Is this part of the learning process?

#1

I need a bit of advice.

I’ve been practising my web design skills by doing some copy work. I’m using Adobe XD to do this. The problem is that sometimes I struggle to figure out how to make things like animation, transition (that is part of the design of the website) work in the software. Figuring it out then takes up a lot of my time.

Should I consider this part of the learning process or should I not bother with figuring the software out better and focus on the static design aspect only?

Or is there a third option?

Thanks in advance!

#2

If it’s practice and you want to learn this side of things, then without it you won’t get to Carnegie Hall.

If it’s not something you want to learn, then concentrate on what you do want to learn and learn that.

Frankly, I haven’t seen any animation/transitions in websites in about 20 years. I didn’t think it was still a thing?

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#3

Thanks for replying.

I didn’t mean animation/transitions in websites per se. I meant the components feature in Adobe XD.

I wish it were as simple as learning what I want to learn. If I am to design my own websites, I will have to learn a tool to design it, Adobe XD or something else. But should I be trying to learn it now when I’m trying to work on my design skills or focus on one thing at a time?

#4

Just an opinion, but web design and development has become a chaotic mess. There are about a million ways of doing most anything, and with specialties and subspecialties developing around each of them. There’s no way any one person can keep up with all this stuff, let alone master it.

If you try to become good at everything, you’ll spend the majority of your time learning and figuring things out instead of earning money. In the best of situations, most any kind of web development involves lots of problem solving and research which, to an extent, needs to be reflected in one’s fees. On the other hand, you can’t typically expect a client to pay you for learning something that you don’t already have a good deal of knowledge about.

As for Adobe XD, if you want to specialize in an XD approach to web design, that’s fine. If so, you probably ought to plan on learning it inside and out, which is the same with any other niche web design/development product, language, framework, CMS, philosophy, blah, blah, etc, etc.

With web design, there’s always some shiny new thing coming out of nowhere that distracts everyone’s attention. Today, that might be XD. Next year it’ll be some entirely different sort of thing that nobody’s ever heard of.

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#5

I get what you’re saying, and how specialisation and developing expertise are important.

The thing is I don’t want to specialise in Adobe XD or its approach to web design. I have been just using it as a tool to practise web design. It could’ve easily been Figma or any of the other similar tool – I just picked this one since I’ve worked with other Adobe software in the past. What I’m trying to do is better my design skills, but figuring out the tool takes up a lot of time. I couldn’t find a way around it, so I asked here.

#6

XD, Sketch and, especially, Figma assume (or so it seems to me) a workgroup situation where there’s a separation of duties between a UI/UX designer and a developer or coder. They’re design tools, but they’re built especially to facilitate handing off the design to someone else to code.

For those working in a situation where this kind of workflow is the case, they’re great. In situations, like those I’ve typically been involved with, where I both design and do all the front-end coding, they’re not so great. I just prefer Photoshop, a code editor, a browser and Illustrator for any SVG work.

#7

So, what you’re saying is that if I’m offering a solution that includes both designing and coding, I shouldn’t bother with learning a new software and just stick to the tool I know (like Photoshop) for working on my design skills. Right?

#8

I’m not suggesting what you should or shouldn’t do or learn. For all I know, you might find these apps useful, even if right now you’re designing and coding your sites. I’m only saying that my impression of these apps is that they were designed to streamline a workflow that typically involves a separation of duties. I’ll go one step further and say that I personally don’t find them useful for the way I work, but that’s just me.

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#9

@schweta,
In the learning process, there come many challenges. We have to spend much amount of time in designing anything, whether it be a logo, flyer, brochure, or web design. Can you show some of the animation work which you did in web design?
If your intention is to opt for web designing as your future profession, you must dedicate your precious time to learn and be an expert. When I used to do practice during my learning days, it took much of my time. Learning is earning.

Best of luck

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#10

Thank you, Naheed. Happy to put in the hours to learn – as many as it takes. Also realise that there is never an end to the learning. Just wanted some guidance on how and if I was learning in the right direction to reach my goal in the most effective and efficient way.

I don’t have any animation work to share really. If you know Adobe XD, it’s the software’s components feature – which transitions an element from one state to another – that I’ve been struggling with.

What B said made a lot of sense to me, so I’ve stopped worrying about the tool and its idiosyncrasies and am more focused on the design/creative aspect of it.

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