4 reasons why I choose to design my blog banners with Adobe XD over Adobe Illustrator

Adobe XD and Illustrator are my favorite Adobe products, I've used them for a long time because of quality and of course reputation counts but I chose one for designing my blog banners. My blog banners   are among my first priorities and should be your priority and this is why:

We all know that visual stuffs are interesting than bare words, that is why YouTube is among most visited platforms in the world per day it is because people are willing to learn, to laugh and to earn visually.

This is the same for a blog, to make people curious of what you have written, you need to show them visually what they are going to unfold in your post and make them believe it - That is why you need a thumbnail or banner like this one below.

I have chosen Adobe XD over Adobe Illustrator - Photo by Kord Blog

Reasons why I design my blog banners with Adobe XD instead of Adobe Illustrator

Adobe XD is a vector design tool / software that is used for creation of UI (User Interface) and UX (User experience) design it is owned by Adobe Inc. as other other adobe products. Not a great difference between Adobe XD and Adobe Illustrator is a software used to edit vector graphics anddesign logos, clipart and banners.

When you make a clear comparison and contrast between Adobe XD and Adobe Illustrator, their natures are the same and how they work is the same but their functions are different but not far. Let's understand how they work by taking a look at features of each:

Features of Adobe XD

Adobe XD is a great software for web or app  UI and UX design, seems to work better in creating some graphic elements that look awesome and elegant.

Pros of Adobe XD

• An easy to understand interface (UI)

Since I started to use Adobe XD, I was using it to create web and app UIs and UXs but when since the initiation of my blog that's when I decided to continue using it for banners, and many of my posters are made there. 

My decision was because Adobe XD has a simple interface and no complicated stuffs, everything you want from there is around, but my most motivation is that you don't have to mess around with menus its interface looks simple. Simply no complex features that are in the software that is the most I like about it because I need to design simple and casual posters for my blog (I don't mean to minimize the value I give postes) because Simple looks better and is easy to understand.

• Maintains the quality of elements

Another thing I like about adobe, when you have an asset if you don’t change it so much and mess up its quality it maintains its beauty, for example if paste an icon you can reduce or increase its size without any problem, that’s the same for image.

Because most of my images come from open source image libraries like Unsplash or Pixabay, their high resolution, it helps me to maintain dimension and quality and without losing them or when I add an icon from Remix Icon or Icons8 it doesn't stretch or do what.

• Loads faster

Comparing to other tool in Adobe Creative Cloud suite, Adobe XD is the best that loads faster because it is made for simple designs like mobile screens and is not assigned to do so many functions and that is an indispensable quality.

Whenever I open it on my machine comes quickly, it takes less than 15 sec to open, the best is that it is not like other design software from Adobe like Photoshop and of course Illustrator which can can take three and four minutes to open on machine with low capacity but on every machine regardless the capacity XD works well. 

For example, I had a machine of  2GB RAM, Adobe XD was running very well but at that time I would not even try to install Adobe Illustrator because my PC would crash immediately.

Cons of Adobe XD

• Missing advanced features in creation of custom shapes 

Since I started using Adobe XD I find something that challenged me which exists in other Adobe software. No, it doesn't exist but it is not as good as in other design tools like Illustrator and Photoshop... 

When I want to create custom shape from other shapes (the technique I like to use while designing) it doesn't return the expectations, the results look abstracted.

• Takes time to learn (not popular)

Learning the software is not that easy as it can be on Canva, Piktochart or other online design tools because it is an Adobe descendant. To be honest, I see Adobe XD as a professional tool for UI and UX designers and requires some time to learn. But don’t worry, it is not as hard as Illustrator.

Features of Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator already is meant to be for illustration and banner design, and has some cool features that attract passionate graphic designers.

Pros of Adobe Illustrator

• Many features

When you try to compare Adobe XD to Adobe Illustrator, XD is at some point limited in features of design because actuary it is not merely a design tool. Adobe Illustrator is made for designers specifically graphic design.

Adobe Illustrator (AI) has advanced tweaks in its properties more than Adobe XD where if you want to make your design even better you can.

• Custom transformation of shapes

I like how Adobe Illustrator brings the expected results when you make transformations between shapes. It makes things looks nice, where I have seen the best in the software is when I try to create a subtraction shape it exactly reflects my expectations — that’s what I found very profitable in Illustrator.

Cons of Adobe Illustrator

• Interface is not user-friendly

For bloggers and other people who need to have simple design skills, this is not a good choice because when you open it you immediately see a thousand options to choose from. What would you think? I can’t go on with this, that’s too many... how am I going to start? 

This is opposite to Adobe XD which has an interface that is very easy to understand.

• Complex learning curve.

Illustrator is not a simple software to learn, it requires some energy to start understanding it. To know how to use it requires time, energy and some knowledge about graphic design. I use it sometimes because long time ago I took time and learn it. 

If you want to start using it in your blog you need to take time and learn, but this works better if you learn it, but if you don't plan for any advanced designs you can checkout other alternatives.

• Too heavy, hence takes time to load

Believe me, if you have a small capacity PC don't try in anyway to use Adobe Illustrator because that will be too risky. Your computer will be at risk of crashing or having some systemic issues. The app won't even work well if your computer doesn't meet minimum requirements to be able to run it.

5 reasons that made me choose Adobe XD over Adobe Illustrator

After every detail above about the two apps of Adobe with comparison and contrast, I am going to be telling you why I have chosen Adobe XD for my blog banners. Of course it's weird to think how I used a UI/UX design software to design banners.

I found some reasons to consider Adobe XD for my designs than Adobe Illustrator for these reasons:

1. Minimal interface
2. Faster to load
3. Few skills needed
4. Accepts vector images

1. Minimal interface

From what I know Adobe XD has friendly workflow, when you open the software home screen gives you quick access to artboard presets, add-ons, deleted files, and files stored in your computer. You can also access recently accessed XD files, if you don't understand XD's you can use its built-in tutorials.

Additionally, I like add-ons and plugins feature because it helps me to design the banner with hands on assets (images, designs, icons) near me, I don't have to struggle searching for them on the internet.

The workspace is composed by the following that I like to use often:

• Toolbar
• Application toolbar
• Work area

2. Faster to load

The best of all things I like about XD is the time it takes to open, Adobe XD doesn't take long. This is why it loads in short time! One thing that makes me annoyed is to wait for a software that takes longer, I tempt to close it.

Because Adobe XD has simple interface it becomes easy for it to open, when I want create a quick banner it takes little time and accelerates my work. Can you spot that my first image was created in Adobe XD? Tell me.

3. Few Skills needed

Whether a designer or not, Adobe XD for banner doesn't require too much skills. Looking at its interface above, it doesn't have overwhelming tools like Illustrator does and they are not hidden (they are easy to find), all you need is very few design skills. 

For my part, one thing that I play a long time with is the pen tool and still not very complicated. Moreover, pen tool is common basic tool that's why you will find it in many design tools (Both offline and online). In few words I can say that:

Adobe XD is super easy to use.

Look how it looks to design a banner in Adobe XD by this YouTube video

4. Accepts vector images

What would make me let Adobe XD is support of victor images (checkout what are vector images here) but thank God XD is an Adobe product accepts vectors. The best of vectors is that they can be easily  edited and if you have seen my last post, I created the preview banner with Adobe XD.

Other Posts you might like:

> Remix Icon - A great icon library for designers and developers (Take it or leave it?)

> 3 free useful tools for designers (web-hosted)

Even though adobe Illustrator is better than XD in handling vector images, I always go with the time it takes for XD to load this file. Addition from that, the software's drag drop is easy than importing because those menu things, are exhausting.

The last is:

Did you know?

Did you know that Adobe XD is available for free for lifetime.

Final opinions

Neither I can say that I don't like Adobe Illustrator nor I don't use it (I use it often) but for making simple designs like blog banners, I like how Adobe XD makes a quality design, in small interval of time without hustles that comes in Adobe Illustrator – Actually, I use Illustrator for paid projects that require me to be careful on deliveries.

I don't mean that blog banners don't matter, but always I make them until I am happy of them without reviewing back but this is not the case for clients.

Talking about my blog banners, I really like how I make them. That's what made me like the way Adobe XD do it for me and referring from four (4) things I decided to take Adobe XD for my blog posts over Adobe Illustrator. Let's again reflect the things; simplified interface, fast to load and to open, you don't need high level of skills in design and it accepts vector images.

There are many options you can choose from a bunch of design platforms and software out there but I can also recommend you try out Adobe XD and see if it meets your taste. I don't think to be the one who is using this tool for designs other than UI and UX.

Do you have favorite design tools for your banners? What are they and why?