Whether you’re a new designer or a seasoned professional, choosing the best design tools for your needs is a big decision. Considerations such as skill level, options, and price all come into play. Thankfully, we’ve done a deep dive into the most popular and highly-rated design tools on the market to help you decide. In this post, we’ll showcase our top picks for the best design tools and outline their pros and cons so you can rest easy knowing you’re selecting the best design tools for your needs.
Let’s get started.
When choosing the right design tool for your needs, it’s essential to consider a few factors. First and foremost, you must identify your design goals. Determine what type of graphic design projects you want to focus on. Design tools are not cheap, so utilizing a tool that meets your needs now and in the future is crucial. Another thing to consider is your skill level. Suppose you’re new to design and want to get up and running fast. In that case, a tool like Adobe Express or Canva may be a better fit rather than Illustrator or Photoshop.
You should also heavily weigh the features before making a decision. For example, if you want access to design templates, choose a program that makes it easy to select a design, make a few changes, and publish. However, if you know the design tool you choose will require extensive customization options, ensure you’re prepared to learn the program.
Another huge consideration is pricing. Those starting likely have a different budget than professional-level designers. Finally, consider the platform you’ll be designing on. Some programs offer compatibility with Windows and Mac OS, whereas others may not.
When researching the best design tools for 2024, we considered a few factors, including features, pricing, and reviews. Our list includes several design tools, including photo editing, vector art, and multi-functional programs for image creation, prototyping, and more. So, without further ado, let’s dive into our list of the best design tools for 2024.
Adobe Photoshop is first on our list of the best design tools for 2024. Widely considered the OG of the graphic design world, Photoshop is the perfect tool for image manipulation, creating image collages, and, more recently, generating images with AI.
One of Photoshop’s best features is generative fill. It allows you to use the selection tool to remove unwanted elements in photographs or create entirely new images with a text prompt. In the past, Photoshop was considered a complex program, often requiring extensive training to use. Now, with the help of AI, even more novice users can utilize this design giant.
You can only have a list of the best design programs if you put Photoshop at the top. It has everything you need to create incredible images, product layouts, stunning posters, and more.
Whether you are a professional looking to retouch photos or a newbie wanting to experiment with creative effects, Photoshop’s versatility makes it the go-to for creative types. The only downside to Photoshop is that it can’t be used for vector art. If you’re looking for a good program to create those, consider Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator.
Photoshop fans praise its photo editing capabilities and frequent updates. However, some say the learning curve is steep.
Adobe Photoshop offers a 7-day free trial with monthly prices starting at $20.99.
Up next on our list of best design tools is CorelDraw. Like Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw allows users to create vectors, illustrations, and edit photos with a powerful yet intuitive interface.
One of CorelDraw’s best features is the Painterly Brush Tool. It allows users to draw shapes with the pen tool, convert it to a bitmap, and create stunning effects. There are dozens of brushes with various effects, thicknesses, and styles. They are perfect for retouching photos, correcting colors, and adding depth and textures to your designs.
CorelDraw excels in creating vector artwork and photo editing and has an attractive pricing structure. Unlike Adobe products, users can pay a one-time fee and own CorelDraw forever. Plus, it functions as a vector and photo editing program, so designers get the best of both worlds.
CorelDraw is the perfect solution for designers who want options other than Adobe. Its intuitive interface makes learning easier and great for creating vectors. Those looking to create illustrated books, documents, or magazines will appreciate CorelDraw’s multi-page support.
Users say CorelDraw is a great program for creating vectors, illustrations, and brochures, but the many tools it offers can be overwhelming for beginners.
Corel offers a 14-day free trial with paid plans starting at $22.42 per month or for a one-time fee of $299.
Illustrator is considered the best vector art program on the market. The latest version packs in more features than ever before, thanks to the inclusion of artificial intelligence. Users can now generate vector graphics based on text prompts, create mockups, and utilize the Retype feature, which helps you identify fonts and find alternatives within Illustrator.
One of Illustrator’s exciting new features is the integration of Adobe’s cutting-edge AI, Firefly. It allows you to create vector art using a text prompt, recolor existing art, and more. One of the best things about Firefly is how the AI was trained. Using millions of stock vectors and images, Adobe’s new AI sources images ethically, eliminating any worry about copyright infringement.
Those looking to create vector art won’t find a better option than Adobe Illustrator. You can make anything from simple logos to complex works of art. It’s especially good for logos, icons, illustrations, and even custom typography that need to maintain quality across various platforms and sizes.
Those looking to create logos, business cards, social media graphics, mockups, and more can’t go wrong with Illustrator. It’s considered the go-to for vector art for people with all skill levels. It is also an excellent choice for beginners embarking on a new career to seasoned professionals who expect the most from their graphic design software.
Illustrator users consider it the best graphic design software for logos, but learning it can be challenging.
Adobe offers a 7-day free trial with paid plans starting at $20.99 per month.
Our next design tool, Affinity Designer, is considered an excellent alternative to Adobe Illustrator. It offers Mac, Windows, and iPad support, making it a versatile program for any user.
It offers a range of features, including vector pen and shape drawing tools, the ability to create custom brushes, dynamic symbols, text styling, personalized artboards, and more.
Those looking for an affordable alternative to Adobe Creative Cloud products will like Affinity Designer.
Users love that Affinity Designer provides tips on using the program as you go, but keeping up with artboards can be confusing.
Affinity Designer is available for $69.99 as a one-time fee.
Next on our list, Adobe InDesign, is the perfect program for creating print and digital documents. Its robust multi-page system allows multiple pages in one document, making it an ideal choice for print and digital books, flyers, magazines, brochures, and more.
You can also create a master page, which serves as a template for multi-page documents, ensuring your design is consistent across all pages.
Professionals looking to create digital or print multi-page layouts won’t find a better solution than Adobe InDesign. With tons of features for styling text, images, and overall layouts, InDesign is an indispensable tool for creative professionals creating magazines, books, or other multi-page documents.
Fans of InDesign say it’s an incredible program for creating print or digital layouts, but the learning curve is steep.
InDesign offers a 7-day free trial with monthly prices starting at $20.99.
The next entry on our list of best design tools is Figma. It’s an excellent tool for creating, sharing, and testing designs for websites, mobile apps, and other experiences. It’s perfect for team collaboration due to its cloud-based infrastructure, making it easy for designers and developers to work together despite being on different operating systems.
Figma is one of the best interface design tools in the industry, thanks to its intuitive interface. All tools are easy to find, making it a good choice for new designers and professionals. There are also time-saving features like global styling, easy exporting, and plugin support for stock image sites like Unsplash.
Figma is an excellent tool for UI/UX designers and developers looking for an easy way to mock up prototypes for web and mobile. Its features cater to those looking for a design tool that fosters teamwork, allows easy access across multiple operating systems, and eases the transition from design to development.
Fans of Figma say it’s easy to use and great for prototyping. However, some say the initial learning curve is steep.
Figma offers a free plan with paid plans starting at $12 per month.
Adobe Creative Cloud Express is an excellent option for creatives just starting out. It offers pre-designed templates for various content, such as flyers, logos, social media posts, and banners. In addition, it provides a pretty cool AI logo generator.
Additional features include several AI features available with Adobe Firefly, such as text-to-image generation, generative fill, 3D text effects, and their latest feature, text-to-template.
Adobe Creative Cloud Express is the perfect solution for those seeking access to Adobe Stock images and AI generation tools. Its simplicity makes it a great choice for non-designer types or beginners looking to quickly produce social media graphics, whip up a resume, or generate images and text.
Fans love how easy it is to make promotional graphics using templates, while detractors say the templates are limiting.
Adobe Express offers a robust free plan with paid plans starting at $9.99 per month.
Get Adobe Creative Cloud Express
The next entry on our list, Sketch, is a multi-functional UX/UI design program capable of creating icons, vector graphics, and user interfaces. Sketch simplifies the design process thanks to time-saving features like symbol creation, layer styles, color variables, and more.
Another feature that makes Sketch an excellent choice is its collaboration tools. Users can easily comment on the Sketch canvas, share libraries and documents, and assign permissions to users based on their skill level. Some new features include automatic saves, so you don’t have to remember to save your documents manually. A new prototype player feature lets you preview your designs, complete with background blurs and scrolling animations.
Mac users looking for a full-featured prototyping app will love Sketch. It offers a wide range of features for quick design work, making it an ideal choice for creating logos, icons, and user experience designs. Plus, with iPad and iPhone apps, users can keep track of their designs while on the go.
Those who love Sketch say it’s easy to learn, comes with lots of tools, and has excellent support. However, some say the price is steep for a single user.
Sketch offers paid plans starting at $12 per month per user.
Last but certainly not least is Canva. It offers over 250,000 templates to quickly create social media graphics, presentations, posters, and more. Canva is beginner-friendly, thanks to its simple drag-and-drop interface and large media asset library.
Canva also has new AI features that allow you to generate text, create images, remove backgrounds, create animations, and more. For example, using the Magic Write tool, you can summarize or rewrite text, use the sprinkle fairy dust feature to improve text automatically, or correct spelling errors on the fly.
Those looking for a user-friendly design tool that doesn’t require a lot of training will benefit from Canva. It provides various templates and features to generate visually appealing designs without formal graphic design training.
Canva users love the templates, AI assistant, and ease of use. However, some say the artwork can be generic, especially when using a template.
Canva offers a free plan with pro plans starting at $14.99 per month per user.
Deciding on the best design tools for your workflow depends on what you need. Are you looking for a prototyping tool for building websites or apps or a program to create logos? No matter what type of design software you’re looking for, our list has something for everyone.
Before deciding, it’s best to weigh the features each of our design tools offers. The table below serves as a comparison of the top three to help narrow things down for you.
🥇 Adobe Photoshop | 🥈 CorelDraw | 🥉 Adobe Illustrator | |
---|---|---|---|
Starting Price Price | $20.99/month | $22.42/month | $20.99/month |
AI Features | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ |
Edit Photos | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ |
Create Custom Brushes | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Layered Design Files | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Font Library | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Free Trial | ✔️ (7 days) | ✔️ (14 days) | ✔️ (7 days) |
Get Photoshop | Get CorelDraw | Get Illustrator |
Another important factor when considering the right design tool for your needs is to weigh pricing. Most of the tools on our list have a free trial, so take the time to try a few out before selecting one.
Rank | AI Voice Cloning Tools | Starting Price | Free Option | User Reviews (avg) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
🥇 | Adobe Photoshop | $20.99/month | ❌ (free trial) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(4.8) | Get |
🥈 | CorelDraw | $22.42/month | ❌ (free trial) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(4.5) | Get |
🥉 | Adobe Illustrator | $20.99/month | ❌ (free trial) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(4.8/5) | Get |
4 | Affinity Designer | $31.20/mo | ❌ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(4.7/5) | Get |
5 | Adobe InDesign AI | $20.99/month | ❌ (free trial) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(4.8/5) | Get |
6 | Figma | $12.00/month | ✔️ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(4.75/5) | Get |
7 | Adobe Creative Cloud Express | $9.99/month | ✔️ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(4.55/5) | Get |
8 | Sketch | $12.00/month | ❌ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(4.6/5) | Get |
8 | Canva | $14.99/month | ✔️ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(4.7/5) | Get |
While all the design tools on our list will serve you well, a couple stand out. Photoshop is the ultimate photo manipulation program that allows you to generate new images from text, alter existing ones, and provides all the tools and features necessary to create beautiful digital art. However, if you need a program that will do both raster and vector art, consider CorelDraw. It offers the ability to create simple or complex illustrations and photo editing capabilities, so no matter what type of art you plan to make, CorelDraw can handle it.
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Are you looking for more design tools? Check out our posts related to all things design!
The post 9 Best Design Tools for 2024 (Ranked & Compared) appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
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