8 Best Professional Graphic Design Software in 2023
Graphic design software is a great way to create and edit graphics for everything from social media posts to website layouts. Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, there are a lot of options out there to meet your design needs.
Adobe offers Photoshop plans for businesses, students & teachers, and individuals, as well as a combined offer of all Creative Cloud apps. Illustrator is a vector graphics software, allowing you to create logos, icons, book illustrations, and more.
1. Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a professional graphic design software that allows you to create and edit pixel-based images, raster graphics and vector images. Its features include image editing tools and a wide range of filters.
The software is available for a wide range of platforms including Macintosh, Windows and Linux. It is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes other popular software such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop Lightroom.
It’s not uncommon for people to dabble in Photoshop for hours on end, uploading images, editing them and then deleting them and starting again. This is a great way to learn the program and apply new skills.
However, there are some things to keep in mind when using this software. First, it comes with a steep learning curve and is best for experienced designers who are looking for highly advanced photo creation and editing features.
The software also offers a variety of preset filters, brushes and layers to expedite the retouching process. This is especially useful for beginners who may not have as much experience with the program.
2. Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer is a professional graphic design software that is perfect for creating concept art and print projects, logos and icons, as well as mock-ups. Its seamless combination of vector and raster design tools have made it the choice of thousands of professionals across multiple industries.
The Affinity Designer app has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to use for those who are new to graphics editing. It is also incredibly responsive and flexible, which is essential for designers who work with a variety of computer technologies.
Its zooming feature can go up to 1,000,000 percent and allows you to get a detailed view of your designs. It also features advanced grids, flexible guides, and snapping options that help you create accurate designs.
Another benefit of Affinity Designer is the ability to work in both a vector and pixel environment. This is a great benefit for illustrators and digital painters, as it allows you to toggle back and forth between the two environments within a single program.
It also features a variety of other useful tools for creating vector graphics, including the pen tool, which is convenient for freehand drawing. It also offers a pressure editor, which lets you control line widths, and a corner tool for softening or rounding out lines and shapes.
3. Krita
Krita is a free and open source software that can be used by both amateur and professional digital artists. It offers a variety of tools for digital painting and can be used in combination with other paid programs.
The program can create high-quality artwork from digital drawings to basic animations. It also has a good selection of tools for modifying images and is ideal for those seeking an alternative to Photoshop.
Another great feature of this tool is that it’s easy to learn and has a user-friendly interface. It also comes with many training materials and tutorials for beginners.
It also allows you to work with multiple layers and a number of different overlay modes. The application can also handle raster and vector graphics.
The app features a large range of brushes for digital painting and has a variety of filters to edit and enhance your images. It also includes a range of layering tools that allow you to merge and combine drawings in a single file.
4. GIMP
GIMP is a free and open source image manipulation program that is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. It is a powerful tool for various tasks, including photo editing, retouching, and composition.
It supports many different file formats and has several Photoshop-like features for retouching pictures. It also has a cloning tool that allows users to copy objects in an image and add them to another one.
Besides these functions, GIMP also has numerous other tools for modifying images. These include a brush, pencil, airbrush, eraser, ink, and color-blending tools.
For example, you can create a drop shadow in GIMP by defining a selection, painting, and then reducing the size of that selection with the Shift or Ctrl keys. You can also use the Bucket Fill tool to fill a selection with a color or pattern.
GIMP also supports a number of different color spaces, including indexed colors and RGB. It also has support for hexadecimal and HTML color codes.
5. Canva
Canva is a user-friendly graphic design tool that is popular among small businesses and independent designers. It offers users access to millions of high-quality images, templates and fonts.
Canva can be used to create anything from social media posts, presentations and videos to posters and business cards. It also has a print service integrated into the platform, so you can order T-shirts, invitation cards, canvas prints, and other products right from the app.
It also supports a number of different fonts and has an extensive library of stock images, graphics, and video. The drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to work with all of these elements and start creating designs in minutes.
Canva offers thousands of templates for creating infographics, blog post covers, social media photos and gifs, business cards, banners and more. It’s ideal for creating professional looking content and helps you level up your design skills at your own pace.
6. Vectr
Vectr is a free, cross-platform vector editing software that allows you to create scalable and fully-editable graphics. It has a clean and intuitive interface that is easy to use and provides lots of learning resources.
Vectr also offers real-time collaboration tools, allowing you to collaborate with anyone, regardless of their location. You can share designs live and edit them simultaneously.
The software is available online, which means you can access it from anywhere – or download and install it on your computer, tablet, or smartphone. Once you’ve registered, Vectr also saves your work for future reference.
There are a variety of shapes to choose from, as well as a pen tool for creating vector paths. There are also text and icon tools, as well as options to alter background color, gradient, border, and shadow.
Vectr has plenty of features to offer, and it’s a great choice for beginners and professionals alike. It’s especially good for those new to vector-based graphic design, as it’s incredibly easy to use.
7. Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is an industry-standard vector-based design software used by designers and artists to create logos, icons, posters, charts, ads, books, magazines, and more. Its sophisticated tools and features let you efficiently create and edit high-quality designs for a wide variety of uses, from print to social media to mobile devices.
It also has a powerful set of image editing tools and retouching capabilities, including a healing tool to retouch blemishes or a clone tool to clone a portion of an image. It also supports a range of file formats, which means that you can work with different file types and export your designs easily.
It also supports a number of templates and shapes for designing graphics, so you can get started quickly. You can even import existing photos or illustrations into Illustrator to trace them and recolor them as you wish.
8. Adobe InDesign
Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing and page layout design software that allows professionals to create designs for print media, web pages, or mobile devices. It enables designers to create and lay out periodical publications, posters, and other print media such as brochures, flyers, magazines, newspapers, books, newsletters, catalogs, forms, and labels.
InDesign is designed to be accessible and simple to use, enabling users to navigate the application with ease. It also integrates with other Adobe applications, such as Photoshop and Illustrator, enabling seamless workflows for projects.
The software is highly customizable, allowing staff members to add images, text, emojis, and other elements. It also allows them to use built-in templates to create postcards, brochures, eBooks, menus, presentations, resumes, posters, and webpages.
Although InDesign is a relatively complex program, it is not difficult to learn. Its easy-to-use interface and rapid layout features make it a top choice for a wide range of design projects.
8 Best Professional Graphic Design Software in 2023
Graphic design software is a great way to create and edit graphics for everything from social media posts to website layouts. Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, there are a lot of options out there to meet your design needs.
Adobe offers Photoshop plans for businesses, students & teachers, and individuals, as well as a combined offer of all Creative Cloud apps. Illustrator is a vector graphics software, allowing you to create logos, icons, book illustrations, and more.
1. Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a professional graphic design software that allows you to create and edit pixel-based images, raster graphics and vector images. Its features include image editing tools and a wide range of filters.
The software is available for a wide range of platforms including Macintosh, Windows and Linux. It is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes other popular software such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop Lightroom.
It’s not uncommon for people to dabble in Photoshop for hours on end, uploading images, editing them and then deleting them and starting again. This is a great way to learn the program and apply new skills.
However, there are some things to keep in mind when using this software. First, it comes with a steep learning curve and is best for experienced designers who are looking for highly advanced photo creation and editing features.
The software also offers a variety of preset filters, brushes and layers to expedite the retouching process. This is especially useful for beginners who may not have as much experience with the program.
2. Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer is a professional graphic design software that is perfect for creating concept art and print projects, logos and icons, as well as mock-ups. Its seamless combination of vector and raster design tools have made it the choice of thousands of professionals across multiple industries.
The Affinity Designer app has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to use for those who are new to graphics editing. It is also incredibly responsive and flexible, which is essential for designers who work with a variety of computer technologies.
Its zooming feature can go up to 1,000,000 percent and allows you to get a detailed view of your designs. It also features advanced grids, flexible guides, and snapping options that help you create accurate designs.
Another benefit of Affinity Designer is the ability to work in both a vector and pixel environment. This is a great benefit for illustrators and digital painters, as it allows you to toggle back and forth between the two environments within a single program.
It also features a variety of other useful tools for creating vector graphics, including the pen tool, which is convenient for freehand drawing. It also offers a pressure editor, which lets you control line widths, and a corner tool for softening or rounding out lines and shapes.
3. Krita
Krita is a free and open source software that can be used by both amateur and professional digital artists. It offers a variety of tools for digital painting and can be used in combination with other paid programs.
The program can create high-quality artwork from digital drawings to basic animations. It also has a good selection of tools for modifying images and is ideal for those seeking an alternative to Photoshop.
Another great feature of this tool is that it’s easy to learn and has a user-friendly interface. It also comes with many training materials and tutorials for beginners.
It also allows you to work with multiple layers and a number of different overlay modes. The application can also handle raster and vector graphics.
The app features a large range of brushes for digital painting and has a variety of filters to edit and enhance your images. It also includes a range of layering tools that allow you to merge and combine drawings in a single file.
4. GIMP
GIMP is a free and open source image manipulation program that is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. It is a powerful tool for various tasks, including photo editing, retouching, and composition.
It supports many different file formats and has several Photoshop-like features for retouching pictures. It also has a cloning tool that allows users to copy objects in an image and add them to another one.
Besides these functions, GIMP also has numerous other tools for modifying images. These include a brush, pencil, airbrush, eraser, ink, and color-blending tools.
For example, you can create a drop shadow in GIMP by defining a selection, painting, and then reducing the size of that selection with the Shift or Ctrl keys. You can also use the Bucket Fill tool to fill a selection with a color or pattern.
GIMP also supports a number of different color spaces, including indexed colors and RGB. It also has support for hexadecimal and HTML color codes.
5. Canva
Canva is a user-friendly graphic design tool that is popular among small businesses and independent designers. It offers users access to millions of high-quality images, templates and fonts.
Canva can be used to create anything from social media posts, presentations and videos to posters and business cards. It also has a print service integrated into the platform, so you can order T-shirts, invitation cards, canvas prints, and other products right from the app.
It also supports a number of different fonts and has an extensive library of stock images, graphics, and video. The drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to work with all of these elements and start creating designs in minutes.
Canva offers thousands of templates for creating infographics, blog post covers, social media photos and gifs, business cards, banners and more. It’s ideal for creating professional looking content and helps you level up your design skills at your own pace.
6. Vectr
Vectr is a free, cross-platform vector editing software that allows you to create scalable and fully-editable graphics. It has a clean and intuitive interface that is easy to use and provides lots of learning resources.
Vectr also offers real-time collaboration tools, allowing you to collaborate with anyone, regardless of their location. You can share designs live and edit them simultaneously.
The software is available online, which means you can access it from anywhere – or download and install it on your computer, tablet, or smartphone. Once you’ve registered, Vectr also saves your work for future reference.
There are a variety of shapes to choose from, as well as a pen tool for creating vector paths. There are also text and icon tools, as well as options to alter background color, gradient, border, and shadow.
Vectr has plenty of features to offer, and it’s a great choice for beginners and professionals alike. It’s especially good for those new to vector-based graphic design, as it’s incredibly easy to use.
7. Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is an industry-standard vector-based design software used by designers and artists to create logos, icons, posters, charts, ads, books, magazines, and more. Its sophisticated tools and features let you efficiently create and edit high-quality designs for a wide variety of uses, from print to social media to mobile devices.
It also has a powerful set of image editing tools and retouching capabilities, including a healing tool to retouch blemishes or a clone tool to clone a portion of an image. It also supports a range of file formats, which means that you can work with different file types and export your designs easily.
It also supports a number of templates and shapes for designing graphics, so you can get started quickly. You can even import existing photos or illustrations into Illustrator to trace them and recolor them as you wish.
8. Adobe InDesign
Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing and page layout design software that allows professionals to create designs for print media, web pages, or mobile devices. It enables designers to create and lay out periodical publications, posters, and other print media such as brochures, flyers, magazines, newspapers, books, newsletters, catalogs, forms, and labels.
InDesign is designed to be accessible and simple to use, enabling users to navigate the application with ease. It also integrates with other Adobe applications, such as Photoshop and Illustrator, enabling seamless workflows for projects.
The software is highly customizable, allowing staff members to add images, text, emojis, and other elements. It also allows them to use built-in templates to create postcards, brochures, eBooks, menus, presentations, resumes, posters, and webpages.
Although InDesign is a relatively complex program, it is not difficult to learn. Its easy-to-use interface and rapid layout features make it a top choice for a wide range of design projects.
