in Affinity Designer. When you create a new file in one of the tools, you will start with an empty canvas.

On the canvas, you can create an unlimited number of artboards. An artboard is like a frame for your design. Figma takes the concept of artboards even further — instead of artboards, it uses frames, and you can nest one frame within another. A frame creates a new context for its child elements — you can align them to the frame bounds and also set constraints in that respect. For example, if the parent frame expands, the child element can stick to one side of it, scale with it, etc.

This is very much like front-end development, where child elements are nested in parent elements in the DOM tree. Designing in Figma is a lot about creating frames to group elements or components. As you can see in the following image, you can manipulate the frame in many ways and also set constraints. Contrary to that of Figma, in Adobe XD you can only group related elements, as group options are quite limited. It uses group and also implements constraints.

The groups create bounds for the child elements. In Adobe XD we can describe this relation in the Prototype mode. Figma has recently introduced prototyping mode , too.

Notice how both the Team and Thanks page share some parts, like header and footer; we will make these parts reusable so later we can update them easily. In Adobe XD we can achieve this by using symbols. When you update any other property of any instance, like color, all symbols update as well. Symbols cannot be shared across different files, but this is a feature Adobe has already started to work on. The main difference is that when you convert an element to a component in Figma, it becomes a master component.

Instances are true instances , and any overrides to them do not automatically update the master component. Figma also has a special feature called Team Library , which allows the sharing of components across the files. If you add a component to the Library, it becomes available in other files and you can update your components from the libraries. Updating components from Team Library in Figma. This is a great feature to build a components library or a design system. Note, that since July 1st, this feature is only available in the paid plans.

Symbols in Affinity Designer work similarly to those in Adobe XD, but you can override more properties of the instance.

Components cannot be shared across more files either. Adobe XD implements Repeat Grid for easy replication of elements. Check out a small demonstration that shows how easily we can update and repeat elements:.

Adobe XD repeat grid is easy to work with; we can update content by dropping images and a text file on them. Always try to think about and set constraints of the child elements right away to save you time later. To change the position of elements on the layout grid, you need change the number of rows and reposition the elements. When you resize groups in Adobe XD, some child elements may resize in a weird way. Affinity Designer implements constraints in similar way as Figma.

Once you have the basics of your design done, you may want to give it a few bells and whistles here and there. All three tools can accomplish most of the task you may need for UI, but of course, they cannot fully compete with Photoshop or Illustrator.

On the other hand, however, using colors , gradients , effects like shadows or background blur, or masking is often easier and more intuitive in these tools. If there is some feature lacking that is easier work with the text styles. Currently only Affinity Designer allows you to define text styles, although their usage is a bit cumbersome. If you want to reuse text in Adobe XD, you have to use symbols. In Figma you can use text components, and use them inside other components.

Figma allows for the easy sharing of files , multi editing, and commenting. Figma allows to you copy CSS styles from elements. Adobe XD has advanced sharing abilities, too. For me, the ideal tool would be a Figma with two features added from Adobe XD — repeat grids and a prototyping functionality.

Because Figma is web based, it was immediately available on all operating systems. Hopefully, the next months will bring more new features , especially constraints or a system similar to them. This can be both an advantage or a disadvantage for someone. For many people, the one time fee can also be attractive.

Subscribe to our newsletter for fresh, unique content from industry experts. Lubos Kmetko LinkedIn. Lubos Kmetko started to work for Xfive as a front-end developer in He currently helps with business operations and writes for the Xfive blog. Adobe XD is not usable at all for design.

At least in the beta status. It sounds very promising but due to the lack of features like symbols, guides it does not support you at all All of your screenshots show Symbols already in Adobe XD. Right above the layers button is the symbols button. And at least XD does have smart guides in the absence of persistent guides right now. It’s been added in the June’s release as mentioned in the article. There is also this little tool called Sketch. Maybe you have heard of it since Adobe essentially copied it when making XD.

I would check it out. This article is a comparison of UI design tools on Windows. You can compose brand-new interactions without codes and run on the smartphones immediately. Great comparison. I am currently considering if I should use Figma and get to know it better or Affinity Designer.