The Pixel School was formalized at a time when Photoshop was the dominant screen design software. Foremost, it is a set of design principles and the techniques demonstrated in Illustrator can be applied using most modern vector-based tools.

We've now made an agency-wide transition to Figma . As such, the following is written through our previous lens using Illustrator. While the techniques employed are shared, we will soon be updating this guide to reflect the shifts we've made as a team through our change over to Figma (which is worth noting we are incredibly happy with!).

What is important to us is that our tool respects and supports discipline and time—a keen eye on pixel accuracy—for some of these techniques to be effective. Once learned, they give the designer that employs them a great advantage since he or she can work much more efficiently and quickly. Nearly all designers that have passed through the AREA 17 design studio retain this method of working.

The techniques explained throughout this document answer the initial question in more detail, but the main reasons we use Illustrator include:

Illustrator works with numbers and can facilitate the transition from design into development as the system is created around numeric principles.