Introducing Voice Prototyping in Adobe XD

Use voice triggers and speech playback to interact with your prototypes.

Image source: Adobe XD.

Being able to take ideas, bring them to life, and share them with others is a fundamental part of the creative process. But to do that, designers need to be able to work without needing to learn complex new tools or having to rely on developers to make their vision a reality. As immersive technologies such as voice play an increasing role in digital experiences (the number of U.S. smart-speaker users is expected to reach 90 million this year), creators need increased access to these new mediums to incorporate them into the design process. At Adobe, we feel a responsibility to the creative community to deliver that access, to empower creators to do their best work.

Continuing on our long tradition of design innovation, today we’re announcing the launch of voice capabilities within Adobe XD. Designers now have access to the medium of voice to use in their prototypes. Whether it’s including voice commands in a mobile app, adding speech playback for an in-car navigation system, or using both technologies on voice platforms such as Amazon Alexa, Adobe XD now allows designers to design, prototype, and share digital experiences that extend beyond the screen.

We are also introducing the first Adobe XD UI kit specifically created for Amazon Alexa’s new front-end framework, the Alexa Presentation Language (APL). This comprehensive kit contains the styles and components needed to create experiences for Amazon Alexa.

New experiences, same process

Voice (with a capital V) can refer to different things. Sometimes it’s used to discuss a new form of interaction, with spoken commands joining clicks and taps as a form of input, and speech playback joining visual displays and animation as a form of output. Voice can also refer to the rise of new voice-first services, such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Microsoft Cortana, and more.

Whether you’re incorporating voice and speech into an existing product or creating something new for a voice-first platform, the same process of design, prototype, and share remains the best way to create great experiences.

This inspired the Adobe XD team to integrate Voice in a way that will feel natural and intuitive for any designer.

Voice prototyping in Adobe XD.

Trigger prototyping actions with voice commands

Along with triggers such as tap and drag, you are now able to use voice commands as a trigger in XD. Simply select Voice and enter an utterance in the command field. When you preview your prototype, you’ll be able to trigger the associated action by saying that utterance.

Include speech playback as an action within prototypes

Whether you’re using a voice command or a time trigger, you can now select Speech Playback as an action in Prototype mode. It’s easy to then add the response, and using a powerful text-to-speech engine, your prototype will speak back to you during Preview when triggered.

A new way to create — and more on the way

Introducing these initial voice capabilities provides designers with a new way to design that has never been possible with any other tool on the market before today. But Adobe XD is just getting started. Keep an eye out for additional language support, new voice personas, and a few more surprises in future releases.

In the meantime, do you have some other ideas for voice features in XD? Head over to Adobe XD Feedback on UserVoice and let us know what you’re thinking.