Adobe XD has gone a long way in its development – from a trailing underdog that was nowhere near the level of Figma and Sketch, to an actual competitor that is a primary option for many UX and UI designers.
Being part of Adobe’s family is one of the biggest reasons (if not the main) why people decide to choose it over the fierce competition in the segment. All Adobe products’ recognizable premium design interfaces can also be found here.
So, if you have worked with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or InDesign, you’ll most likely choose XD for your next user interface project. But even if you’re a complete newbie, don’t worry – we’ve got you covered. Every single Adobe XD tutorial you will find in this article will help you get better.
Article Overview:
What is Adobe XD?
Getting started with Adobe XD
Website Design Tutorials
App Design Tutorials
Voice Assistant Design Tutorials
Marketing Campaigns Tutorials
Game Design Tutorials
Internet of Things Design Tutorials
What is Adobe XD?
According to Wikipedia,
Adobe XD is a vector-based user experience design tool for web apps and mobile apps.
In simpler terms, designers use Adobe XD to create website prototypes and mobile app interfaces. XD solves some problems that Photoshop cannot. Working with different screen sizes makes things harder for raster files, as stretching leads to lossy design, and even shrinking isn’t fully lossless. Also, the nature of websites and apps creates a demand for designers to use iterations, as trends change by the minute.
This is where Adobe XD fills the “gap”. It is perfect for vector-based UX/UI design, wireframing, prototyping, and interactions, and handles constant changes(iterations) very well. It’s a perfect solution for solopreneurs as well as whole design teams.
Getting started with Adobe XD
There are a lot of features that can leverage your Adobe XD performance. Let’s see some basic tutorials that you need to know before you dig deeper into the software.
1. Beginner Tutorial for Adobe XD in 2022
If you’re just getting started, this Adobe XD tutorial has everything needed for a head start. You will learn how to start your first projects, how to use plugins, work with the grids, share your designs with teammates, etc.
While the video is one-hour long, we can assure you that you will not waste a second watching it, as it shows you not only Adobe XD features, but also some good practices that you need to have in your UX and UI designs.
2. Adobe XD 2022 Updates
Usually, it’s around October when Adobe announces the updates for the next year’s addition to their products. XD is no different, so October’21 saw some big changes coming up and some smaller ones.
Now, you can use Lottie Animations (watch the previous video, there’s a whole section) and embed Video Playback to your designs. This is huge. On top of that, you can now share your designs directly into Behance and get better exports. In March’22, Adobe released a small update that concerns text hyperlinks and reordering components.
3. How to Create a User Flow in Adobe XD?
In this Adobe XD tutorial, you will see why and how to build a user flow in a couple of steps. You should understand the importance of user flows and their direct relations to wireframes and prototypes if you’re new.
But in case you have some prior experience with UX design or simply prefer to skip “the appetizers”, then you can move forward to 5:16 where the actual task begins.
4. How to Create Wireframes in Adobe XD?
Wireframing is one of the most important tasks for designers. The wireframe is the skeleton of the website/app. While you can achieve a lot with tools like Adobe XD, Figma, Sketch, etc., you need a pencil and a notebook to make a rough sketch that you can then apply to your design work.
In this Adobe XD wireframe tutorial, you will see how to make a draft that you can use later. What we liked is how the paper version is compared to the digital one afterward, to show you a side-by-side overview of the UX design.
5. UI Tutorial For Beginners
In this Adobe XD tutorial, you will learn the main shapes and some very basic things, like how to apply the color theory, use the 60-30-10 rule, etc. It’s very detailed.
Over the second part of the guide, Elizé comes up with some techniques to create a landing page Sign Up button, logos, etc. What we liked the most is that the video is very explanatory and every step has its arguments.
6. How to Create an Animation in Adobe XD?
Adobe XD is probably the best software for animated UX and UI designs. While it has copied a lot from Sketch and Figma, XD really trumps the competition in this area.
In this Adobe XD animation tutorial, you will learn how to create animations but not only – you will see how you can co-operate between Photoshop and XD to make a perfect web or app design that is animated.
7. How to Create a Prototype in Adobe XD?
Adobe XD is extremely powerful in building prototypes, as the program can not only complete them from scratch, but you can also insert your works from Illustrator and Photoshop, to make things even better.
This Adobe XD prototype tutorial will show you all the steps in creating a full prototype, with all elements that are required from start to finish. Bear in mind this tutorial is not that great for people who have better auditory memory, as the steps have no voice explanation. But if you don’t mind that, it’s a great Adobe XD prototyping tutorial.
8. How to Make a Developer Handoff?
No matter how good your designs are, you’ll create a mess if you don’t transfer them to the developers the right way. And nobody wants that.
Once again, Dansky comes to the rescue. In this tutorial, he’ll show you how to handoff your project to developers and ensure everything is in order. One thing to notice is that Zeplin was used (it’s a plugin).
9. How to Collaborate With Your Team in Adobe XD?
Team collaboration on projects is just as important as the work completed by each individual. All efforts should be coordinated.
And all you need is a single shareable link. In this Adobe XD tutorial, you will learn how to share files for comments, and for further development later on.
Website Design Tutorials
Adobe XD is a great software that can come up with amazing UX and UI designs for websites. The next Adobe XD tutorials will include some of the best practices which can help you in crafting great web designs.
N.B.: Since you will be operating with different screen sizes (large monitors, laptops, and mobile devices), you will be working with vector files most of the time.
10. How to Learn the Website Design Process in Adobe XD?
Structuring your Adobe XD should be a number one priority before starting any task. That’s why we picked this video for you.
In this Adobe XD tutorial, Megan Weeks shows you how to organize your brand kit – colors, fonts, and images. She also explains how to create a landing page in XD from scratch using the brand elements.
11. How to Design a Homepage in Adobe XD?
What really struck us in this Adobe XD tutorial is the balance between theory and practice. Sha Hilson manages to explain what she does, and leaves one part of the video without explanations, letting you focus on the canvas.
This guide made in 2022 is quite helpful, as it gives an idea of how to create a homepage from scratch. Every section of the website homepage is created separately, to let you see how it’s done. Then, it is followed by a brief explanation.
12. How to Design a Website By Working on Fragments?
This Adobe XD video tutorial will help you understand how to create a unique design for both a desktop computer and a tablet. Every step is slowly explained, so you can catch up on what is done in each phase of the creation process – texts, layouts, buttons, etc.
If you find it helpful, you can also check the other parts of the video:
- Part 2 – explains the way “Our Story” has been made.
- Part 3 – focuses on the Pen Tool utilization and child items.
App Design Tutorials
The need for tools like Adobe XD is because of the growing mobile application market. More and more companies are investing heavily in creating great apps for iOS and Android, so coming up with an app design is crucial.
13. How to Create a Login/Signup page – Adobe XD tutorial
In this Adobe XD tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a Signup Page that is compatible with mobile devices. You will also have two app prototypes available.
The most important key takes are the way you use spacing appropriately, aligning, and creating gradients. It’s a very simple tutorial but it will do a good job to introduce you to app design.
You may also be interested in these Graphic Design Assets (Tools, Inspo, Apps and Resources).
14. How to Create a UI Design For a Finance App in Adobe XD?
This Adobe XD tutorial is quite helpful, as it shows you how to create a finance app. Unlike the previous video on our list, you can see the different steps in creating an account.
Also, you can easily spot the design consistency when using the brand kit. On top of that, you’ll learn how to work with spacing very well. The only issue is that there is no voice explanation which might cause some trouble for newbies.
15. How to Create an NFT App Design?
In this tutorial, you will learn how to create an NFT app in Adobe XD. While not everyone’s interested in the NFT market, this guide is very useful, as it will teach you some good tricks.
You will see how to use icons the right way, apply a search box with a placeholder text, as well as utilize visual components properly. If it had a voiceover, it would make it better but even in its current state, it’s still a great video.
Voice Assistant Design Tutorials
Voice search has become one of 2022’s digital marketing trends, and if you want to create a seamless experience, you will definitely have to pay attention to it.
But how to create a voice assistant design in Adobe XD? Let’s find out.
16. How to Design for Voice in Adobe XD?
In this Adobe XD tutorial (bear in mind it’s a bit dated), you will quickly learn how to add voice commands that are triggered by Alexa. It’s a short but quite informative video.
You will see how to add a voice command, add a trigger phrase, and also add the speech playback that the voice assistant (in our case Alexa) will visitors who show more interest.
17. How to Use Voice Triggers in Adobe XD?
What we really like about Adobe is that their team throws a lot of effort into teaching people how to do design. And it works!
In this Adobe XD tutorial, popular designer Jesse Showalter shows how to add voice triggers with a Duolingo-like app. Side note, the way Jesse says “GuitaRRA” – it’s absolutely stunning!
18. How to Create Website Voice Triggers?
It’s kind of like the previous videos, but in this Adobe XD video tutorial, the steps are explained in a bit more detail, making things easier to remember.
Rosie Sue talks about prototypes and wireframes and makes it easier to understand how they are related to voice commands.
Marketing Campaigns Tutorials
Creating marketing campaigns is a very dynamic process. That is why Adobe XD makes a lot of sense, as it uses vector files like Illustrator, but it takes much less time to turn up with something great.
19. How to Design a Marketing Banner in Adobe XD?
Designing marketing banners is not only possible, but it is also quite easy in Adobe XD, compared to Photoshop and especially Illustrator.
In this Adobe XD tutorial, Howard Pinsky creates some amazing banners that can grab the attention, and most importantly – they’re not hard to make.
20. How to Create a Business Card using Adobe XD?
Once you get better with Adobe XD, you will quickly realize how powerful it is. Why? Because it allows you to create tons of marketing materials, including business cards.
What you’ll learn from this Adobe XD tutorial is that you can craft an amazing business card without much effort – all you need to do is follow the best practices. If you run out of ideas, you can check our collection of free business card templates.
21. How to Make a Poster in Adobe XD?
Looking through rose-tinted glasses is not always a good thing. Well, we cannot say the same about this poster design that is sleek, stylish, and meaningful.
This Adobe XD video tutorial shows how to embed illustrations into an image, making the latter much more interesting. You’ll learn how to use the anchor points, select fonts, use line spacing, and combine colors so that your design becomes flashy and attention-grabbing.
Game Design Tutorials
Game Design is quite popular these days, and everyone is fighting for glory. While Adobe XD cannot, and does not compete with the likes of Autodesk Maya or Unify, it certainly has a lot to offer to its users.
22. How to Prototype a Game Menu UI in Adobe XD?
In this very detailed Adobe XD tutorial, Dansky explains all the steps to create a great Menu UI for games. It’s perfect for newbies and advanced designers.
The video explains all stages of the design and what we liked the most is that Dansky doesn’t skip any detail. He also does the task in real-time speed, so you don’t really need to pause many times to see how to do things.
23. How to Design a Game UI in Adobe XD?
In this Adobe XD tutorial, you’ll learn how to make a great game design. What we liked here is that the video shows an original design from Call of Duty: Warzone which is then replicated in the prototype.
Since you see in real-time the requirements and the task while being completed, this guide can turn out to be quite helpful. And we have to mention that Cody Brown has really pushed the limit of Adobe XD by making this game design possible.
Internet of Things Design Tutorials (IoT)
It goes without saying that the Internet of Things is the future. Fortunately, Adobe XD is quite capable of creating prototypes for IoT apps, as it has a lot of useful features, some of them already mentioned (like the “voice trigger).
24. How to Design a Smart Home App in Adobe XD?
It’s one of the best Adobe XD IoT tutorials you will find online. You will see learn how to design a smart home main page, as well as work with colors, set buttons, and overall – improve an app design layout.
What we loved here is that the guide is very detailed and there are subtitles with the steps (at the bottom left corner). This video would arguably be the ultimate smart home app tutorial if it had a voiceover.
25. How to Create an Adobe XD Design for Wearable Technology?
As with the previous video from Elizé, there is a lot of information in this one. Besides working on the assignments, she tributes other designers and mentions why 2022 will be the year of voice user interfaces (VUI).
But apart from VUI and some of the best practices, you will find this Adobe XD tutorial for wearables is very helpful, as there is a task to complete and a side-by-side comparison between the final result and current progress.
Conclusion
Sometimes, finding inspiration will be enough to create supreme UX and UI designs. But in some instances, you need more. While these Adobe XD tutorials can really step up your game, their goal is not to make you learn how to do a task or two. Instead, they focus on giving your the right tools to do designs in your own, unique way.
If you find this content helpful, why don’t you read some of our web design articles?
