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Adobe XD & Sketch déjà vu

almost 7 years ago from , Lead designer @ Sony Creative Center, Studio Nordic

Is it me, or these interfaces seem extremely similar..?

Adobe XD is on top.

Adobe XD vs. Sketch

Sorry if this has been posted already. I'm just shocked that the interfaces are too similar in design. They do say, Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

33 comments

  • Jim SilvermanJim Silverman, almost 7 years ago

    neither is particularly original here, still biting Macromedia Fireworks.

    23 points
  • Kyle MitchellKyle Mitchell, almost 7 years ago

    But seriously... who cares?

    13 points
    • Doug OrchardDoug Orchard, almost 7 years ago

      You cared enough to comment. It's all relative. Sketch is the underdog whilst Adobe being the big-dog in town is not using there own UI but rather inspired by those around it. If you like cheering for the underdog, you would care.

      0 points
      • Jrtorrents Dorman , almost 7 years ago

        Sketch isn't original either, stop being a jerk!

        3 points
        • Doug OrchardDoug Orchard, almost 7 years ago

          They may not be completely original however their interface is now synonymous to their branding. I guess we live in a world everyone is stealing from everyone and being offensive in the process.

          0 points
      • Kyle MitchellKyle Mitchell, almost 7 years ago

        I guess from my perspective is everyone copies and takes inspiration from somewhere. This is not a story. I'm sure we can all find lots of examples of this pattern of alignment.

        I do care for the underdog, and I'm a big supporter and proponent for sketch. They have a big head start, and a core audience that is fervent, which makes me feel like in this space they are not the underdog.

        3 points
        • Apurv RayApurv Ray, almost 7 years ago

          I agree with Kyle, sketch is definitely not the first to use that pattern, the OP insinuating that AdobeXD is copying sketch is ridiculous. Sketch might be under-dog in your eyes but that doesn't mean its all saintly. It learned form Photoshops features/mistakes and now Adobe XD is doing the same with them.

          @doug Stop being a jerk and hating Adobe just because they're a big corporation. Their contribution to software industry deserves some respect.

          1 point
  • Matt BaxterMatt Baxter, almost 7 years ago

    I think its mostly the result of certain properties making logical sense to be grouped together. There is a balance between putting things where people expect versus being completely different just to be different.

    10 points
  • Remus Baltariu, almost 7 years ago

    Yea, they do look similar. One thing I don't like in both (mostly in XD) is the fact that I can't click and drag over a value or field name to change the values of that field. You have to write it manually. Grrr.

    2 points
  • Daniel GoldenDaniel Golden, almost 7 years ago (edited almost 7 years ago )

    They are similar, but if parts of this layout are optimal (not that I know in either direction), "copying" is the best move.

    1 point
  • David ThornDavid Thorn, almost 7 years ago

    Both of these replicate the toolbar setup I've had on AI for years (which is fully customizable), and no feature is new. It's standard functionality layed out in a similar way. What's the deal?

    1 point
    • David SvezhintsevDavid Svezhintsev, almost 7 years ago

      Can you iterate or post a screenshot of your layout? I'm really interested in seeing this.

      1 point
    • Rachel SinonRachel Sinon, almost 7 years ago

      I too would love to see this, if you don't mind sharing! I never felt like Ai was as intuitive as sketch for me. Always interested in other design workflows

      1 point
  • Vlad Micliuc, almost 7 years ago

    Regardless, I will always use the best product for my situation.

    If Adobe comes with a better product, even if as a copycat and Sketch doesn't respond, I will simply jump ships. My love for an underdog won't give me back the lost time, respectively money I lose by choosing their tool instead of my productivity.

    0 points
  • Todd Padwick, almost 7 years ago

    they will have looked very closely at Sketch, as it's their main competition for XD. With regards to creating the best possible result there's nothing wrong with a little competitor analysis so Sketch's successful elements were always going to be taken. I'm certainly interested in XD's potential as I was never 100% happy with Sketch.

    0 points
  • Andu PotoracAndu Potorac, almost 7 years ago

    The best thing they can do is write an open letter to Adobe, similar to how Slack wrote to Microsoft a few days back when they entered the space with a copy-cat.

    There's many copy-cats of Sketch out there, but they cannot win this way.

    0 points
    • Ben Rossi, almost 7 years ago

      You do remember that Sketch is basically a derivation of Adobe Fireworks, with a smattering of Illustrator and InDesign bindings, right?

      Very little of either Sketch or XD is truly new.

      5 points
  • Alex BrunoAlex Bruno, almost 7 years ago

    Yeah it's definitely lifted from Sketch's interface. Not sure what Bohemian can do about it unless they have patents - even then I'm sure Adobes legal team would happily take on a lawsuit.

    I think Sketch will have to just keep innovating to outcompete the behemoth that is Adobe.

    0 points
    • John PJohn P, almost 7 years ago

      Not sure what Bohemian can do about it unless they have patents

      Should this sort of thing be patentable?

      5 points
      • Eduard GiménezEduard Giménez, almost 7 years ago

        Nope.

        4 points
      • David ThornDavid Thorn, almost 7 years ago

        Think about the far reaching ramifications if something as trivial as a generic toolbar starts being protected by lawyers.

        Would you also suggest patenting the hamburger menu? The right swipe? Click button to logout on top right navbar?

        If anything, Adobe has used those alignment icons since who knows how long before Sketch, and may not even be the inventors. So Sketch would be in a much higher-level of danger for "stealing" that visual cue.

        1 point
        • John PJohn P, almost 7 years ago

          Exactly. We'd be in a real sorry state if tools couldn't take good ideas from each other.

          You see good examples of this in the 3D software world which changes way more rapidly. New tech,workflows and tools appear in one piece of software then trickle down to others. Eventually everyone ends up better off.

          1 point
      • Todd Padwick, almost 7 years ago

        Exactly... if every new bit of software started from scratch, everyone would end up making the same mistakes as their pre-decessors.

        2 points
    • Stuart McCoyStuart McCoy, almost 7 years ago

      The palette design has been part of Adobe's UI since forever. The only difference is you can't customize the UI like you can in something like Illustrator or Photoshop.

      3 points
    • Andrew Richardson, almost 7 years ago

      I think Sketch will have to just keep innovating to outcompete the behemoth that is Adobe.

      So far they are doing just fine there. Even with the latest update to XD it's still lacking a lot of basic features... like rulers or a grid overlay. I went to AdobeMAX this year and got really hyped about what they where doing with XD but when I gave it a shot I was incredibly let down by the lack of QoL things they are missing.

      0 points
      • Peter Flynn, almost 7 years ago

        XD does have a grid overlay: if you select one or more artboards, there's a "grid" section in the properties panel with various options.

        1 point