With the large market of Graphic Designers out there, it can be hard knowing the best ones to allow us to improve our designs. I thought that I would create this post in order to create a list of great tools / services for Graphic Designers. This list will also serve as an update on Free Tools or Services out there for Graphic Designers or Developers which you might not know about.
As a web designer, you are surely familiar with the time needed to create visual content. It can be challenging to create graphics that may look simple enough but are actually very intricate in nature. This might have happened several times if your clients are displeased with your service or call you for revisions. Fortunately, all organized and serious designers know that free tools for graphic design really do exist and can be used to do their job more efficiently and effectively. So for those of us who like to work on a shoestring budget (and still rule the roost), we’ve compiled a list of some awesome websites replete with design tools that you can use immediately on actual projects.
Gravit Designer
The best free vector editor overall
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: Browser, Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOSTODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Decent set of tools+Works with AI and Sketch files+Desktop and online
REASONS TO AVOID
-Free version has limitationsAdvertisement
From the people behind Corel Draw, Gravit Designer is the free best graphic design software you’ll find today.
Even if it doesn’t have the mass appeal of Illustrator or Affinity Designer, Gravit Designer has a clean and intuitive interface and should easily cope with most design jobs, from icon design and prototyping to vector illustration and animation.
You can use Gravit Designer online or download a copy to your computer. Note that you automatically start out on a (free) trial of Gravit Designer Pro when you sign up, and once your trial is over, you transition to the free version, but lose the Pro features – unless you pay for a subscription.
However, Gravit Designer’s free version is still excellent. You can export files as PDF, SVG or bitmap, and you access your work wherever you are via the Gravit Cloud.
Vectr
The best free vector editor for live collaboration
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: Browser, Windows, Linux, Chrome OSTODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Helpful tutorials+Browser and desktop versions+Great collaboration tools
REASONS TO AVOID
-Lacks some advanced features
Vectr is the best free graphic design software for working collaboratively. Along with vector tools, filters, shadows and fonts, it includes a great set of live collaboration and synchronisation options. These make it easy to team up with colleagues or clients, to let them see what you’re doing, and provide feedback on your work.
Canva
The best program for social media graphics
1/4
2/4- 3/4
4/4
Editors’ Rating (3.5/5)
Web / iOS / Android | Read Canva ReviewUSE CANVA FOR FREEPros
- Access from any computers and devices
- Thousands of templates
- Easy to use
Cons
- You can’t change the size of the image in a free version
- Requires fast Internet
Canva has 10 million users and provides universal tools using which you can design anything you want, including email headers, presentations and infographics for blogs. The design of their website is very intuitive and beginner-friendly. It also has a drag-and-drop function and high-quality free graphic templates.
This software is a popular option for non-designers at a last resort. It works well with graphics, however, if you have to create documents with many pages, you will not be able to do it here.
Also, this software doesn’t offer the function of template locking for such brand assets as fonts, colors and logos. Thus, if you are going to work with simple graphics, this is the best free online graphic design software.
GIMP
A powerful raster graphics editor
1/4- 2/4
- 3/4
- 4/4
Editors’ Rating (4/5)
Windows / Mac / Linux | Read GIMP ReviewUSE GIMP FOR FREEPros
- Vivid and modern UI
- Easy to use
- Has single windows usage
Cons
- Contains several bugs
Gimp graphic design software is well-thought-out and surprisingly free. It provides a versatile photo editor that can work on all main operating systems.
Gimp is for those who are looking for robust software to perform different manipulations with photos, create paintings or mock-ups.
The interface of this free graphics software is similar to Adobe Photoshop. A few tool icons are the same and the layer setup is not worse than in Photoshop.
The developers consider the requests of the users and do everything to enhance the functions of this software. One of such functions is saving and exporting files. It saves your working files in XCF format. But you will have to export other formats.
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.
Blender
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Blender is an open-source, 3D creation suite that makes it possible for graphic designers to create everything from rigging to animation to rendering and motion tracking. It also provides support for 2D animation and has an active community of users committed to helping Blender improve.
While Blender is a powerful tool, it’s not ideal for beginners — complex menus and a massive amount of design options mean you need to know your way around graphic design basics to make the best use of this tool.
Conclusion
Most designers know that freebies are a dime a dozen. If you just search the internet for a few minutes, you’ll find all sorts of tools that can help you do your job for free. While most of them aren’t the best out there, some even have excellent features that might surprise you. In this post, we’ve compiled a list of some tools that will help you design, as well as edit photos and videos, with ease.