The lock-down that was imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic was supposed to provide most of us with loads of time on our hands due to self-isolation and was meant to be a time where we catch up on college work, complete extra courses and take care of our health and well-being.
The beginning of the lock-down wasn’t as productive as I’d hoped it would be since 8:30 am – 4:15 pm online classes were a new form of learning, which was proved more troublesome due to technical and network difficulties during video conferencing and coupled with extra assignments, left little to no time unless an effective schedule was drawn up and strictly adhered to.
This did take quite a while but beginning the extra courses later than expected did not hinder the learning process.
After researching on the globally available resource, a.k.a. the internet, more specifically, on the official Adobe website, which provided the following apps required for UI and UX design:
· Adobe XD
· Adobe Photoshop
· Adobe Illustrator
· Adobe Dreamweaver
Taking a step back, I realized that we, students, are a little poorly off when it comes to finances and we have to be careful before investing in anything, especially during these testing times.
Hence, I decided to test the waters before taking a plunge and learn to use Adobe XD first before subscribing to the Adobe Creative Cloud, as this application has a free version.
Check with the University you are studying at beforehand, since some of them provide Adobe Creative Cloud services for students either free of cost or for a reduced price.
What is Adobe XD?
Adobe XD is a design and collaboration tool generally used to design:
· Websites
· Mobile apps
· Voice interfaces
· Games
to name a few applications.
I was particularly looking towards creating designs for mobile applications and smartwatches, but decided to start with web pages first.
Stick to the end of this article for the download link
I took a course on how to use Adobe XD including Add Ons, Plugins, UI Kits, App Integrations, Interface, and Tools which will help create Mobile and Desktop previews, using Photoshop files, Illustrator files, Sketch files, working with Mock-ups and designing using UI Kits.
Adobe does provide a small tutorial on how to use the application, but it is advisable to take up a full course with the right content to learn all functions and features.
Adobe XD – Progress Report : How much did I learn?
Given below is the progress report from
a) when I started the course:
b) when I completed the course:
Sample prototyping of a project
Bonus: Adobe XD Shortcuts:
Here are a few important shortcuts that may be required as a beginner and will come in handy:
· V — select
· E — Ellipse
· R — Rectangle
· Y — Polygon
· T — Text
· L — Line
· A — Artboard
· P — Pen
· Ctrl + [to zoom in]
· Ctrl – [to zoom out]
· Ctrl N — to create a design from scratch
· Ctrl O — to open Photoshop/Sketch/Illustrator file
· Alt+F4 — Quit
· Ctrl+ Z — Undo
· Ctrl+Shift +Z — Redo
· Ctrl+S — Save
· Ctrl+Shift+S — Save as
· Ctrl+Shift+I — Import
Considering all of the ones listed here, the save (Ctrl S) and undo (Ctrl Z) shortcuts are true life-savers and come in handy while you are working on a project. Note that none of the shortcuts mentioned above are case sensitive.
If you require more shortcuts or want to learn more shortcuts out of interest, you can attain a detailed list of shortcuts used in Adobe XD in the link given below:
Noteworthy resources to check out:
Platforms that provide free courses: Udemy, Code Academy, Coursera, Unacademy, SoloLearn.
Adobe applications for UI and UX design: Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Dreamweaver.
Adobe applications for video editing (to showcase UI and UX designs): Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects.
Adobe XD download link:
Adobe XD Download — Adobe Products
Note: This article is not sponsored and is purely based on the author’s opinions and personal experience on the journey of learning. None of the links provided here are affiliate links and are provided only for the purpose of learning.
The author is a student completing an Engineering Degree in Computer Science with Specialization in Cloud Technology and Mobile Applications.
Check out the Medium.com article here (published: August 29, 2020)
JOTMOS 