Let me take you back to 2015. Our design team was huddled around a laptop, watching an InVision prototype auto-scroll through a Fortune 500 banking app. “This feels alive,” someone whispered. For seven glorious years, this was our reality – 99% of projects lived and breathed InVision. Fast forward to today? That same screen shows a shutdown notice.
Poof. Gone. Like a sandcastle at high tide.
We’ve been here before, haven’t we? The collective gasp when Adobe euthanized Fireworks. The muffled screams when XD became tech’s most awkward ghost story after the Figma deal. Tools don’t just retire – they vanish mid-sprint, leaving us scrambling. But here’s the twist you didn’t see coming: Your panic is the point.
When Titans Fall: The InVision Obituary
The Golden Age (2010-2017)
- Prototyping Royalty: InVision wasn’t just a tool – it was the handoff bible for Airbnb, Amazon, and Netflix teams
- Studio’s Spark: Remember that 2018 launch of InVision Studio? Smooth animations that made Figma’s current Smart Animate look like flipbook sketches. Designers (myself included) swooned over timeline controls that danced between micro-interactions.
The Unraveling
- Update Desert: Studio got updates as often as Halley’s Comet
- Figma’s Ambush: While InVision napped, Figma weaponized real-time collaboration – their 2019 “Multiplayer Mode” was the D-Day of design tools
- The Killer Stat: 80% of our 2016 InVision projects had migrated to Figma by 2022. Ouch.
History’s Echo: Graveyard of Giants
Let’s play design tool bingo:
- Macromedia Freehand (RIP 2003): The Photoshop of vector art, murdered by Adobe’s acquisition
- Fireworks (RIP 2013): The OG web design lovechild, abandoned for Photoshop’s clunky cousin
- Flash (RIP 2020): Don’t let the funeral flowers fool you – HTML5 strangled it in broad daylight
Notice the pattern? Tools don’t fail. Strategies do.
The Survival Guide They Don’t Teach
Last month, I watched a junior designer nearly cry when Figma lagged during a client demo. Her white-knuckled grip on the mouse said it all: “What if this disappears too?”
Here’s what I told her over matcha lattes:
1. Be the Chef, Not the Microwave
Figma’s auto-layout? InVision’s hotspots? These are just kitchen appliances. Your real tools:
- Universal UX Laws (Hick’s, Fitts’, Jakob’s)
- Storytelling Muscle (yes, even for error messages)
- Adaptation Reflex – I once prototyped a medical app using Google Slides during a 4G outage
2. Play the Field (But Don’t Marry)
Current tool stack?
- Figma for 80% work
- Penpot for open-source experiments
- Protopie for swoosh-worthy animations
- Paper for CEO brainstorms (they love the scratchy pencil sound)
3. Hoard Transferable Magic
When XD flatlined, our team survived because we’d mastered:
- Design Token Alchemy (styles that translate across tools)
- Plugin First Aid (self-built color contrast checkers)
- Narrative Prototyping (client wins care about user journeys, not Figma vs Sketch wars)
The Sunset Isn’t Personal – It’s Just Business
That banking app prototype from 2015? We recreated it last week in Figma. Took 3 hours. The client didn’t notice – they were too busy praising the flow we’d preserved from the original.
Tools are seasons. Skills are climate.
As I type this, someone’s probably coding the next “InVision killer” in a Silicon Valley garage. Let them come. My Wacom pen still works on napkins.
How many design tools have you outlived? Share your survivor stories below – let’s laugh so we don’t cry.
5 Skills That Outlast Any Software (Bookmark This!)
- Atomic Design Thinking (Build systems, not screens)
- Accessibility Auditing (WCAG is forever)
- Cross-Tool Style Guide (CSS variables → Figma tokens → ProtoPie values)
- User Interview Ballet (Asking → Listening → Iterating)
- Low-Tech Persuasion (Whiteboard > Dribbble when convincing execs)
