When developers implement the designs I make in Adobe XD, the font sizes look massive compared to my design (I design on a Retina screen)

[#1]

The font sizes they use from the specs are correct as per my design but they look massive on the live site. I design on a retina screen, does this have anything to do with it?  If so, is there a fix around it?

Thanks

[#2]

The font sizes they use from the specs are correct as per my design but they look massive on the live site. I design on a retina screen, does this have anything to do with it?  If so, is there a fix around it?

Thanks

[#3]

Hi UncleDenski,

This could be frustrating, would it be possible for you to share the design specs? You may also create a sample file for this so that we may test it here at our end. I am interested to check the text properties in XD and how different it is on the web.

Thanks,

Atul_Saini

[#4]

here are the dev Adobe XD

here are the design Adobe XD

[#5]

It's a little hard to say without seeing one of your files, but here's my guess. In Adobe XD you should be working at 1x sizes, NOT the hardware pixel size of the device. For example in Adobe XD an iPhone 6/7/8/X is 375px wide even though their screens have more hardware pixels.

What size artboards are you designing on? What size is your type in Adobe XD? The default text size in a browser is 16px for some context.

[#6]

I'm designing on 1920x1080 size. My smallest type is 16px but ranges all the way to 38px

[#7 · Accepted solution]

Personally I wouldn't normally design on a 1920 artboard because few people have a monitor that large. A range of 1280 to 1440 is much more common for most desktops/laptops.

While your type is a bit large... it's not huge and would fit on smaller screens. If the type on the live site does not match your design, then you should ask the developers about it because I think it has to do with something they are doing, rather than it being Adobe XD.

Keep in mind that it's up to the developer to take the information from XD and then properly code the page. You've provided the specs, but it doesn't mean they have to listen to them.

[#8]

the font matches the design font, but i'm not sure why everything looks smaller in my design vs the live site

[#9]

i just realized, its not just the font either. ITS ALL ITEMS. Like modals, boxes, pictures, etc all look way bigger with less space inbetween them than in my design

[#10]

Are you viewing your design at 100% zoom, which is the actual size?

[#11]

In XD make sure you're designing at 100% zoom to see everything the proper size. Keep in mind that the share for design will scale large designs down in the web browser if you're on a smaller monitor. This is one of the many reasons why I don't design for 1920 screens.

[#12]

Ok thanks, but I guess my question is if I design at 1440, how will that translate well for the developers?

[#13]

It technically should not matter what screen size you design, developers should be able to translate that into code. But if you are designing for a screen size very few people use, it's not a good use of your time. You should design for a common screen size, because you want to see and design for what the average person will see... not some outlier.

Also, if you're designing at a really big size, and not at a smaller common size, the developers will have to figure out what to do on smaller screens. They may have to make decisions about issues you didn't think about, because you weren't designing for that size screen.

I hope that helps!

[#14]

Hi,
I have the same issue (only regarding the font) and I just realized that might be because of the font-size: points vs pixels. Do you know what is the usual measure of the font size on xd? and if it is points can we convert it to pixels?