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Project Comet - Adobe’s New Tool for Interface Design

Project Comet - Adobe’s New Tool for Interface Design

A new tool for new design needs

On Monday, Adobe announced Project Comet, a new software tool for UX/UI design. Combining wireframing and prototyping into one comprehensive, vector-based design tool, Project Comet is clearly Adobe’s answer to Sketch. In a blog post on their website, Adobe declares that design has changed and “the tools for design have to change too.” The popularity of Sketch is evidence of this fact, and Adobe throwing their hat into the ring will be a welcome addition to the UX/UI design toolkit.

Introducing Project Comet

While Project Comet will not be available until "early 2016", Adobe has released a short video, available on YouTube and embedded below, demonstrating the program’s interface, its philosophy and some of its functionality. As its name suggests, Adobe intends for Project Comet to be fast, and allow users to “reduce the friction that comes from working with multiple tools to design and prototype.“ The photo above is a screenshot taken from this same announcement video, showing Comet’s ability to preview designs across multiple screen sizes in real time. A designer will be able to create wireframes and tweak animations within the same screen and program, allowing for a faster, more seamless workflow and hopefully the ability to iterate more easily.

One of the features highlighted is the “Repeat Grid” tool, intended as a faster way to layout lists and grids in your prototypes.



By clicking and dragging, a user can repeat a group of objects endlessly, with dynamic control of layout and padding. This feature is indicative of Adobe’s larger goals for Comet - smooth the speed bumps between designing and prototype that get in the way of being able to iterate a product rapidly.

Playing Nice With Creative Cloud

Unlike the veteran tools of Adobe’s Creative Cloud like Illustrator and Photoshop, Project Comet is described by Adobe Principal Designer Khoi Vinh as being “natively built for OS X” (read more at his personal website). This departure may be intended to get attention from fans and users of the OS X exclusive Sketch, but it certainly suggests a change in Adobe’s approach to software development. Also of note is the fact that Project Comet will be made available as both a desktop and as a mobile application, further highlighting the importance that Adobe is placing on Comet’s ability to work across devices.

Though pricing details have not been revealed, there is an assumption that Project Comet will be made available as a subscription, similar to Adobe’s current offerings. This is a significant difference from Sketch, which is extremely affordable at a one-time cost of $99.

Finally, it remains to be seen how Project Comet will fit in as part of the larger established Creative Cloud ecosystem but Adobe would be wise to capitalize on the ability to integrate projects with Photoshop and Illustrator. However, it is possible that this relationship could actually hinder Project Comet’s capabilities. While Sketch has powerful vector tools, and Adobe has positioned Project Comet as being a vector-first design tool, Adobe could conceivably handicap Comet’s vector tools so as to not cannibalize Illustrator users.

Find Out More

For more information, check out Adobe's blog and sign up to receive more information about Comet in the coming months here.

Are you excited by Project Comet? Think it can't compete with Sketch? Share you thoughts in the comments.


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