GUI Design Software: 7 Best to Use in 2024

Adobe After Effects – Best motion graphics UI

Technology is moving forward faster and fast as days get by, and if you want your product or services to stand out in any way, you have to make it look good.

For example, in the case of software, sometimes having a great-looking interface can bring you more clients than a program that does a better job. That is why creating a program and giving it special effects can be crucial.

For those kinds of situations, a graphics designing program such as Adobe After Effects can make the difference between a program that looks plain and a program that will catch the eye of any would-be customer.

Adobe After Effects is specialized in creating video content, which in the case of programs can be used for the professional design of GUI animations and special effects.

If you are talking about a game or a multimedia-related product, this may be just what you need in order to make it look more sleek, modern, and powerful.

The interface is quite intricate, but the program comes with extensive documentation. In fact, once you’ve mastered Adobe After Effects, you can pretty much use any other similar product with ease.

Other key features of Adobe After Effects include:

• UI animation support for mobile and desktop apps
• Plenty of presets and effects
• Duration and frame rate adjustments

All things considered, if professional eye-catching designs are what you are looking to create, you need to look no further than this product.

Adobe After Effects

Design beautiful and useful software UIs with Adobe After Effects!

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Webflow – Code generation tool

Webflow is a great graphic user interface (GUI) design tool to help you build amazing user experiences without coding.

You can use it to create sketches and mockups and you can continue after by realizing a complete website GUI project.

Users of this tool get a simple drag-and-drop experience that lets them customize and adjust the interface smoothly, easily, and visually.

If you are or plan to become a more advanced user in the GUI domain and do business out of it, Webflow helps you build different database types with dynamic content for online stores.

You can continue customizing the interaction on your interface by continuously experimenting with the visual elements.

The tool lets you connect multiple team members and work together for astonishing final results.

Other key features of Webflow include:

• Website builder
• eCommerce integrations
• Productivity and customer engagement tools

Webflow has a free version as well as subscription-based versions that include additional benefits.

Webflow

Create professional GUI designs and connect with your team with this easy drag-and-drop GUI designer.

Free trial Visit website

Adobe XD – Prototype and UX builder

Adobe XD is a design and prototyping solution that offers creative GUI for websites, mobile apps, and other platforms.

First, you should know this product is beneficial for anybody who needs testing and multiple prototypes before starting to create a tool or website.

So, you can start here by designing the concept by drawing or sketching the interface, then develop the final product.

The simple UI of Adobe XD allows anyone to design their project according to their vision and apply the ideas to a live prototype.

It also provides a vast range of design tools and menus to help you create the most impressive GUI for your project.

Hence, you can draw and use shapes, vector-based illustrations, and apply colors, gradients, or typography effects to make a streamlined UX.

Other key features of Adobe XD:

• Artboard and multiple layouts
• Different interactions for UI
• Responsive design templates
• Collaboration tools for teams

Adobe XD

Make jaw-dropping GUI designs using this valuable prototype solution.

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Balsamiq – Suitable for business goals

Balsamiq is a rapid wireframing tool. It will help you visualize your ideas with its unique style and a rich set of tools that cover most if not all of the typical software usages.

With its help, you’ll be to weed out the ideas that won’t work and quickly double down on the ideas that show promise. It’s used by more than 500,000 companies such as Apple, Adobe, and Sony.

Balsamiq is available on the Cloud, Windows, Mac, and even Google Drive. That means you can use it almost everywhere.

Balsamiq also gives you access to a resourceful learning platform that teaches you how to wireframe.

The tool also lets you collaborate and create development teams with UX designers, product managers, and developers.

Other key features of Balsamiq include:

• Built-in UI controls and icons
• Drag-and-drop 
• Export to PNG or PDF

Not only that, but it begins with a reasonable subscription price, and if you are a teacher or working for a non-profit, you can get it for free.

⇒ Get Balsamiq

Axure RP – build for UX professionals

Axure RP is an industrial-grade wireframing, rapid prototyping, documentation, and specification tool that is a great choice for all kinds of users.

With Axure RP you don’t only create your design, but you can also describe and specify the usage of every element. 

With its support of animations, conditional flow,  math functions, and dynamic content you not only can create an interface but you can also see its function and perform live. 

Axure RP while being fully capable of designing because it is not an exclusive tool for only that, its toolkit is not on a par with software targeted specifically to designers (such as Sketch).

With this tool, you can create many different types of UIs, including mobile-friendly applications.

Axure RP offers professional solutions that help the users of your application have an easy and pleasant experience. 

These include working text fields, droplists, buttons, multi-state containers, data-driven interfaces, and adaptive views for desktop tablets and phones.

Other key features of Axure RP include:

• Flow diagrams
• Collaboration tools
• Easy to share prototypes

It has a bigger monthly subscription price than other options on the market, but the toolset provided justifies the price and makes the investment worth it.

⇒ Get Axure RP

Altia Design – Ideal GUI solution

Most design programs are targeted toward mobile developers, but Altia Design is a different beast. If you are building a UI for an embedded device then this is your program.

Not only will it integrate with Photoshop and provide you with toolkits to build a GUI directly in it, it will also help you export your GUI to C code and run it directly on the embedded device.

That’s right, Altia Design will even generate the code for you, so you don’t need to pay extra for the developers to bring your UI to life.

With its support for animation, its optimized code generation, and extensive toolkit, it is the choice of many embedded software engineers.

Users of this tool are not required to hand-code anything as Altia is able to generate professional-looking prototypes starting from designs made in Photoshop, Illustrator, Maya, and other similar tools.

You can use both 2D and 3D integrated content, implement feedback with fast iterations, prepare the user interface, and more.

Other key features of Alita include:

• WYIWYG GUI editor
• Design assets optimized for code generation
• Comprehensive library of GUI components
• Validator to fix errors

Sadly, Altia Design is only for embedded devices. While the program has no set price, you can contact them here, and they’ll provide the price after they get some information about your project.

⇒ Get Altia Design

Corel Vector – Vector graphics tool

Of course, no list would be complete without free software. This is one of those rare free programs that actually works and works so well you’d not believe you have it for free.

With a set of features that not only lets you design GUIs but also create illustrations and edit them, featurewise, it doesn’t bow down to its competitors.

With Android and IOS versions of the program coming out soon, you can practically use it on every device. It already supports Windows, Mac, Linux, and even ChromeOS.

Not to mention that you can also use the online version that doesn’t lack any offline version features.

Gravit is suitable for advanced and beginner users alike. The tool has a simple and intuitive interface and users can get access to resourceful tutorials and guides.

Professionals will enjoy the complete control offered by this software as it lets you thoroughly tweak and edit every little detail of your design.

For users that need inspiration or want to save time, Gravit offers a comprehensive library of premade design templates. These can help you get started and design a complete product in fewer steps.

Other key features of Corel Vector include:

• Compatible with mobile devices as well as pen devices
• Vector based engine 
• Cloud integration
• Autosave feature

Garvit offers a free solution to get started with, but it also has a premium version for those who need a more advanced set of features.

⇒ Get Corel Vector