The top online tools every designer should know in 2020

Tools are what make a designer’s life a heck of a lot easier. But there seems to be a new one cropping up on the market hourly – so sometimes it can be hard to keep up and navigate your way through the tool jungle. 

We’ve done the research, put all the tools to the test, and listed the top ones we think every designer should know about in 2020.

Best overall online graphic design software

Adobe illustrator is no longer ruled by graphic design. A lot of handy online tools have cropped up in recent years that make designing easier, intuitive, and efficient. With an array of templates, pre-selected shapes, colors, images labeled for commercial use, there are no limits when it comes to online graphic design. Our favorite tools include:

• Design wizard
• Be funky
• Canva
• Pixlr
• Crello

Best wireframing tools for designers:

Wireframes are an essential part of designing and developing websites and apps. They create the basic visualization of what a designer has in mind and are the baseline for developers to start coding the end product. They are also great when working with copywriters and combining visuals with written text. Our favorite wireframing tools for building website or apps include: 

• Invision
• Balsamiq
• Wireframe.cc
• Adobe XD
• Figma

Best online photo editor for designers:

Beyond Photoshop, there are plenty of online tools flooding the market that allow designers to edit, crop, and resize images professionally with a lot less complexity and skill. These are our favorite tools and we think that when it comes to photo editing, every designer should know them:

• remove.bg 
• Pixlr
• Fotor
• Picmonkey
• Photoshop express

Best mobile app design tools for designers:

App design is a whole world in itself. Online tools don’t just make designing apps easier and more intuitive, but they also help you keep track of a user’s journey, which screen they see when, and what options you can offer them. These are the tools that will make your life a lot easier when it comes to designing apps:

• Sketch
• Buildfire
• Adobe xd
• Marvel
• Proto.io

Best user testing platforms for designers: 

The recent rise of UX shows us just how important usability is, and user testing is what lies behind usability drive design. Great online tools that  allow you to tap into a pool of testers that will analyze and moderate your website/app or other design elements include: 

• Userbrain
• Usability hub
• Userlytics
• TryMyUi
• Hotjar

Alrighty! That wraps up our list of tools we believe every designer out there should know about. Did you recognize all of them, or is there something we left out? Let us know in the comments below.