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Reshaping Shape Tools in UI Design Tools

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1 min read

I wanted to make a dotted map in Figma. Yet, not sure which will look better; square dots or circle dots? Instead of using a circle which I can't turn to a square, I used a square which I can turn into a circle with a border-radius. Below's the idea of Non-destructive shape tools.

It would make sense if it doesn't matter what UI design shape you start with. Because you'll be able to transition between triangle, rectangle, star, ellipse, and many more, anytime. A solution is not to have shape tools for each of Rectangle, Line, Arrow, Ellipse, Polygon, and Star. As we have in Figma and other design tools. Rather, we would have only one Polygon tool with a panel of properties for any other shape tool. Count for the number of polygon sides, width and height for regularity, Ratio for side bulge, etc. For UX, there will be a preset for each of the other shape tools. In summary, shape tools like triangle and rectangle are only a preset of a polygon tool, not another shape tool. Besides, this approach is mathematically correct.

That's the design direction I set for the vector tools of the web system I'm creating at www.toheeb.com/en/os#products.

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