Are you trying to create your own professional logo or infographics for your business but didn’t know where to start? Do you want to download free design software that is suitable for beginners? If yes, then this article will certainly be helpful to you. Here, I have gathered some of the best graphic design software that are available on the internet.
Here are the best Adobe Graphic design software out there.
Adobe Photoshop
This may come as a surprise to some, but even Photoshop is capable of motion graphics. Adobe’s flagship product has been chiefly known for its contributions to photo editing and digital illustration. With its many advancements, however, it’s also capable of video.
Photoshop now contains a video feature that is built mainly for developing animated GIFs. While simple enough for making GIFs, it can be wielded for more elaborate animations and video. The video option uses a frame-by-frame technique for stitching frames together, akin to the classic animation methods.
Pros:
- It’s convenient to have Photoshop as both the assembler of motion graphics assets and the video editing program assembling them. You can quickly jump between developing your motion graphics assets and then animating them for motion with enough training. This is preferable if you don’t like jumping between different software.
- With the tools present in Photoshop, several styles can be accomplished quickly. This allows for more elaborate paintings and even rotoscoping to become a part of your motion graphics with ease. Those already familiar with Photoshop should have a minor issue using this process to transform their illustrations into animation.
- The use of design boards is a unique way to keep your motion graphics organized and easily editable. The simpler motion graphics can be adjusted with ease when placed in grouped layers. Compared to the likes of After Effects and Premiere, there’s a certain sense of simplicity to it.
Cons:
- Photoshop doesn’t have the most intuitive layout for assembling motion graphics. You’ll have to navigate the interface and read up on some tutorials to configure the program for making videos properly. While it’s possible to get used to this setup, it’s not ideal for those just starting in motion graphics.
- The timeline tools for creating videos are minimal. It’s pretty basic if you’re used to developing motion graphics frame-by-frame. If you want to check the timing of your motion graphics, however, you’re basically on your own trying to eyeball the results.
- The workflow process requires a lot of time to perfect. The more intricate motion graphics will require some extensive knowledge of animation and timing to deliver desired results.
Adobe Photoshop Camera (Android, iOS): Live Filters and AI Suggestions for Photo Editing
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Adobe Photoshop Camera introduces a whole new way of taking photos. Normally, you would snap a picture and then apply filters. But Photoshop Camera is smart enough to apply filters and show live previews before you press the shutter.
The whole thing works because of Adobe Sensei, a proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) software. Sensei can detect the scene from your camera and quickly adjust settings on the fly. You’ll need an active internet connection to see it happen though.
Sensei and Photoshop Camera also combine for another cool feature in the form of AI-suggested photo editing. The powerful AI can change backgrounds of photos, add objects seamlessly, create mirrors or clones of a person in the picture, and much more.
Play around with it and you’ll find it’s one of the most feature-packed photo editors, available for free. And there are other free Adobe app goodies like custom filters (called Lenses) from artists.
Download: Adobe Photoshop Camera for Android | iOS (Free)
Adobe Lightroom (Android, iOS): Minute Photo Editing With Great Free Tutorials
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How do celebrities and social media influencers edit their photos to look so great? Adobe Lightroom is here to teach you how. It’s the best free Adobe program to play with lights, shadows, and the finer details that make a picture pop.
While the desktop version remains paid software for professionals, Lightroom on mobile is free and accessible for anyone. In fact, Adobe has packed it with free tutorials for you to learn how to touch up pictures. The ‘Learn’ section of Lightroom has step-by-step guides for beginner, intermediate, and advanced users.
These guides will teach you the basics of photo editing and take you all the way to an expertise level you wouldn’t have thought. Plus, the guides are interactive, so you are actually changing the photo while learning as per instructions. Try them out, you’ll unlock a whole new skill level.
All of this is covered in the free Adobe Lightroom app. You can pay for Lightroom Premium to access features like the magical Healing brush to remove any object from a photo, the ability to edit RAW images and selective adjustments on photos.
Download: Adobe Lightroom for Android | iOS (Free)
Photoshop Mix (Android, iOS): Work With Layers on Touchscreens
Forget about Photoshop Touch and even the powerful Photoshop Express. Adobe worked hard on another app that puts both of those to shame and is easier for beginners to use.
Photoshop Mix concentrates more on being able to play around with layers, an essential element of image editing. With Photoshop Mix, you can combine up to five layers to make complex images, control opacity with Blend Modes, and apply multiple filters on several layers.
These are the kinds of image editing tools that were normally found on desktops. But with the powerful hardware of new smartphones, Photoshop Mix is an absolutely delightful free Adobe app for anyone who loves taking photos.
Download: Photoshop Mix for Android | iOS (Free)
Adobe Acrobat Reader (All Platforms): Sign and Highlight PDFs for Free
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Adobe Acrobat Reader is the granddaddy of PDF reader tools. We’ve gotten used to thinking of Adobe Acrobat as a bloated program that pesters us for subscriptions, but that’s not the case anymore. It has transformed into a sleek app for desktop as well as mobile and made essential PDF tools free.
These days, you often require to digitally sign a PDF document. Instead of searching for software that’ll let you do that, use good old Adobe Acrobat Reader. Yup, it’s completely free and makes it easy too. You can upload an image of your signature, draw with your mouse or finger on touchscreens, or type and choose a font that matches your sign.
Especially on phones, Adobe Acrobat Reader is seriously powerful. You can use it to highlight PDFs and add annotations for free, and it couldn’t be simpler. And try the Liquid Mode that makes reading PDFs easier, you’ll never want to browse PDFs in another format. It’s so good that I’d say Adobe Acrobat Reader is the best free PDF app on phones.
Download: Adobe Acrobat Reader for Android | iOS | Windows or macOS (Free)
Adobe Color (Web): Find Matching Color Schemes in an Instant
Color theory can be difficult. Even if you understand basic complementary colors, figuring out triads, shades, and analogous colors aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. Just offload all of that to Adobe Color instead.
The free Adobe web app promises to find the perfect color scheme every time. Either upload an image to figure out its main colors, or just pick a color yourself. Adobe Color will then find complementary, compound, analogous, monochromatic, or triad based schemes based on it.
Move the “hands” of the color wheel with your mouse (click-and-drag) and the entire color scheme updates on the fly. You have hex colors at the bottom, as well as RGB ratios. And if you’re stuck for inspiration, click “Explore” to check out some recent themes picked by other users.
DesignWizard
Platform: Windows
DesignWizard ranks among the best free graphic design software for beginners. The tool offers a large database of images along with a host of free templates (over 10,000), plus a simple, easy-to-use interface. While you can also quickly create custom templates, DesignWizard excels as a front-line, free graphic design tool for beginners.
Despite an easy-to-use interface and no upfront costs, it’s worth noting that most of the more powerful options in DesignWizard are only available in its for-pay version.
Setka Editor
Platforms: Windows, Mac
Setka bills itself as “everything you need to create content that converts.” This graphic design software is primarily focused on delivering enhanced content branding across your website, ad campaigns, and social media posts — and works from within your current CMS or in the cloud.
The caveat? Although the Setka Editor is free to try for two weeks, companies will need to select a plan — Starter, Pro, or Enterprise — to unlock the full feature set and keep using Setka.
Canva
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS
Whether you’re looking to create an ebook, infographic, business card, or email header, Canva has a template to simplify your process. The free web design tool, developed by non-designers, offers professional, easy-to-customize templates for just about any design need you can think of.
The drawback? You might need to invest in the paid version or try one of the more advanced free graphic design softwares as you skill up. While Canva’s free version is great for new designers working with templates, you can access more complex tools and features — such as team sharing — in the paid version.
Adobe Spark
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS
Adobe Spark is a free alternative to the company’s popular, for-pay Adobe Illustrator. While it’s not nearly as full-featured, it does support integration with other Adobe products. It’s easy to use and it comes with a host of free templates. If you’re looking to quickly create posters or videos for ad campaigns, Spark is a great choice.
The potential drawback? A limited feature set makes this a great starting point for beginners but less useful for more in-depth projects or experienced designers. The good news is that Spark is available for both web and mobile, meaning you can design anywhere, anytime.
Krita
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, Linux
Krita is a free, open-source painting program made by artists, for artists. Ongoing development of this tool depends on donations and is driven by the needs of the designer community at large. It’s no surprise, then, that Krita includes a customizable user interface, feature-rich toolset, and a comprehensive resource manager.
For businesses looking to boost their graphic design impact, Krita is a great tool — if they have the help of an experienced designer. For companies in need of simple, streamlined solutions, other software on this list offers a better fit for beginners.
Gravit
Platforms: PC, Mac, Chrome OS, Linux
Gravit is a vector design application created by the makers of Corel Draw. With a host of tools for creating vector art and a self-adjusting interface, Gravit earns its place among the best free graphic design software for Mac and Windows — the tool is also available for ChromeOS and Linux.
Worth noting? When you sign up for a free trial of Gravit you automatically get access to “Pro” features, including the ability to work offline and see version history. However, you lose these features when your trial is up unless you’re willing to pay for a subscription.
Adobe After Effects
After Effects has been Adobe’s top application for motion graphics and visual effects since 1993. The software focuses primarily on visual effects and digital compositing. Some examples include removing backgrounds from video for a green-screen effect or placing computer graphics into a scene.
After Effects is ideal for handling motion graphics with its various animation tools. The app has become a staple in film, television, and video games. It can also be retooled with plugins and scripts to create web animations as well.
Pros:
- After Effects is exceptional at merging different video formats. Motion graphics assembled in the program can easily be composited with live-action footage or even 3D animations. After Effects is also strong at compositing (removing backgrounds) that it’s built for more than just motion graphics.
- After Effects is highly customizable with scripts and plugins. These additions can make more elaborate motion graphics all the easier to manage with simplified processes and tools. These scripts can be of great benefit if you’re trying to create motion graphics with many moving parts or animations for websites.
- After Effects integrates well without other Adobe Applications. It can recognize layered files from Photoshop and make export to Premiere easily. Adobe Media Encoder, which comes bundled with Premiere, is a handy addition that allows you to render After Effects and Premiere projects at the same time.
Cons:
- The subscription pricing model can add up over time with a cost of $20.99 a month. The price can be a bit spendy for those not using the program professionally.
- While After Effects is excellent at crafting motion graphics, the video editor side of the program is not very good. If you’re working on a bigger project that requires audio and video editing, you’ll need to use a separate video editor like Adobe Premiere.
- After Effects can be pretty taxing on your computer, considering it can generate detailed previews while you’re working. You’ll need a solid computer to handle the heavy reliance on memory.
Short Verdict
Considering how much the app is capable of performing After Effects is an essential application. It’s a multi-use app that can aid in motion graphics and compositing and several visual effects. There’s so much that can be accomplished with its powerful tools that it’s worth the price.Get Adobe After Effects »
Adobe Animate
If you want to both design and animate simultaneously, Adobe Animate is an exceptional application. Originally known as Adobe Flash, the program is capable of creating and animating vector graphics. It used to be for web animation and games but now functions more as a general animation and motion graphics software.
Animate can be used to create old-fashioned 2D animation with its frame-by-frame tools. You can also use it to create tweened animations with merely clicking and dragging. The animations created can be exported either as a completed video or an image sequence brought into video editing applications.
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Pros:
- Adobe Animate is perfect for vector-based motion graphics. You can easily edit all the assets, even after they’ve been animated. This aspect can be a real timesaver if you don’t want to switch between apps.
- The animation tools within animate are top-notch. Everything from motion paths to easing of timing can be accomplished with ease. This is all thanks to the Tween tools that can make automation in animation simple enough to implement and customize.
- The interface is organized enough for a speedy workflow. Having the timeline present at the bottom and a preview window that generates previews quickly will make the process proceed faster. You won’t have to spend much time checking the timing or waiting for renders to confirm how well your project is coming along.
Cons:
- Adobe Animate is best suited for vector graphics. If you’re working with non-vector artwork, you may convert it. That conversion can increase the memory strain of the program, considering slow vector-based programs run with too much information.
- While most of the tools for animating are simple enough to understand, the motion graphics tweening tools can be a bit complex. It will take some time to learn the many components of animating layers. The learning curve is pretty steep in this area.
- The exportation formats are relatively limited. You can either render the animation out as a video with a small number of codecs or an image sequence brought into a video editor. Either way, you’ll most likely not have a finished product when you render within Animate.
Short Verdict
With enough training, Adobe Animate is one of the speediest applications for assembling motion graphics. The convenience of having drawing and tweening tools at your fingertips is ideal for animators who want a one-stop program. If you’re working in vectors, there’s no need to jump between apps when you can edit on the fly.
The program isn’t as strong at animating non-vector images, though. While it can accomplish this aspect, it’s a heavy drain on your computer’s memory. Due to these limitations, Animate is best recommended for motion graphics artists who work strictly in vector artwork.Get Adobe Animate »
Conclusion
The software available for free can be useful, depending on what it is that you are trying to accomplish. But for the true graphic designer, these free programs may not have what it takes to create a lot of projects for you. That could mean having to purchase commercial programs, or looking for better free options. In either situation, remember that there is a bit of a learning curve involved with most of the graphic design software you will use. Putting in practice and experimenting along the way can help you master these specific programs so they can truly become useful to you.