<p>Published on <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/https-medium-com-tbrizitsky-iterate-the-ux-designers-digital-sketchbook-6955cc74be57?source=rss----eb297ea1161a---4">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> Taras Brizitsky </p>
<p>My design career started in 2004 when I started making a little money as a UI designer. I never liked using Photoshop for creating interfaces and desperately wanted a decent tool for wireframing, prototyping and animation. They simply didn’t exist back then…</p>
<p>Now it’s 2018. Things have changed a lot and there’re many wonderful apps for UI and UX designers with new ones being introduced every few months.</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/ipad-pro-for-ux-designers-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly-and-what-we-can-do-about-it-507fa05f05b8">Not so many if you’re using iPad</a>, so pen and paper are still my most valuable and useful instruments.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*J8YotLBxgogTwTfpeA1eCA.png"></p>
<p>Sure, once the UI kit (ok, the Design System) is ready, guidelines are finished and we have a clear vision of what is to be done, we may skip the sketching phase. But paper sketches help us quickly iterate through many rough ideas and create a very basic overview of the design. Paper is way lighter than a laptop, it doesn’t need to load and there’s no complex software to learn.</p>
<p>So… why not combine paper’s ease of use and digital medium’s power?</p>
<h3>Welcome Iterate</h3>
<p>What is it?<br />It’s an iPad app. Also</p>
<blockquote><p>Iterate is my vision of a digital sketchbook for UX designers.</p></blockquote>
<p>The app is being built to speed up initial sketching phase and be a tool that helps you <em>test the new idea </em>before going hi-fi.</p>
<p>A picture’s worth a thousand words, yet a video is always better:</p>
<p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fplayer.vimeo.com%2Fvideo%2F255563150&amp;dntp=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fvimeo.com%2F255563150&#038;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.vimeocdn.com%2Fvideo%2F683001591_1280.jpg&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=vimeo" width="1920" height="1080" frameborder="0"><a href="https://medium.com/media/4a4799990324ea9ebace40df1c360c90/href">https://medium.com/media/4a4799990324ea9ebace40df1c360c90/href</a></iframe></p>
<p>Pay attention to a few things:</p>
<ul>
<li>The app turns hand-drawn shapes into fully editable vector objects.</li>
<li>The Pencil is only used for drawing while fingers adjust shapes. No Pencil — no worries, just use an on-screen button while drawing.</li>
<li>Any shape may turn to another: box to text, text to image and so on.</li>
<li>Preview mode allows you to see your mockup in real size without actually having a device.</li>
</ul>
<p>Iterate looks similar to <a href="https://www.adobe.com/products/comp.html">Adobe Comp</a> that also heavily relies on shape recognition (we’re partially inheriting their shape dictionary), but it’s a standalone app that doesn’t rely on Adobe’s CC infrastructure.</p>
<p>Wait, there’s more…</p>
<p>What about being able to select one of the overlapping layers without guessing? Just tap and hold.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fplayer.vimeo.com%2Fvideo%2F255570845&amp;dntp=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fvimeo.com%2F255570845&#038;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.vimeocdn.com%2Fvideo%2F683011257_1280.jpg&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=vimeo" width="1920" height="1080" frameborder="0"><a href="https://medium.com/media/f12a567cc17ba834f798e6180fa0fea2/href">https://medium.com/media/f12a567cc17ba834f798e6180fa0fea2/href</a></iframe></p>
<p>Or create static guides without digging menus? Easy!</p>
<p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fplayer.vimeo.com%2Fvideo%2F255571260&amp;dntp=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fvimeo.com%2F255571260&#038;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.vimeocdn.com%2Fvideo%2F683011808_1280.jpg&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=vimeo" width="1920" height="1080" frameborder="0"><a href="https://medium.com/media/41884f9fb14b084f622a6b01e71c7a52/href">https://medium.com/media/41884f9fb14b084f622a6b01e71c7a52/href</a></iframe></p>
<p>Add a note, arrow or doodle? That’s what Freehand mode is for.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fplayer.vimeo.com%2Fvideo%2F255571943&amp;dntp=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fvimeo.com%2F255571943&#038;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.vimeocdn.com%2Fvideo%2F683012626_1280.jpg&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=vimeo" width="1920" height="1080" frameborder="0"><a href="https://medium.com/media/de9c3d2930c3bf1cccdeb05a3c94d50d/href">https://medium.com/media/de9c3d2930c3bf1cccdeb05a3c94d50d/href</a></iframe></p>
<p>And for the ones who love experimenting there’s a nonlinear, unlimited undo:</p>
<p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fplayer.vimeo.com%2Fvideo%2F255571980&amp;dntp=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fvimeo.com%2F255571980&#038;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.vimeocdn.com%2Fvideo%2F683012703_1280.jpg&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=vimeo" width="1920" height="1080" frameborder="0"><a href="https://medium.com/media/6a5874434aa888fcde21c35c8d41844b/href">https://medium.com/media/6a5874434aa888fcde21c35c8d41844b/href</a></iframe></p>
<p>(Creating that one has been especially hard).</p>
<h3>A small FAQ</h3>
<p><strong>When?</strong><br />We plan to release the first public version of Iterate within a couple months.</p>
<p><strong>What do I need to run it?</strong><br />Any iPad capable of running iOS 11, even iPad mini would work (but iPad Pro with Apple Pencil will provide better experience).</p>
<p><strong>Is it going to be expensive?</strong><br />Nope, but we haven’t set the price yet. Some basic features will remain free.</p>
<p><em>To be continued…</em></p>
<p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fupscri.be%2Ff51076%3Fas_embed%3Dtrue&amp;dntp=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fupscri.be%2Ff51076%2F&#038;image=https%3A%2F%2Fe.enpose.co%2F%3Fkey%3DdRXnS9Gplk%26w%3D700%26h%3D425%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fupscri.be%252Ff51076%252F%253Fenpose&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=upscri" width="800" height="400" frameborder="0"><a href="https://medium.com/media/b85dfbb5286d8a25cf2e754b9462cf45/href">https://medium.com/media/b85dfbb5286d8a25cf2e754b9462cf45/href</a></iframe><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=6955cc74be57" width="1" height="1" alt="stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSou"></p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/https-medium-com-tbrizitsky-iterate-the-ux-designers-digital-sketchbook-6955cc74be57">Iterate, the UX designer’s digital sketchbook</a> was originally published in <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io">Prototypr</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>


Iterate, the UX designer’s digital sketchbook

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