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Invision Studio is an all in one hi-fidelity prototyping & animation tool that competes with sketch, figma and the new framer x. The youngest application on our list, and Invision’s newest app release. Strengths : Simplicity, collaboration, developer hand-off. When to use: Rapid prototyping.To show click-through and flows. On the other hand, its very limited interactions and transitions makes it a terrible tool to show complex animations/interactions, and it doesn’t act like a realistic app experience when interacting with it. Its cloud hosting makes it an incredible tool for remote sharing with others, remote testing, commenting and collaborating, and even creates developer assets and specifications with Invision Inspect. It syncs with most design tools and has plugins for easy uploading.
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It’s sheer simplicity makes it easy for any one to pick up in seconds.
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Invision is by far the most common prototyping tool. For giving developers reference to interactions. When to use: As a tool to show interactions in presentations or stakeholder approval. It also doesn’t generate any developer handoffs, so it’s only useful as a reference for your developers to try to replicate. Additionally, Principle’s lack of cloud hosting makes it hard to share prototypes remotely, and harder to use for remote usability testing. It syncs instantly with your Sketch or Figma files, but lacks compatibility with other design tools. It has the ability to record videos, gifs, with and without cursors, which makes it great for presentations or to give to developers for animation reference. Your final prototype will feel like you are interacting with a real app, which makes it a great source for in-person usability testing. Principle is a fantastic prototyping tool which allows for great animations, micro-interactions, page transitions, and very high-fidelity prototypes. Here’s my list of my favorite, easy to pick up, and powerful prototyping tools ( in no specific order, like I said, each tool is beneficial to different scenarios) Principle I have created a list below of what I think are the best prototyping tools for both veteran and beginner designers, their strengths and weaknesses, and which scenario each tool serves its best purpose. To make matters worse there is an even greater number of prototyping tools available to use nowadays, this can seem intimidating especially to a new designer. Developer Handoff: How does the tool aid in the development handoff process? Does it generate developer assets and specifications?.Sync with design tools: Does it easily import designs from my favorite design tools?.Utilizing it for usability testing: Can I use my prototype to conduct usability testing? How useful is it to test interactions with users?.
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