Welcome to What Software Do You Use for Graphic Design blog, since making things with software is what we think about. By the way, didn’t you use to be graphic designers?
Graphic design software has been available for a long time. Just like other software, you can use it to get things done and not have to spend a fortune doing so. But for any beginner, it is not easy to know where to start when there are so many options. To make things easier, here is a review of the best graphic design software for beginners.
Paint.net
Features
- A tabbed document interface is used to manage multiple images.
- Highly responsive and said to be one of the “fastest image editor available”
- Paint.net has layers for enriched image composition experience.
- Intuitive and a creative user interface.
CorelDraw Graphics Suite.
CorelDraw Graphics Suite packs some pro-level features and offers a highly accessible interface that is easy to use. It is a bundle of multiple applications that deliver powerful editing features.
Key Features:
- Content Exchange: It is Corel’s online digital library through which registered users can get access to thousands of high-resolution photographs and digital images. It also offers over 2000 vehicle templates, 1000 fonts, 350 professionally designed templates, more than 500 interactive frames, over 600 gradients, vector, and bitmap fills.
- Flexible Payment: Corel offers three payment programs through which users can buy the software along with nominal charges for regular upgrades. It also offers an upgrade program for existing users.
- Customizable UI: You get a customizable UI environment for the desktop, icon sizing, toolboxes, options for how your documents open, and window border color scheme. Users can also visit Corel’s developer community website to design macros that suit their workflow.
- New Pointilizer: Corel’s new pointilizer offers a lot of variable parameters that are not just limited to regular dots.
Pros:
- It offers app-wide workflow and under-the-hood innovation and performance enhancements to boost productivity
- Works perfectly without any lag with Surface Pen
- Users get the option to choose GPU acceleration over the default CPU while working with system-intensive sophisticated vector graphics
- Smooth transition from desktop to tablet mode to leverage touch features
- It offers better EPS and third-party PDF importing capabilities and leverages with their GPL Ghostscript feature
- It is capable of exporting files in up to 48 file types, including AutoCAD, JPG, PNG, SVG, AutoCAD, JPG, and TIFF. It can also open 35 file types, including EPS, HTML, AutoCAD, PDF, PowerPoint, SVG, and even old FreeHand files
Cons:
- Unlike Adobe, there are no complimentary mobile applications offered by Corel
- Two many payment options might confuse the user
- Not easy to operate for beginners
Pricing Plans::
CorelDraw is available for a 15-day free trial. Its full version is available for $474 with a 30-days money-back guarantee. You can also pay for an annual subscription for $198, or just $16.50/month.
Inkscape.
Inkscape is a capable free graphic design software that can help designers create scalable graphic designs that won’t stretch or blur during resizing. It’s a user-friendly option for hobbyists or beginners interested in vector drawing.
Key Features:
- User Experience: For free vector software, the user experience is quite impressive. Designers who are familiar with Adobe tools can efficiently operate Inkscape.
- Regular Updates: Inscape has a robust community of developers that enables it to provide updates and new features regularly. Its latest update has got mesh gradients, a checkerboard background to view transparency more comfortably, improved spray, and measurement tools.
- Free of Cost: It is one of the most robust and capable alternatives to Adobe Illustrator that is available as a free tool.
- Manual Improvement: Users can leverage the open-source code to change the lines of code and enhance or personalize the software as per the requirement.
Pros:
- Users can easily make individual text lines without frames along with the paragraph type.
- It supports multiple gradients and comes with a separate tool to create complex combinations.
- It comes equipped with Bezier handles to ensure more effortless movement of nodes.
- Inkscape offers several well-designed and full-featured tools to create, edit, and convert vectors.
- It is also capable of downloading or creating ready-made plugins.
- Users can leverage different preset categories of filters to save time and effort.
Cons:
- Inkscapes’ streaming text needs to be converted into plain text, for instance, before export.
- The Mac version is not error-free.
- Processing is a bit slower than other graphics software.
- Compatibility with Illustrator is not bulletproof.
Pricing Plans:
Inkscape is an open-source platform that is available for free.
Adobe Photoshop
A photo, image, and graphic design editing solution, Adobe Photoshop CC is targeted at professional graphic designers, artists, and photographers. It enables users to design websites, posters, icons, mobile apps, and banners using easy-to-use tools and built-in templates. For photographers, the app has tools that aid in picture creation and enhancement, making excellent works of art out of photographs.
Using the software, you can create and enhance illustrations, 3D artworks, and paintings. Unique patterns and effects, along with brushes, aid in the creation and customization of digital works. Other key features include brush smoke smoothing, brush management, access to Lightroom photos, paint symmetry, and luminance masking controls, among many others.
You can avail of Adobe Photoshop CC in a variety of pricing plans, starting at $29.90/month.
Why choose Adobe Photoshop?
- Easy to use templates and intuitive tools
- Professional tools for basic photo enhancements to total image transformation
- Draw, paint, design with thousands of pens, pencils, markers, and brushes
Adobe InDesign
A page design and layout solution, Adobe InDesign CC is used predominantly in the creation, preflighting, and publication of documents for both print and digital media. It is a desktop publishing software that can be used to design posters, brochures, stationery, flyers, annual reports, and magazines, among many other projects. You can also create eBooks, interactive PDFs, and digital magazines using the platform.
Adobe InDesign CC has tools that can help you collaborate with writers and editors, which will enable you to come up with and design documents a lot faster. It can share text, colors, graphics, and shapes as it gives users access to its Creative Cloud Libraries. Other notable features include paragraph borders, object height and width, endnotes, fonts, and PDF accessibility enhancements.
You can purchase Adobe InDesign CC as a single application or part of Adobe Creative Cloud. It is available in a variety of pricing plans starting at $29.99/month.
Why choose Adobe InDesign
- Premiere page layout and design solution
- Applicable for print, digital, and web media projects
- Professional layout and typesetting tools
Conclusion
There are a lot of graphic design software programs out there on the market. This can be a lot to manage, especially for beginners who don’t know what to ask for when they start their career in the graphic design field. To narrow it down, here are some of the top graphic design software that people use right now.