(Archive link without a Bloomberg paywall.) RIP Adobe XD. The writing was on the wall even back in 2022, but now I wonder if Adobe will just leave a big gap in a cohesive offering of the Creative Suite? Lively discussion at Hacker News.

“When it agreed to buy Figma, which helps users design app and website interfaces, Adobe put its competing program XD in ​“maintenance mode,” ceasing to launch new features or sell it individually. The deal to purchase Figma fell apart under regulatory pressure in December and the creative software giant hadn’t announced whether it would resurrect XD or attempt to build another competitor. ​“We have no plans to further invest in it,” a spokesperson said Tuesday of XD.”

Missed that piece at Forbes a few weeks ago: ​“If you ask me, the antitrust environment right now is kind of nuts. […] I’m going to apply similar thinking to Adobe’s proposed $20 billion acquisition of Figma. The short version: I believe this deal is a sound one, and that regulators who are dubious about it are looking at the wrong things if they really want to promote innovation and protect customers.”

Interesting note on Adobe XD: ​“At one point, XD had 200 people working on it, but the product lacked the real-time collaborative element that drives Figma’s success, and sales never took off. Adobe ultimately reassigned more than 90% of the people working on XD; fewer than 20 work on the app now, and their job is just to keep it running smoothly to fulfill existing contracts.”

Convertify plugin just added the import of the Adobe XD files. I believe the writing about XD’s future is on the wall, so it’s a good time to start the migration.

Adobe representative to Protocol: ​“While we have been reducing our investment in XD, we will continue to support it. We are excited about Figma’s vision for the future of product design and the potential of our teams coming together to benefit our customers. After the transaction closes (expected in 2023), we will share more information.” RIP XD.

At Microsoft, Figma is winning over Adobe XD as their design tool of choice. Jordan Novet wrote an interesting profile for CNBC showing how several acquisitions and internal demand led to its rise in popularity, even while Microsoft and Adobe have worked together for over 20 years.

Mizko shares his opinion along with votes from 913 designers on the best design tools in 2021.

Excited to see Adobe shipping new exciting features. ​“We’re introducing an entirely new way to design in XD with 3D Transforms. Now, you can move and rotate objects forwards, backwards, and across planes to bring depth and perspective to your designs and create new types of user experiences.”

While the title mentions only Adobe XD, I liked how they also tried Sketch for Teams and Framer X before settling on Figma. Their final scoresheet is very detailed and seems quite accurate.

The article compares three main players — Sketch, Figma, and Adobe XD. Figma is the recommended tool, but Adobe XD has its own market with more complex prototypes.

“Our converter allows you to open XD designs directly in Figma. All elements get converted 1:1.”

A deep and comprehensive comparison of Figma and Adobe XD at Envato Tuts+. There are unique strengths in both, but overall Figma wins hands-down.