Creative Matchup: UX Designers Battle It Out on Adobe XD for Girls Who Code

Three designers. Four hours. One epic design challenge.

UX designers went head-to-head in Adobe’s latest Creative Matchup. In this challenge, three talented designers have been tasked to use Adobe XD, the all-in-one cross-platform design and prototyping tool, to create a new profile experience for Girls Who Code‘s mobile app Loop.

Girls Who Code is a national non-profit organization devoted to closing the gender gap in the tech industry. It helps equip girls with the computing skills they’ll need to pursue 21st-century job opportunities. In the challenge, the designers have to use Girls Who Code’s existing branding and color palette, and have four hours to use Adobe XD to create an experience that will impress the judges and satisfy the client.

“We wanted our sisterhood to be able to share more of their experience and their personality in their profile so they can use it to help them apply to college or future jobs,” said Amulya Kunati, teacher at Girls Who Code and one of the judges.

You can watch the creative battle play out in the videos below, but first, let’s meet the designers and judges.

The Competitors and The Judges

The challenge pits three experienced UX designers from three different companies against each other, all in the name of creating a great feature for a good cause.

For all of them, Girls Who Code is a cause they believe in. “I feel like Girls Who Code gives opportunity for girls in a safe space to be who they are and gives them the resources to learn [about code and design] so I’m really excited about it,” said competitor Jeany Ngo.

The judges may come from three very different backgrounds, but all have an interest in seeing the designers create the best experience for Girls Who Code.

Challenge Part 1

With four hours on the clock, the designers get to work creating Girls Who Code’s new profile experience, using Adobe XD’s design tools and features.

“Four hours is a realistic timeframe for me to be able to get through unread slack messages,” said Jordan Smith, with a laugh. The pressure might already be on, but like any good design challenge, there’s a big twist. Check it out below.

Challenge Part 2: Final Elimination

With only two competitors left and two hours remaining on the clock, the competition heats up as the designers push to create and fully prototype their designs before time runs out. While they’re all experienced with Adobe XD, having to create the new feature in such a short period of time gave them a new appreciation for XD’s all-in-one design.

“A really great feature in Adobe XD is the combination of design and prototyping in the same tool…just a great way to get your point across and to show someone how a flow pieces together,” said George Kedenburg.

In the end, our judges gave the win to the designer “who met the client needs the best,” giving Girls Who Code a rich profile experience inside its app. While all three competitors did an exceptional job working with XD, one rose to the top. Check out the winning design in the video above, and head over to Behance to see more of the incredible design prototypes #MadeWithAdobeXD.

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