Centralize design collaboration, developer hand-off, version control, screen flows, & feedback in one tool. Sign up free today. Work with Sketch, Adobe XD, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Figma designs on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Review the lists of free vector software, free drawing software, free photo editing software, and free resources to get music for your videos Try tools for creators by the Icons8 team: Icons8, a library of about 130K+ icons and clip art images. Figma and Adobe XD have been in competition since XD's release in 2016. At first that competition wasn't very stiff, with XD's early releases missing a lot of key features, but things have changed.
Introduction
The development process is all about collaboration. On the one hand, some enthusiasts may be like an all-in-one guru but the result is rarely significant. On the other, quality product requires several specialists to take part. That's why most of the mobile apps become the result of cooperation between software engineers, designers, and QA-specialists.
Don Gillogly Avocado Review
However, the established and well-organized collaboration between developers and designers leads to the most prominent results. Smooth transfer of design and visuals to software engineers and back speeds up the development process and excludes extra tasks related to graphics implementation.
Such automatization can be achieved with the help of specific tools. In this article, we will discuss three of them. These are Sympli, Zeplin, and Avocode.
Overall: Overall, Avocode is a useful tool for communicating design details between designers and developers, with robust navigation tools at the artboard level. However, limitations on its style guide and organization capabilities leave it lacking compared to competitors. The latest mobile & web UI design inspiration in your inbox every week, for free. Join 27,686 designers and product people who get our weekly update.
Sympli
The first position in our list belongs to Sympli. This software design tool is younger than its competitors but already has a solid amount of users. Sympli allows designers to draw in Adobe Photoshop or Sketch and then import graphics directly into the development environment. In practice, the tool saves tons of time on design materials delivery and improves collaboration inside the team.
Most of the export and import features in Sympli require additional plugins. Generally, this is not a disadvantage. Each user can utilize those parts of the functionality that will be demanded. That's why Sympli is quite flexible in terms of design activities in software engineering.
Zeplin
Zeplin is another useful tool for software engineering and design collaboration. Unlike the previous item in our list, Zeplin works as a native application on macOS and Windows. This fact gives it an extra advantage in terms of working offline and accessibility. Also, the tool offers important grid preview and rules features, as well as the ability to move around the screens within one project. Sympli can't do that.
-watermark.xs.jpg "Avocode Review")
Unfortunately, Zeplin doesn't support layers and has less exporting or transferring capabilities. That's why you won't be able to fully automate the process of visuals delivery to developers.
Avocode
Creamy Eye Treatment With Avocado Review
Finally, we should take another design software tool into consideration. Avocode is available on all three major operating systems, so it will work on almost any computer and won't limit the designer's set of graphical tools. Moreover, it supports a lot of assets without any extra fees. Avocode allows designers to avoid writing lines of specifications by automating the process of sharing materials with developers.
The first position in our list belongs to Sympli. This software design tool is younger than its competitors but already has a solid amount of users. Sympli allows designers to draw in Adobe Photoshop or Sketch and then import graphics directly into the development environment. In practice, the tool saves tons of time on design materials delivery and improves collaboration inside the team.
Most of the export and import features in Sympli require additional plugins. Generally, this is not a disadvantage. Each user can utilize those parts of the functionality that will be demanded. That's why Sympli is quite flexible in terms of design activities in software engineering.
Zeplin
Zeplin is another useful tool for software engineering and design collaboration. Unlike the previous item in our list, Zeplin works as a native application on macOS and Windows. This fact gives it an extra advantage in terms of working offline and accessibility. Also, the tool offers important grid preview and rules features, as well as the ability to move around the screens within one project. Sympli can't do that.
Unfortunately, Zeplin doesn't support layers and has less exporting or transferring capabilities. That's why you won't be able to fully automate the process of visuals delivery to developers.
Avocode
Creamy Eye Treatment With Avocado Review
Finally, we should take another design software tool into consideration. Avocode is available on all three major operating systems, so it will work on almost any computer and won't limit the designer's set of graphical tools. Moreover, it supports a lot of assets without any extra fees. Avocode allows designers to avoid writing lines of specifications by automating the process of sharing materials with developers.
However, when you try to open export results in Adobe Photoshop, you may face an issue that all the lines are quite jagged. This problem slightly spoils the overall impression of this useful tool.
Comparison
To figure out the main differences between Sympli, Zeplin, and Avocode, we compared several important features of each tool in the table below.
As for our experience, SCAND mobile department has tested each of these tools and chosen Sympli as the main one. It perfectly fits our needs and requirements allowing to speed up development processes, save more time on routine visuals transfer, and eliminate the need to create design guides for software engineers.
Our designers export their graphics to Sympli that automates all the intermediate tasks. At the output, developers receive implemented visuals right in the development environment, whether it is Xcode or Android Studio. We utilized these tools in all recent mobile products, including the epuBear SDK and the Selfie King app. Also, our customers benefit from reduced development terms and costs.
Bottom-line
All three tools are perfect in terms of collaboration between designers and engineers and are must have in the software developer tools list. They help specialists save and better allocate their time for more productive and effective work. On top of that, they reduce time to market for most of the mobile projects.
SCAND mobile department has already benefited from this collaborative approach to software development and is ready to share the expertise with customers.
