Interaction 18: feedback from our very special correspondent

Quentin, UX-Designer & Marketing Manager @UX-Republic went Interaction 18 In Lyon. Like a Hunter S. Thompson of UX-Design, he gives us his experience in a long-term story.

This morning is mine...

We were brilliantly invited by Adobe and I'm very excited! This is the (very) first time that I am going to this conference. The interventions look impressive; Adobe Xd looks extremely promising. And then I go to see Alan Cooper…

Alan cooper ! Alan Cooper! ALAN COOPER!

For the record, my first article for this blog was his portrait: a UX identity card, of sorts. It did something to me to know that I was going to see him and listen to him in person.
– 6:30 a.m. – I jostle in my bed. Monday morning… my train leaves at… 10 am… 25 minutes journey to Gare de Lyon… Ok. I'm (almost) wide.
– 6:34 a.m. – I have time...to get pretty, to squeeze myself a juice full of vitamins, to think about what I'm going to say to Alan (as soon as he comes to meet me, impatient to meet me or vice versa...), to choose my shirt carefully (I have to make a good impression, I take flowers?), to take my shower...

– 9:35!? –  Oops, OOPS, OUPSSS… I slam the door and I run… If I don't miss the train, I promise, I'll tell you!

The train no longer whistles three times

Ok, I'm on the train, it's 9:58 am, I'm not handsome, I sweated while running in the corridors of the metro, I didn't have time to buy flowers, but Alan, I'm coming…!
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That gives me time to tell you a bit about my program for these two days. I have a feeling this is going to be cool:

  • Arrival in Lyons late morning.
  • Lunch with Yohan, Raphael, Jacinthe and Adrien
  • Monday afternoon : XD workshop organized by Adobe and led by André Jay Meissner
  • Monday evening : Interaction evening at the Musée des Confluences and meal with the team
lunch monday noon
Jacinthe, Raphael, Adrien and me (I am happy)

Adobe XD: first meeting…

The objectives of the workshop are quite clear…. (see photo)
IMG_20180205_145103
I'm a big fan of Axure (so what?) but I admit that it's not the easiest to learn. Its ergonomics are not very intuitive for a tool that wants to be the reference in design and prototyping for UX-Designer or Ergonomists.
Anyway, I had never used Xd before. My first impression is that the software is very easy to learn, well thought out, intuitive. It allows rapid prototyping and it interfaces perfectly with the Adobe ecosystem, which is its real strength.

Adobe XD is Adobe's first software to be truly created for designers.

Listen to me, they already have a lot of tools available, but experience and time have gradually diverted their primary use.
Example: Photoshop, which was originally made for photo editing, is mainly used by graphic designers to make HD models. In Design, initially designed for printing, is now mainly used for digital.

By and for UX-Designers

The idea was to create a single tool to do everything in one place:

Wireframes > Graphic Design > Prototyping > Sharing > Testing

It was designed around three main principles:

  1. Lightweight : Typically design software is heavy, XD needs to be able to run in milliseconds
  2. Zero Friction : Thought as a whole, everything must be able to be done inside without leaving the software. Or better, it must be able to interface with any of the other software. It is also cross-platform
  3. Transparent : be very clear about your possibilities, no over-promises but continuous improvement. On the other hand, transparency also means intuitiveness, no needless thinking about how to do something, everything must be so clear that the tool becomes transparent.

 “Take time to do things right”

Adobe is also committed here to defending the principle of excellence, the example taken for this point is that of underlined text. The majority of software offers this basic functionality, but the line used to underline the words cuts the letters at the level of the lower stroke or loops as for the q, the p or the g.
Adobe XD offers underlined text that does not cut the letters as below:

underlining2 adobe

This clearly shows Adobe's desire to take the time to do things well, their desire to put meaning into their functionalities and to do so, not only well but if possible better than elsewhere. The construction of the product is done gradually, according to a process and a UX methodology which is to meet the need, to feed on feedback and to improve continuously.

This makes it a software, in my opinion, still incomplete but very promising.

Features and designers

Highlights seen this afternoon:

  • Artboards (work plan) clear and practical
  • Drag and drop it of an image or text group to intelligently populate a repeat grid
  • Lots of templates graphs already available (example iOS)
  • Publish / Generate graphics specifications easily
  • The symbols, or reusable graphic elements, editable at once, benefiting from modifications wherever the element is displayed.
  • rapid prototyping and intuitive by linking the artboards or the elements of an Artboard between them
  • Real-time sharing between a mobile and the computer in wired mode to view its prototype directly on mobile.
  • video recording of the prototype in action
  • User testing facilitated by the speed of prototyping

In the end, the best advice I can give is to go and see for yourself!
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Adobe XD is very easy to learn, updates regularly with new new features, and is part of a global ecosystem. His ambitions are great and he seems off to a good start!
However…
… It still lacks the necessary functionalities to make it the perfect usable companion, such as being able to fix an element in the browser (ex: mobile header), to add more possibilities of interaction between two elements, or to add different states to an element as Axure allows today.
But I am seduced by its intuitiveness, its continuous evolution and its desire to meet the needs of UX designers. I would use it today for rapid screen prototyping or during a DesignSprint to go quickly but still be able to demonstrate the intentions and interactions of the user flow.

Confluences, Cocktail and Museum

After 4 hours of workshop, to end the day, head to the Musée des Confluences for the opening night of the show. A well-received cocktail, a nice speech, a lot of nice people in the middle of a museum with open doors especially for us for the occasion, the show is giving itself the means and this inaugurates beautiful days to come.
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I'll end the day with my friends at a dinner with Adobe, which definitely welcomes us very well, I'm delighted!
Well it was worth it to run a little this morning and I'm going to bed with one thing in mind: tomorrow I have an appointment with Alan, I hope to be able to sleep!
Quentin, Marketing Manager & UX Coach @UX Republic