With the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets, almost everyone has become a photographer and graphic designer. This is especially true for kids, teens and young adults who are more engaged in their devices than ever before. Even the kids from your high school’s Business Club can tell you about timesaving apps to create graphics for your latest project.
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Best Apps For Making Graphics
- GIMP – GNU Image Manipulaiton Program
When it comes to customization, few software tools come close to GIMP. In addition to providing a free photo editor, GIMP offers a range of high-quality functions such as customizable brushes and automatic image enhancement tools.
With GIMP, you’ll be able to access the same features without paying anything.
Available on: Windows, macOS, Linux
- Pixlr X
Pixlr X is a free online editor tool with several advanced features. The best part is its simple interface, which makes it easy to use. Going a step ahead of other image editing tools, Pixlr X offers a number of cutting tools such as lasso, shape, drag, and magic.
Available on: Windows, iOS, Android, Browser
- Krita
Krita is an open-source tool that has been around for a while. It’s quite popular among illustrators and concept artists thanks to the various features it has on offer. More than editing, Krita is popular as a drawing tool.
Available on: Windows, macOS, Linux
- Vectr
Vectr is ideal when it comes to working collaboratively. That’s because it comes with synchronization and live collaboration options. This makes it easy for a team to connect and collaborate on the tool.
Available on: Windows, Linux, Chrome OS
- Gravit Designer
Gravit Designer is a great option for vector graphics. Created by people behind Corel Draw, Gravit Designer is a free vector software with a clean interface and it can support most design tasks.
Available on: Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome OS
Best Paid Apps for Graphic Designers
There are several paid apps that are popular with designers. Graphic design software tools provide several advanced features that free tools don’t offer today. Let’s take a look at some of the best graphic design software options.
- Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is undoubtedly the best graphic design software and photo editor in the world. Designers and illustrators all over the world use this software for a host of tasks including 3D modeling, typography, and drawing. Designed to be intuitive, the user-friendly interface lets designers create their own layout panels. What’s more, it’s well suited for both mobile and web design.
Adobe has recently introduced AI tools that let users remove backgrounds in seconds. Adobe Creative Cloud regularly updates the software to update design tools.
Available on: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
Pricing: Purchased on its own as a subscription, Adobe Photoshop costs $22.99 a month. The Creative Cloud Photography plan costs $9.99 a month. Adobe also provides a 7-day free trial option.
See Also: Graphic Design Secrets Revealed: Trends to Make Your Site Irresistible (INFOGRAPHIC)
- Adobe Illustrator
When it comes to vector drawing and editing, Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard. From logos to artwork, Adobe Illustrator offers several features to help designers to accomplish a host of tasks. Since it’s part of Adobe Creative Cloud, you have to pay for a subscription. The software updates are free, though.
Available on: Windows, macOS
Pricing: Adobe Illustrator’s basic individual plan costs $19.99 a month. The business plan costs $29.99 a month.
- Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer is an affordable alternative to Illustrator. As far as features are concerned, Affinity Designer has all the cool functionalities of Illustrator. In addition, it offers some of its own features such as one million percent zoom.
Available on: Windows, macOS
Pricing: Plans start at $24.21, a one-time fee. This one-time fee is for iPad, for Mac and Windows, it costs $60.54.
- Canva
Canva is a feature-rich editing tool. Ideal for making image adjustments such as resizing, cropping, and adding effects, Canva also provides features to do more. This includes a font combination picker, photo collage maker, and a color palette tool.
Available on: Browser, iOS, Android
Pricing: Canva comes with a free trial and free version. The paid plan starts from $12.99 a month.
- Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya is considered one of the best software tools for 3D work. It offers a number of features and tools such as remodeling, rendering, and animation to cover the entire 3D workflow. An advanced tool, it’s not for beginners who will require a steep learning curve before start using this.
Free apps to create graphics
- DesignWizard
Platform: Windows
designwizarrd interface
Image Source
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 editor user interface
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 user interface
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 free graphic design softwareImage Source
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
graphic designer software
Image Source
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.
- Blender
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Blender Graphic Design Software
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.
- Inkscape
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Inkscape – Free – Graphic Design Software
Its tagline is “draw freely” and Inkscape lives up to that mantra — there’s no cost for this graphic design tool and it packs a host of features for both beginners and experienced marketers.
In addition to cross-platform support and an active community, Inkscape is known for superior vector art options and wide format compatibility. One drawback is that the sluggish controls can frustrate some users if they’re looking to quickly create and publish designs.
- SketchUp
Platforms: Windows, Mac
SketchUp Free Graphic Design Sofrware
SketchUp offers both free and paid design plans, with its no-cost version still offering substantial advantages for designers. A robust modeling platform, it’s a great tool for creating 2D or 3D designs for furniture or other complex objects.
With an easy-to-use interface and great support, SketchUp is a great tool if you’re looking to create product pages that feature in-depth images and dimensions. Potential drawbacks include limited storage space for free plans and no mobile support.
- Gimp
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Gimp Free Graphic Design Software
One of the most popular open-source design tools, Gimp is often compared to its closest for-pay competitor, Photoshop, with users on both sides making passionate arguments for one platform over the other.
Gimp gets high praise as a free design tool for its support of all file formats, ease of digital retouching, and ability to quickly create new designs from scratch. In addition, Gimp features a customizable interface that allows more experienced designers to make use of the tool’s capabilities. Worth noting? Gimp does not support any Photoshop plugins.
Conclusion
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