Top 10 Best Graphic Design Software

Before we tell you about the top 10 best software for graphic designers, it is important to know what graphic designing is and what that job entails.

Graphic design or communication design is used to build a company’s image or brand using visuals. So as a graphic designer, your job is to create stunning work that reflects this. You need to make virtual art that inspires, informs, or educates potential customers; this includes, images, words, or graphics.

Graphic Design Software Name	Platform
Adobe Photoshop	Windows, Mac (Most Popular Software For Graphic Design)
Adobe Illustrator	Windows, Mac (Best Software For Graphic Designers)
Affinity	Windows, iPad & Mac(Best Graphic Design software)
Canva	Windows, Web browser, Android, iOS(Best Graphic Design Tool For Social Media Marketers)
Adobe Indesign	Windows, Mac(Trending Graphic Design Software)
CorelDRAW	Windows, Mac(Oldest Graphic Design Software)
Visme	Web browser(Easiest Software For Graphic Designers Newbies)
Gravit Designer	Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS(Best Free Graphic Designing Software)
Inkscape	Windows, Linux, Mac(Multipurpose Software For Graphic Designers)
GIMP	Windows, Mac, Linux(Latest Software For Graphic Designers)

As a graphic designer, you need to be able to think visually and translate that into your work so as to achieve a solution to whatever problems may arise. You could be a company’s;

• Creative Director; your focus is branding, promotion, and marketing.

• Art Director; you coordinate production artists and illustrators

• Art Production manager; you watch over the entire project and work to lower costs and increase efficiency.

• Interface Designer; you work on creating websites

• Content Developer; depending on your brief, you create graphical, written content for multimedia

These are just a few of the job descriptions that are under the umbrella of Graphic Designer.

As such, you will need to make your own portfolio if you wish to work as a designer. To get the maximum out of your portfolio, you should, ideally, create your own website where you can showcase your work. A great portfolio is a fast track to your success, so make sure to put your best foot forward.

Whether you are just starting out as a graphic designer or already are a pro at it, you always need the right tools to work. The right software, in this case. A well-built software is flexible enough to understand your needs but is also beginner-friendly. Using the perfect software can let you build your skills and grow exponentially. Don’t forget to use the best laptops for graphic design purposes.

Top 10 Best Software for Graphic Designers

Here is our list of the top 10 software you need to make a jumpstart at Graphic Designing

• Vista Create

Being one of the most beginner-friendly graphic design software on the market, VistaCreate makes a special emphasis on professional ready-to-go templates. Basically, it gives you a perfectly styled pattern that you can tailor to your requirements in a brain-free editor, using tons of fonts, colors, styles, images, videos, animation effects, and more features. Truly generous, this tool gives you 75K+ design templates and 1M+ creative assets free of charge, with many pre-formatted solutions, such as logos, Instagram stories, infographics, website banners, and more. With VistaCreate apps offered for Android and iOS, you can even build eye-catching visuals on the go.

Platform: Web browser, Android, iOS

• Adobe Photoshop(Most Popular Software for Graphic Design)

Adobe Photoshop is the most popular and the go-to software for everything designing related. It is used by millions of artists across the world. It is endowed with powerful tools that let you customize your artwork to your heart’s content. You can make your own artwork, edit images, have custom sizes for your canvas, isolate images, add your own brushes, and best of all, customize your photoshop workspace.

Platform: Windows, Mac

• Adobe Illustrator(Best Software For Graphic Designers)

Adobe Illustrator should be your go-to for vector editing. Like photoshop, illustrator also offers customization on every level possible. Illustrator is specific to vector images which means you can create designs that can go on the biggest surfaces without losing resolution. Illustrator has a learning curve, barring which, it is the best software you could ask for. It even has professionally created templates that beginners can use to learn their way around Illustrator.

Platform: Windows, Mac

• Affinity(Most Used Software For Graphic Design)

Affinity Designer is the best for beginners and is a less expensive alternative to Illustrator. Affinity works smoothly with vector and raster images, allowing you to get into the minutest details and change them to your needs. Affinity has advanced color controls and a wide range of tools to assist you. A plus point to the software is that you can switch between raster and vector quite easily.

Platform : Windows, iPad & Mac

• Canva(The Best Graphic Design Software For Social Media Experts )

How can we make this list and not mention this gem? If you have no previous experience designing or are just starting out and looking for something very beginner-friendly, Canva is your best friend. Even with a free account, you get access to many of Canva’s amazing designs. It functions on drag and drops functions. While Canva is not as advanced as Photoshop or Illustrator, it does get the job done if you wish to design something simple and on the go. Canva also has apps for Android and iOS that let you design quickly.

Platform: Windows, Web browser, Android, iOS

Bonus: If you are looking to hire a top graphic designer you can go to this website to find yourself one!

• Adobe InDesign(Trending Graphic Design Software)

InDesign is the top software in the publishing industry. It is used to create brochures, newspapers, books, and much much more. It allows you to export your projects in a number of formats. InDesign is dynamic in its text adjustments and gives you complete control over your design. If you are a beginner, you can start with InDesign as you can learn pretty quickly. InDesign also allows you to share your work via the Creative Cloud and let others help you make changes to your work.

Platform: Windows, Mac

• CorelDRAW(The Oldest Graphic Design Software)

CorelDRAW was previously exclusive to Windows but is now available for Mac as well. The software allows you to create beautiful vector designs and will help you work faster and efficiently. CorelDRAW has a LiveSketch feature that allows you to draw your illustrations by hand and it will show up precisely how you drew them. Corel also has a plugin for WordPress so you can directly upload your vectors to your WordPress site.

Platform: Windows, Mac

• GIMP(Latest Software For Graphic Designers):

GIMP is an open-source program and is considered to be the latest graphic design software. The best thing about this software is that it allows you to rewrite its code to better suit your needs and you can even distribute it to make others’ experience better! GIMP allows you to plugin many software to enhance your editing and designing experience.

Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux

• Visme(Easiest Graphic Design Software):

Visme is the easiest graphic design software to learn out of all the other software. It has easy drag and drops controls with hundreds of customizable templates. You don’t need to be a pro to understand or use Visme. Even with a free account, you have access to a variety of stock photos, designs, graphics, videos, and icons. Visme is advanced in the sense that it brings an element of interactivity to your graphics by adding live URLs. There is also a pro version to Visme which gives you access to a brand kit.

Platform: Web browser

• Gravit Designer:(Best Free Graphic Designing Software)

Gravit Designer is one of the best free graphic designing software out there. You can do just about everything in Gravit that you can do in Illustrator or any other platform. As an added bonus, Gravit allows minimal animation functions as well. It has a free and premium version. The premium version offers you offline functionality, advanced export options, more color options, etc.

Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS

• Inkscape(Multipurpose Software For Graphic Designers):

Inkscape is a multipurpose platform but without the hassle of complicated processes. It allows you to create your artwork without restriction and has powerful brush tools. Inkscape also has the best text editing out of all the other platforms as text is also an integral part of graphic designing. Inkscape has a sweet and helpful community behind it that helps budding designers.

Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac

All of the software we have mentioned above are tried and tested. They are the industry leads for a reason but it is up to you to experiment and find out what works best for you. Most of these software’s are paid but they have trial periods for you to try them out for free and decide whether it is the one for you. They all have features that make them stand out but, you need to decide what is most important to you.