Axure RP is a robust prototyping and wireframe tool that is great for team projects.
February 06, 2019

Axure RP is a robust prototyping and wireframe tool that is great for team projects.

Kevin J. Hauger | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Axure RP

Axure RP is used by the UX designers within many of the different software development teams. Axure RP is primarily used to create Low-Fidelity and High-Fidelity wireframes. Wireframes are then handed off to the UI developers with additional requirements and documentation. The wireframes are essentially a layout reference that ensures the development team builds out the designer's vision. Axure RP primarily helps us bridge the gap between the designer's vision (design solution) and production (working) software.

Pros

  • Axure RP allows you to use adaptive views which is great for responsive design and development.
  • Axure RP is a very robust prototyping tool that has the ability to add realistic interactions.
  • There are numerous templates and formats available for wires, user flows, etc.
  • Master styles make it easy to update design features across numerous project pages, taking out the monotonous work.

Cons

  • The user interface is somewhat old and not always the most intuitive.
  • I've been using Axure RP for 5 years and often forget that it has a steep learning curve, which makes it harder to onboard new employees.
  • The "teams" functionality, as far as working and sharing the same files, has some room for performance improvements.
  • Results of the Preview function varies per browser (although it works best on Chrome).
  • Axure RP helps speed up the time from a user's story to design to development.
  • Axure RP helps collaboration between team members.
  • Axure RP helps keep styling and patterns consistent (while saving time).
Overall, Axure RP is a reliable prototyping and wireframing tool that has been around for a while. Due to its longevity, it has a large number of features and a large base of help documentation. Contrary, Axure RP does not always feel as thought out as some of its competitors, such as Sketch or Adobe XD. Axure RP certainly has more "interaction" based features (and I would recommend it over the others) if you're looking to do interactions with your wires. Sketch and Adobe XD provide a more modern and intuitive UI, which I've found has been much easier to bring new hires up to speed with. In summary, use Axure RP if you need robust masters and interaction ability... otherwise, use Sketch or Adobe XD for a more streamlined workflow.
Axure RP is a great user experience design toolkit that gives UX designers the ability to create user flows, Low-Fidelity, and High-Fidelity mockups all within the same tool. Overall, it works well with teams of designers looking to collaborate on the same project(s). Axure RP allows you to set up masters and components, giving you and your team the ability to share and re-use styled objects. This not only cuts down on the time allotted for wireframing, but it also means design styles are upheld and the overall software becomes more consistent. I would not recommend Axure for High-Fidelity visual design mockups (use Sketch App instead), as Axure is limited in it's the ability to style components.

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