2021 Design Tools Survey

The Design Tools Survey is back! We always appreciate the enthusiastic support and response from the community. Enjoy the results!

As always, the raw data is free and available to all. We hope you enjoy analyzing the data as much as we do. See how the design industry continues to shift in the remote world, and be sure to check out several new sections about research tools!

Photos of Taylor and Jordan, the creators of UX Tools Taylor & Jordan

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    Table of Contents

    Demographics

    Survey respondents submitted tools from all around the world. Take a look at how the respondents vary in team size, company size, experience, and more.

    • A graphic of the country of USA

      798 United States

    • A graphic of the country of UK

      167 United Kingdom

    • A graphic of the country of Germany

      134 Germany

    • A graphic of the country of France

      131 France

    • A graphic of the country of Canada

      116 Canada

    • A graphic of the country of South Korea

      111 South Korea

    • A graphic of the country of India

      108 India

    • A graphic of the glove

      1574 More

    Which title best describes your role?

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    What types of experiences are you designing?

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    Which platform(s) do you primarily use when designing?

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    How many years of experience do you have?

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    How many total employees work at your current place of employment?

    (Including yourself)

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    How many total designers work at your place of employment?

    (Including yourself)

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    Digital Whiteboarding

    These are tools that respondents use for sticky notes, sketching, user flows, workshops, and more. This industry has exploded since the remote work revolution and continues to grow with no signs of stopping.

    Do you use software for digital whiteboarding?

    Highly rated digital whiteboarding tools*

    How would you rate this tool for digital whiteboarding?

    Whimsical 4.3
    Miro 4.3
    Figma 4.2
    FigJam 4.1
    Mural 4.0

    *With more than 75 total votes in this category

    Most popular digital whiteboarding tools

    Based on usage

    Which software do you use for digital whiteboarding?

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    UI Design

    This software helps create, design, and specify the details of high-fidelity interfaces. Let's be honest—you probably already knew that.

    Do you use software for UI design?

    Highly rated UI design tools*

    How would you rate this tool for UI design?

    Framer 4.7
    Figma 4.7
    Sketch 4.1
    Adobe XD 4.0
    Adobe Illustrator 3.9

    *With more than 75 total votes in this category

    Most popular UI design tools

    Based on usage

    Which software do you use for UI design?

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    Popular UI design tools for Mac

    Primary tools used on Mac

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    Popular UI design tools for Windows

    Primary tools used on Windows

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    UI design tools by team size

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    UI design tools over the years

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    Prototyping

    These tools create realistic, clickable experiences to test interactivity and motion in an interface. Most UI Design tools also support some form of prototyping.

    Do you use software for UI prototyping?

    Highly rated UI prototyping tools*

    How would you rate this tool for UI prototyping?

    ProtoPie 4.6
    Framer 4.4
    UXPin 4.4
    Webflow 4.3
    Axure 4.2

    *With more than 75 total votes in this category

    Most popular UI prototyping tools

    Based on usage

    Which software do you use for UI prototyping?

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    Prototyping through the years

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    Handoff

    These tools helps designers and developers collaborate by communicating flows, interactions, assets, and other specifications.

    Do you use software for developer handoff?

    Highly rated developer handoff tools*

    How would you rate this tool for developer handoff?

    Zeplin 4.1
    Figma 4.0
    Adobe XD 3.6
    Sketch 3.5
    InVision 3.4

    *With more than 75 total votes in this category

    Most popular developer handoff tools

    Based on usage

    Which software do you use for developer handoff?

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    Design Systems

    These are tools for creating and maintaining guidelines for typography, color, spacing, components, and other design elements. Some document design components, code components, or both.

    Do you use software for managing design systems?

    Highly rated managing design systems tools*

    How would you rate this tool for managing design systems?

    Figma 4.3
    zeroheight 4.2
    Zeplin 4.0
    Notion 3.9
    Storybook 3.8

    *With more than 75 total votes in this category

    Most popular managing design systems tools

    Based on usage

    Which software do you use for managing design systems?

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    Versioning

    These tools assist in storing, organizing, and versioning design files. Most tools also offer some sort of solution to collaboratively share files while working together with designers or other team members.

    Do you use software for versioning and file management?

    Highly rated versioning and file management tools*

    How would you rate this tool for versioning and file management?

    Github 4.4
    Bitbucket 4.1
    Dropbox 4.0
    Gitlab 4.0
    Figma 3.8

    *With more than 75 total votes in this category

    Most popular versioning and file management tools

    Based on usage

    Which software do you use for versioning and file management?

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    User Testing

    These tools assist in engaging real people with prototypes, concepts, research materials, or real product experiences.

    Do you use software for user testing?

    Highly rated user-testing tools*

    How would you rate this tool for user-testing?

    Useberry 4.3
    Maze 4.1
    Optimal Workshop 3.9
    UserTesting 3.8
    Lookback 3.8

    *With more than 75 total votes in this category

    Most popular user-testing tools

    Based on usage

    Which software do you use for user testing?

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    User testing tool by team size

    (Video conferencing tools ommitted)

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    Research Recruiting

    This category is new to the Design Tools Survey!

    These tools help find and possibly incentivize participants for research projects. Many have their own panels of testers to pull from.

    Do you use software for recruiting research participants?

    Highly rated research recruiting tools*

    How would you rate this tool for research recruiting?

    UXtweak 4.3
    UserInterviews 4.2
    Userzoom 3.8
    Maze 3.9
    UserTesting 3.8

    *Used by at least 5% of respondents in this category

    Most popular research recruiting tools

    Based on usage

    Which software do you use for recruiting research participants?

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    Research Repository

    This category is new to the Design Tools Survey!

    These tools are best for storing, tagging, and organizing research sessions and insights into a repository. Some are generic knowledge base tools while others are specific to UX research.

    Do you use software for a research repository?

    Highly rated research repository tools*

    How would you rate this tool for research repository?

    Dovetail 4.3
    Notion 4.1
    Airtable 4.0
    Miro 3.9
    Google Drive 3.5

    *With more than 75 total votes in this category

    Most popular research repository tools

    Based on usage

    Which software do you use for a research repository?

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    The 2021 Designer's Toolkit

    Digital Whiteboarding

    UI Design

    Prototyping

    Design Systems

    User Testing

    Research Recruiting

    Research Repository

    Most Exciting Tools of 2022

    Which tools are you most excited to try in 2022?

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    Conclusion

    That's all for this year! If you enjoyed the survey, we hope you'll consider sharing it:

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