Microsoft Design – Medium | Lucas Haines

In a design-driven world, rapid prototyping tools are an invaluable asset

Tools like Sketch, Framer, Invision, XD, and Principle are growing in popularity, and for good reason: they help you get from idea to proof point as fast as possible. It’s difficult to judge a design until you see it realized across a range of devices.

At Microsoft, we want to deliver the best possible UX for our customers, and these types of tools help us create high-quality experiences as quickly as possible. We also want designers outside of Microsoft to have access to these same resources. That’s why we’ve just released several new design toolkits for UWP apps.

Introducing the Fluent Design System’s new and updated design toolkits

We want to help designers be successful with the Fluent design system, so we’ve created a new set of design toolkits: some are updates to our existing toolkits, while the rest are brand new.

• Illustrator and Photoshop toolkits: We continue to support these popular design tools. These toolkit updates incorporate the latest Fluent design system changes and contain all the latest controls. [Download the Illustrator toolkit] [Download the Photoshop toolkit]
• XD toolkit: XD is a relatively new prototyping tool that has a lot of folks excited. A lot of designers are already using Creative Cloud for photography, video editing, and page design, and XD adds dedicated app design to the mix. We built the XD toolkit from the ground up, specifically for the Fluent design system. Look for frequent updates as the tool — and our design system — evolve. [Download the XD toolkit]
• Framer toolkit: Framer is an all-in-one design toolkit that combines visual design with coding features. We’ve created a new Fluent design system toolkit just for Framer, and we’ve made it open source so it will evolve with the community. [Get the Framer toolkit on GitHub]
• Sketch toolkit: We didn’t want to leave our friends who use Sketch out in the cold. Check out our new Sketch toolkit, which includes a Symbol library with the Fluent design system built in. [Download the Sketch toolkit]

We’re excited about the Fluent design system, and we’re excited to get it in front of designers through the tools they use every day.

Thanks to Joe Day for co-authoring.

Rapid Prototyping & UWP Apps was originally published in Microsoft Design on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.