What is the future of XD after Adobe's failed acquisition of Figma?

[Tan34583873up61]

What is the future of XD after Adobe's failed acquisition of Figma?

[Chris W. Griffith]

This question has been asked multiple times in this forum. XD remains in maintance mode, and with all likehood stay that way. The product management team has moved on to other efforts in Adobe or left. You need to transition you work to another solution.

[timberfoster]

Is this really the best answer Adobe has for UI design & prototyping going forward? Find another option ... brutal

[Joseph Labrecque]

Yep. Not great. They've really screwed themselves killing XD. 

[Chris W. Griffith]

Should we tell them about Fireworks? 😉

[timberfoster]

🤣

[Bartosz Gołębiowski]

Years ago when they was killing Fireworks, during some Photoshop webinar I have asked why they were doing it. Someone from the team answered they can do better... no more comments needed.
XD did not existed at that time.

[andiF]

They didn't do better, Photoshop never had the export ability that Fireworks had on the fine margins of Kilobyte export and never integrated the dev capabilities of DreamWeaver into bridging the Design Dev gap as Figma is doing today. The problem is they've just found out that you can't just purchase your way out of the competitive market anymore. I have used and loved Adobe since they began, but not all of their decisions have been good ones! As for Ai (algorithm layered upon algorithm, is it real Ai?) constructed by non-visual mindsets, it's still in its infancy. The dissertation/library approach to visualisation goes against true innovative visual creativity!

[bdub]

that was a real S-Show wasn't it?

[CJG-MNZ]

Is this an official statement by Adobe?

[Chris W. Griffith]

No. But I would consider the fact that it is in maintaince mode as the "official" statement.

[CJG-MNZ]

Sure, but that was when the FIGMA deal was in sight … 

[Chris W. Griffith]

The team is gone onto other things. XD was slowing down before the Figma deal was even annouced. I know it is not official, but XD is dead. Period. End of Story.

[CJG-MNZ]

And you are sure that Adobe will give up UX/UI-Design *forever* and *definitely* and we should all move to FIGMA (as we would have done after the deal anyway sooner or later) … ? 

[Chris W. Griffith]

Don't think the ROI is there for them to re-enter this marketspace. You need to find a tool that works for your needs. There are more tools than just Figma, so you need to see what works for your workflows.

[Dan Rodney]

I don't speak for Adobe (I'm not an employee), and only Adobe can make an official announcement about what their plans are. We'd all love to see that. But with Sketch being Mac only, XD in maintenance mode and not offered to new users, Figma has basically won the market for the forseable future. Adobe tried with XD, gave up to take a gamble with Figma and it didn't work out. That puts them in an unfortunate place that would be very hard to come back from.

I've used and seen apps come and go over the past 25+ years: Photoshop, ImageReady, Fireworks, etc. so nothing is set in stone. No one knows what will happen in the years to come, but for now I personally think Figma is the safest option.

[joel246759296dg5]

I think it sums up where we are at the moment. "nothing is set in stone" However yes, Figma has a lot more public momentum to be probably the best application. But is it all encompassing without any other Adobe applications?

[bdub]

I must admit, Figma does rock... hopeing for more than a filter to produce code. HOWEVER, but it's so nible and such resonbsiveness online is a feat i have not seen accomplished, so fluidly and elegantly before, which something i think Adobe has lost sight of. 

[MGUX]

EXACTLY.  I'll wait for some OFFICIAL announcement (won't hold my breath though).

[Wim5F94]

@Chris W. GriffithI wholeheartedly agree with your comments. It is obvious XD is dead and Adobe silently removed it from the listed apps of standard CC suite I read? Another silent death, just like Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Muse, and so on.

We worked with XD in a team environement at our company and the horrendously limited collab forced our hands to switch to Figma a while ago. (What a difference, btw! Best decision we made!) Then when we heard Adobe was going to do its usual "if we can't win we will just buy out the competition" we grew anxious about Figma's future, because if history taught us one thing is that Adobe's management is well equipped to run acquired Web and UX related apps into the ground.

So we found Penpot, which is open source and can be self-hosted on our servers. Mostly a Figma clone. Still some rough edges, but we were ready to jump ship once again. Now that the acquisition thankfully failed, we will continue with Figma for the time being, but keep a close eye on Figma's business path and run more Penpot tests.

If anything is to be learned from all of this, it is that relying on third-party cloud-based tools can be very very fragile for a business. Adobe is king of the untrustworthy in my book. They are not interested in their users (anymore). The way XD, Muse, Fireworks, etc. customers are treated just proves it.

[Diapason30478635geu5]

I'm exploring Penpot right now and it looks very interesting. Collab, code specs, self hosted.. hmmm delicious.. I'll give it a try, thank you very much!

[Eugenio27816975jovd]

Hi!

However, I really struggle to think that Adobe is really abandoning the game: not having UI software means you are missing a fundamental piece of the ecosystem.

Figma is fantastic but as a designer I find it infinitely more convenient XD... for the convenience of switching between XD/AI/ps/xd etc... just say copy and paste....

Do you really think Adobe wants this piece missing? It's dangerous.

I teach graphic design at the college and my students have started to use figma also to make drafts of posters, leaflets,... some draw logos.

Having said that, I really need to know if I should start studying figma seriously 🙂

Hi everyone

e.

[joel246759296dg5]

Awesome response. I am in the same boat. I feel Adobe has great potential and resourcess to rework an app. I can't for the life of me understand why they would not come out with either a continuation of XD or something very similar and rebrand it. Not all of XD was bad. I think what they did with Adobe Animate was stellar. But it is a very seldom used and less sought after tool and medium now a days.

[Uncle Jon]

Adobe dropped Flash as soon as Apple did not support it because of security risks, it was amazing in its time and we used it for everything. Even though it was left for dead it was still resurrected and I use Animate today.  I remember when it was Macromedia, there is a large corporation behind all this making decisions based on money, it is not a room full of artists making software for artists. What they need to do is communicate to their customers so we can all move on.

[joel246759296dg5]

I love Animate as a purely animation tool. I was never fond of the AS, but what they did with it is way more usable and pretty darn slick. html5 canvas? Communication with users or may rephrase that UX Designers.... We could all make the best prototyping and product delivery tool available... We are listening #Adobe and #AdobeXD