Adobe Enables Designer and Developer Innovation With $10M Design Investment Fund
Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the XD CC Starter plan, a free
offering of the all-in-one UX/UI design platform. The XD CC Starter plan
includes Adobe XD for Mac and Windows, mobile apps for iOS and Android,
and services to empower users to design, prototype and share user
experiences with colleagues. With this announcement and the release of
new features and enhancements, Adobe XD is the only cross-platform
experience design platform to combine both design and prototyping with
industrial-grade performance. And, as part of Adobe Creative Cloud,
Adobe XD tightly integrates with designers’ existing workflows and top
tools such as Photoshop CC and Illustrator CC. Underscoring the
importance of this burgeoning category, Adobe also announced a $10
million design investment fund to advance innovation in experience
design.
“UX design is one of the fastest growing segments in design,” said Scott
Belsky, chief product officer and executive vice president, Creative
Cloud at Adobe. “The new Starter plan for Adobe XD supports Adobe’s
vision to give everyone—from emerging artists to enterprise
brands—everything they need to design and deliver exceptional digital
experiences and explore the rapidly expanding field of UX design with no
financial commitment.”
Introducing the Starter Plan for Adobe XD
According to data from Adobe,
87 percent of managers believe hiring more user experience (UX)
designers is a top priority for their organizations, as they play a
crucial role in developing world-class customer experiences. A milestone
for the global design community, the Starter plan for Adobe XD provides
free access to Adobe XD, enabling professional and aspiring designers,
teams and students to learn, cultivate and apply their design skills.
The XD CC Starter plan also includes Typekit and integration with
Creative Cloud Libraries, making it easy to share and manage assets
across devices.
$10 Million Fund to Empower Creative Innovation
To enable the vibrant ecosystem of partners, developers and startups,
Adobe today announced the Adobe Fund for Design, a $10 million fund,
distributed in the form of grants and equity investments. The fund will
help designers and developers innovate in the world of experience design
and leverage Adobe XD as a platform supporting tooling plug-ins and
integrations with third-party tools and services. An
expansion of Adobe’s ongoing investment in and collaboration with the
design community, this fund will allow developers and designers to take
full advantage of Adobe XD and integrate with the Creative Cloud
workflows used by millions of creative professionals and top brands
around the world.
Workflow Enhancements in Adobe XD
These announcements align with the release of new features and
enhancements in Adobe XD, including time-saving workflow updates that
enable designers to go from concept to prototype faster. New Adobe XD
features and capabilities are prioritized and introduced based on
feedback from the design community and user requests. Recent marquee
updates include support for opening Sketch and Photoshop CC documents in
Adobe XD, the ability to publish and share Design Specs (Beta) and integration
with third-party tools such as Dropbox, Zeplin, Avocode and Sympli.
This month’s updates include:
-
Sketch and Photoshop CC integration improvements: First
announced earlier
this year, Adobe released improvements to opening Sketch and
Photoshop CC files directly in Adobe XD. The release allows users to
import stroke and image effects, and import Photoshop files more
quickly to Adobe XD, as well as several conversion fidelity
improvements when importing Sketch files.
-
Password-protected Design Specs (Beta): Users can enable
password protection for design specs to restrict access. The user
inputs a password in the Share popup window, before passing the links
out, to ensure the security of proprietary designs.
-
Simple drag-and-drop options to swap symbols: Drag a symbol
from the assets panel and drop it over another symbol to an artboard
to update all copies of that symbol.
-
Paste to multiple artboards: Copy one element and then select
multiple artboards and paste the element to each artboard.
Adobe is also facilitating learning and growth opportunities through an
ongoing series of Creative
Jams, where designers and design luminaries can share their unique
design processes with each other. As part of this month’s updates, Adobe
is releasing a series of free UI kits and resources for the design
community, created by prominent designers around the globe, such as Daniel
White, Ana
Miminoshvili, Zhenya
Rynzhuk, Steve
Wolf and Mike,
the designer behind Creative
Mints.
Pricing and Availability
The Starter plan for Adobe XD is free and available immediately for all;
users in an active trial of Adobe XD will need to update their version
of the platform from the Creative Cloud desktop app or from xd.adobe.com
to activate it. The free plan complements existing Adobe XD plans,
including for individuals, teams and enterprises.
The $9.99 Adobe XD Single App plan gives Creative Cloud members
unlimited shared prototypes and design specs. Additional details on plan
options and pricing for each tier are available on Adobe’s
website.
Helpful Links
About Adobe
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more
information, visit www.adobe.com.
© 2018 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe and the
Adobe logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe
Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All
other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Adobe
Denise Styerwalt, 408-536-6393
dstyerwa@adobe.com
or
Edelman
Allison Bishop, 312-240-2668
Allison.Bishop@edelman.com