Figma is a browser-based web design tool that lets teams of users collaborate on projects to build interactive user interface prototypes. Users can modify texts, shapes, colors, and images and add functionalities such as hovering, scrolling, or animation to their interface assets.

• collaborative
• Borderless
• Open Sourced

Adobe Illustrator is the industry-leading graphic design tool that lets you design anything you can imagine – from logos and icons to graphics and illustrations – and customize it with professional- level precision, as well as time-saving features like Repeat for Patterns or Global Edits.

• The ability to draw freehand with a variety of digital brushes, pencils, and pens.
• Advanced color options for creating color palettes, filling shapes, using gradient color schemes, and mixing different color effects.
• Tools to quickly create geometric shapes, adjust curvatures, and manipulate lines.
• A library of available fonts with a search capability so you can find the perfect font types to use for your projects.
• A grid feature with anchor points and “snapping” capabilities, allowing you to easily align shapes and lines with accuracy.

Adobe XD is a desktop program made for designing user interfaces and wireframes for a variety of applications. This collaborative tool allows BU educators and students to work together or alone on UI/UX projects, building designs for apps, websites, and much more.

• Design with your team in real-time with Coediting in Adobe XD.
• Adapt your designs to any screen using Responsive Resize.
• Paste objects to multiple artboards to fit a range of screens.
• Create independently scrolling areas within Adobe XD artboards.
• Prototype with real data using the Google Sheets plugin for Adobe XD.
• Use keyboard shortcuts to move, nudge, and resize objects.
• Export and share your XD projects on social media.
• Select multiple objects across groups to simplify edits.
• Make efficient layout changes with Stacks.
• 3D transforms and how to use them in Adobe XD.
• Adobe XD keyboard shortcuts to super-power your design workflow.
• Prototype with real data using the Google Sheets plugin for Adobe XD.

UX sketching is a crucial, yet often overlooked, aspect of user experience design. Sketching is a very efficient way of communicating design while allowing designers to try out a multitude of ideas and iterate them before settling on one.

• Build the sketch up in layers
• Add ‘interactions’ with post-it note instructions
• Photocopy sketches and use them as templates