Tools for Product Design

Design tools are one of a designer's powerful weapons. Just as you need to know how to handle a knife in order to cook, design tools are essential tools that designers need to use like their hands and feet. We have summarized what tools are needed to design products.

As diverse as the history of digital products, various tools have appeared and disappeared. Sometimes a single tool provides multiple functions, and tools that focus on specific functions have also appeared. A tool can be seen as a basket containing various functions. The functions required to create a product can be broadly divided into three categories. There are functions to design interfaces for users to use, functions to help communicate with makers, and functions to create various graphic assets to be used inside the product.

interface design

• Vector graphics: In order to respond to various screens, vector-based graphics functions are needed to ensure that images do not deteriorate when their size changes.

communication

• Inspect: A function that helps you easily understand the information needed for development, such as pixel values and color information of design results, is needed.
• Prototyping: This is a function that allows you to create and check an interface that moves according to user actions.

graphic assets

• 2D: This function is used to create images such as pictures or photos in file formats such as JPG or PNG.
• 3D: This is a function that allows you to create images with various viewpoints, angles, and movements with a single asset.
• motion: This function is for creating live-action videos or animations in file formats such as GIF or MOV.

Figma

• Vector, 2D, inspect, prototyping
• GUI design
• Fast speed, easy real-time collaboration, easily accessible to anyone
• Currently the most used GUI tool in the world
• If the figma server explodes, there is nothing you can do.

price

• Starter: Free
• Professional: KRW 13,272/month (per person)
• Organization: KRW 160,375/month (per person)

https://www.figma.com/

sketch

• Vector, 2D, inspect, prototyping
• An absolute leader in GUI design for a long time
• Tons of resources and plugins
• Easy to use only for designers using Macs
• It's slowing down

price

• Individual: KRW 109,497 single purchase
• Team: KRW 9,954/month (per person)

https://www.sketch.com/

XD

• Vector, 2D, inspect, prototyping
• Feels like a mix of half Sketch and half Figma.
• Better prototyping compared to other tools
• Link with Adobe program
• It was the only tool that could be used on Windows, but was surpassed by Figma.

price

• XD Starter: Free
• XD App: KRW 11,000/month Unlimited co-editors, font library, and unlimited link sharing
• All Adobe CC apps: KRW 62,000/month

https://www.adobe.com/kr/products/xd.html

zeppelin

• Inspector
• Great for organizing design files for sharing with other collaborating departments
• Easy to categorize and tag projects as desired
• The more image snapshots you have, the slower it gets.
• GUI tools begin to provide Zeppelin functionality directly

price

• Free: Free
• Starter: 18,802/month
• Growing Business: KRW 28,757/month
• Organization: KRW 11,889/month (per person)

https://zeplin.io/

Framer

• Vector, 2D, inspect, prototyping
• Ability to match design and development code almost perfectly
• too difficult

price

• Free: Free
• Pro: 23,733 won/month
• Enterprise: Negotiation

https://www.framer.com/

ProtoPie

• prototyping tools
• It feels like After Effects has been optimized for the GUI.
• You can see before you develop an experience that is nearly identical to the real thing.
• Difficult to reuse what has been produced > Difficult to systematize

price

• Individual: KRW 14,378/month
• Team: KRW 55,302/month (per person)
• Enterprise: Negotiation

https://www.protopie.io/

Photoshop

• 2D graphic production, photo editing/correction
• Almost the only graphics tool capable of creating sophisticated 2D images
• When designing a product, there is not much need to create elaborate images using Photoshop.

price

• Photoshop app: 24,000 won/month
• Adobe all apps: KRW 47,520/month (per person)

https://www.adobe.com/kr/products/photoshop.html

illustrator

• Vector-based graphic design
• Almost the only graphics tool capable of creating sophisticated vector-based images
• You can create as many vector images as you need with just the functions of the GUI tool.

price

• Illustrator app: 24,000 won/month
• Adobe all apps: KRW 47,520/month (per person)

https://www.adobe.com/kr/products/illustrator.html

after effects

• video production tools
• motion graphic design
• The ultimate in creating movement. anything is possible
• There's a lot to learn, plugins are expensive

price

• After Effects app: KRW 24,000/month
• Adobe all apps: KRW 47,520/month (per person)

https://www.adobe.com/kr/products/aftereffects.html

Cinema 4D

• 3D production tools
• Motion graphics specialized 3D design tool
• Strong connection with After Effects
• Easy to learn compared to other 3D tools
• It looks easy, but if you try to make it a little better, the difficulty quickly increases.
• Expensive

price

individual

• C4D single app: KRW 80,942/month
• Maxon all apps: KRW 148,521/month

organization

• C4D single app: KRW 1,457,993/month
• Maxon all apps: KRW 2,268,890/month

https://www.maxon.net/en/cinema-4d

blender

• 3D production tools
• 3D that is easy to learn and apply quickly
• All-in-one tool with various functions needed for 3D production
• A community boasting a large and open source community.
• Disappointing features

price

• free

https://www.blender.org/

Product Design 101