In this video I discuss the benefits of Adobe Fireworks for UI/UX Design as well as talk about the many emerging new design applications that are in the market today.
Mike, thanks for refocusing us on the tools-of-the-trade. As you already know, Adobe has and is marketing their product to graphic/web/UI/UX designers. I am actually impressed with their products but get a little overwhelmed that there are so many. Once I have accepted that each part of the UI/UX Design process has a separate Adobe app, then I started to get what they are doing. However, FIREWORKS has served me well and I hope it does not go away; MUSE and REFLOW are trying to replace it. In the meantime, I too have been sampling other apps and inVision is excellent. More of a tools-kit kind of approach for designers (giving them tools mainly online to do what designers NEED to do and that is design for user-centric-function and less for creativity/beauty); I like it because it helps me solve problems and solve them faster. Anyway, I am not affiliate in terms of income with any of these tools. I am just trying to focus on what enables me to solve business and problems (business and design).
So, thanks again, you always add value. Can’t wait for your eBook or other.
Last, once-a-month? I’ll say what all your followers are not saying: we want content more often. Once a week is great but if once every other week works better for you, we are good with that. :)
@Juan – Why you gotta bust me out like that, lol. Man, I swear, I look up at the calendar and I think its been about a week, but really its been like a month since my last video. Man, I blame it on my kids – or old age. I can remember the days when I had all the time in the world. On a serious note, you’re absolutely right, I need to be posting much more often than once a month. I will.
BTW – agreed with what you said about the Adobe stuff. I’m an Adobe guy, PS, Illustrator and primarily FW. But that is my suite. Curious to see where things go with so many other design apps emerging. But for now, I’m an Adobe guy as they have the most powerful tools.
Always a good chat and thanks for being apart of my network and holding me accountable. ;)
Dave Tross
September 4th, 2015 at 5:42 am
Hey Mike, great post! I’m also a Fireworks man since the beginning and I use it daily on my MacBook (with multiple crashes every day). Been wanting to try Sketch, but I’m waiting for some downtime so I can focus on it. I’m really comfortable with Fireworks and what it can/can’t do (especially the paging and prototyping), but I’ve heard great things about Sketch. Hoping to give that a try soon!
@Dave – Yeah, I don’t have a lot of crashes with my install of FW, but I hear that a lot from other people. Its unfortunate. I’m always hearing about Sketch, I hope to try it one day. Let me know when you try it out.
EdRosario
September 4th, 2015 at 5:12 pm
Hey Mike,
Great video as always. I’ve been studying you course for the longest and am finally stepping out on faith and interviewing for a position as a Junior Designer. Do you have any tips?
Hi Mike great video, i totally agree the market is flooded with tools now which is a good thing, i still use fireworks since your training gave me a huge boost on the learning curves. Thanks
Too bad adobe doesn’t want to update it for now but it still does the job, learning the skills is most important than the tools, cause they can always changes.
One question i had was the market now is flooded by ui kits around, i haven’t used them yet, do you use them and do you see a use for them? I looked at them before to get inspiration on layouts
@Madere – No, I don’t use any UI Kits. If anything, I may use them as inspiration and as a reference point when designing certain widgets or UI. But I don’t necessarily use any UI Kits as is. It’s always best to build your own widgets/UI based on your own target needs rather than try to fit pre-existing widgets with your site.
bikeman
September 29th, 2015 at 8:19 am
Fireworks crashes a lot on my top of the range Mac at work yet runs as stable as anything on my low powered pc at home – it’s an Apple thing!
Mike, thanks for refocusing us on the tools-of-the-trade. As you already know, Adobe has and is marketing their product to graphic/web/UI/UX designers. I am actually impressed with their products but get a little overwhelmed that there are so many. Once I have accepted that each part of the UI/UX Design process has a separate Adobe app, then I started to get what they are doing. However, FIREWORKS has served me well and I hope it does not go away; MUSE and REFLOW are trying to replace it. In the meantime, I too have been sampling other apps and inVision is excellent. More of a tools-kit kind of approach for designers (giving them tools mainly online to do what designers NEED to do and that is design for user-centric-function and less for creativity/beauty); I like it because it helps me solve problems and solve them faster. Anyway, I am not affiliate in terms of income with any of these tools. I am just trying to focus on what enables me to solve business and problems (business and design).
So, thanks again, you always add value. Can’t wait for your eBook or other.
Last, once-a-month? I’ll say what all your followers are not saying: we want content more often. Once a week is great but if once every other week works better for you, we are good with that. :)
@Juan – Why you gotta bust me out like that, lol. Man, I swear, I look up at the calendar and I think its been about a week, but really its been like a month since my last video. Man, I blame it on my kids – or old age. I can remember the days when I had all the time in the world. On a serious note, you’re absolutely right, I need to be posting much more often than once a month. I will.
BTW – agreed with what you said about the Adobe stuff. I’m an Adobe guy, PS, Illustrator and primarily FW. But that is my suite. Curious to see where things go with so many other design apps emerging. But for now, I’m an Adobe guy as they have the most powerful tools.
Always a good chat and thanks for being apart of my network and holding me accountable. ;)
Hey Mike, great post! I’m also a Fireworks man since the beginning and I use it daily on my MacBook (with multiple crashes every day). Been wanting to try Sketch, but I’m waiting for some downtime so I can focus on it. I’m really comfortable with Fireworks and what it can/can’t do (especially the paging and prototyping), but I’ve heard great things about Sketch. Hoping to give that a try soon!
@Dave – Yeah, I don’t have a lot of crashes with my install of FW, but I hear that a lot from other people. Its unfortunate. I’m always hearing about Sketch, I hope to try it one day. Let me know when you try it out.
Hey Mike,
Great video as always. I’ve been studying you course for the longest and am finally stepping out on faith and interviewing for a position as a Junior Designer. Do you have any tips?
Thanks
Ed
@EdRosario – Yes, check out this video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMv7FcOycQc
I provide solid interviewing tips that will definitely help you.
Hi Mike great video, i totally agree the market is flooded with tools now which is a good thing, i still use fireworks since your training gave me a huge boost on the learning curves. Thanks
Too bad adobe doesn’t want to update it for now but it still does the job, learning the skills is most important than the tools, cause they can always changes.
One question i had was the market now is flooded by ui kits around, i haven’t used them yet, do you use them and do you see a use for them? I looked at them before to get inspiration on layouts
@Madere – No, I don’t use any UI Kits. If anything, I may use them as inspiration and as a reference point when designing certain widgets or UI. But I don’t necessarily use any UI Kits as is. It’s always best to build your own widgets/UI based on your own target needs rather than try to fit pre-existing widgets with your site.
Fireworks crashes a lot on my top of the range Mac at work yet runs as stable as anything on my low powered pc at home – it’s an Apple thing!