Some time ago Darin Dimitroff wrote a great story about his concerns with Adobe software. He hit the nail on the head on so many planes. For most of us designers first contact with Photoshop was, in the long run, life changing experience. But time has passed and designers face different problems and need different toolset.

Times has changed and our thinking about designing digital experiences changed as well. Industry evolves and designers need different toolsets then few years ago. Because of this, Photoshop is not enough anymore.

Industry evolves, but not our old PS (at least not as much). Of course Adobe continues to add more design centred features. But the core workflow, and even interface remains the same.

What you get out of the box looks like photo editing software with tons of patches and plugins…

Let’s be honest. Photoshop is used widely as UI design tool. Not because it was made to do so, but due to lack of any real alternative. It’s photo editing software at its core after all and it’s the best in this field.

There’s one thought that struck me recently.

It occurred to me after using Sketch for the first time and came back with even bigger impact after using Affinity Designer. Before that I wasn’t even able to realize it. Until i tried software that offers different perspective on design workflow. Like you can’t tell that cold is cold until you experience warm.

The thing is: modern UI design workflow should resemble the way software is developed.

Apart from UX thing. Good UI should be developable. Designers must be as close to the final medium and development process as possible. We should focus on the product as a product, not as a canvas for creating beautiful art.

We’re not painting, we’re designing. Design is not about beautiful images, it’s about solving problems.

When working in Photoshop I’m tempted to paint.

That’s not Adobe app fault. It’s about almost limitless possibilities offered by PS that make it easy to lose focus from the most important thing. At least in my case.

When working in Sketch or Affinity Designer it’s easier for me to focus on important stuff.

To design more user experience centred apps or websites. I also feel closer to development process. For example, while working in Sketch you’re forced to think first. Why? Sketch UI centred workflow makes you unable to modify raster graphics in any way. That means you can’t even change photo exposure or saturation. Because of that you’ll need to think about using elements you place in your design first.

This kind of design logic is nice. But it’s not perfect I found it difficult to use due to lack of this features.

When I was using Sketch it was hard for me to look at design as on one entirety.

There are times when you need to adjust, e.g. image brightness in your actual design, with other elements in place.

Nevertheless it’s great to see that state of UI design software is changing. After Adobe killing Fireworks there was only Photoshop. Then Sketch emerged.

My newest discovery is Affinity Designer. This nice piece of software from Serif is my greatest hope. It misses some important functionality like artboards. Some stuff must be improved (like typography when exporting to PSDs) but I felt in love with its workflow logic. Let’s say it’s the middle ground between PS and Sketch.

I said that Photoshop made my workflow rusty. That’s how I feel. I wasn’t eager enough to explore new possibilities because my familiarity with Adobe software. To look at design process from another perspective. I sucked in my comfort zone.

Because my familiarity with Adobe software I wasn’t eager enough to explore new possibilities. To look at design process from another perspective. I get trapped in my comfort zone.

That’s changed.

We have alternatives now. Even if they’re not mature enough to switch from Creative Suite completely, we should try them. Even just to explore different perspectives and approaches. It’s priceless.

Thank you for reading,

Tom is a Senior Web Designer at GOG.com and freelance Product Designer & Art Director at Pixology.

Do you like my story? Share or recommend it please, I’ll be very grateful!