Graphic Design is my Passion: 56 Great Graphic Design Software and Tools

Graphic design is my passion. I love creating visuals for people to enjoy and share their content with the world. I have always liked making things look good, so it's a natural fit for me to turn my creative talents into products.

Designing graphics is an integral part of modern life. We use them in our social media posts, to share our feelings about the world, and even in the workplace.

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A designer needs to be able to create graphics for print, digital, and web purposes. Creating graphics for all these mediums requires software that can do the job effectively and efficiently.

The most common question I get asked is "Is there software that will do all my graphic design work for me?". The answer is yes! You can find a lot of great software out there, but the best ones are the ones that are designed specifically for designers. I’ve chosen to list my favorite software and resources below, so choose your tool and proudly say Graphic Design is my Passion.

Do I need to be a designer to use graphic design software?

No. You don't need to be a designer to use graphic design software. Anybody can use graphics editing software like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Sketch to create their own logos, icons, or other visual content.

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We should think of these tools as another form of art - one that anyone can learn how to use!

How do I know if the software is worth it?

It is important to consider what the software has to offer in terms of features before making a decision.

Different software packages offer different features, but they also have one thing in common: they all provide a way to make money. Some do this by charging a monthly fee; others require you to pay upfront; some offer commissions on your sales.

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If you are not sure if a given program is worth the investment, it is important to consider what kind of pricing plan it has—and how that compares with your needs.

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Best digital raster graphics Software for Graphic Design

A solid raster graphics design tool is a must-have for any serious designer. Sometimes, we all need to crop a photo, add some effects, or fix a meme right?

Before we jump to the list of raster tools, let's just clear up real quick what raster (also called bitmap) graphics actually are.

Digital images are made of tiny, rectangular pixels that are arranged in a grid formation. PNG, JPEG, TIF, or GIF are all raster graphics formats. Raster graphics aren't scalable - that's why when you increase the size of an image, it loses its sharpness.

Here are a few of the most popular raster graphics tools these days.

Affinity Photo

If you're looking for cheap photo editing software, Affinity Photo is definitely one of the more popular ones. This software is very easy to use and has a simple interface that allows you to quickly apply various effects and adjustments.

Platform:

  • Mac
  • Windows
  • iOS

Pricing:

  • Free trial
  • Mac version costs $54.99 ( one-time purchase )
  • Windows version costs $54.99 ( one-time purchase )
  • Ipad version costs $21.99 ( one-time purchase )

Features:

  • Live, real time editing
  • Massive image support (100+ Megapixels)
  • Super smooth pan and zoom at 60fps
  • Open and edit PSD and PSB files
  • PSD smart object import
  • Support for the most complex vector docs
  • Studio presets for the UI layout and other timesaving tools

Pros:

  • Layer based editing.
  • Panorama, HDR merge, focus stacking, macro support.
  • Raw image support, but also works with raster and vector images.
  • Very similar to Photoshop, but a bit easier to use.

Cons:

  • Limited lens-profile based corrections (in the develop persona).
  • You cannot create custom workspaces.
  • Just like Photoshop, it is not an easy program to learn for novices.

Visit Affinity Photo to buy or get a free trial or buy it from the Apple App Store.


Pixlr

Graphic design can be a very expensive process. When you are just starting out, it's important to have the right tools, so you don't mess up your design. You want to keep things simple and clean so that your designs stand out from the crowd.

Platform:

  • Online ( Free Version )
  • Mac
  • Windows

Pricing Plan:

  • FREE
  • Premium $4.90/mo
  • Creative Pack $14.99/mo

Features:

  • Design Templates
  • Picture Collage Maker
  • Remove Background
  • Filters & Effects

Pros

  • Easy to use and master for beginners.
  • Modern photo editing features and tools
  • Has different packages for beginners and pros. (Pixlr X and E respectively)
  • Availability of a wide range of stickers, borders, and other graphic elements just to perfect your photo editing.
  • AI powered tools for quick and professional editing

Cons

  • Is not compatible with all image and file formats
  • Limited features for text
  • There aren’t too many tutorials on how to use the tool

Pixlr is a free photo editing app you can use to make your own graphics. It's not the most powerful app in the world, but it's incredibly easy to use and has tons of features that you won't find in any other photo editor.

Visit pixlr.com to buy or get a free account


Procreate

This iPad app is great for simplifying the steps of an illustrator because it can be used on any size screen. It’s super intuitive and has an awesome selection of brushes.

  • Allows designers to use the Apple Pencil to draw directly on the screen to get amazing results
  • Saves work as .psd or .pdf which completely integrates with Adobe
  • Records the entire drawing process
  • Allows designers to draw on different layers making it easier to edit the work after

Since it costs $9.99, with no subscriptions needed, Procreate is affordable for graphic designers and digital artists of all levels.

Platform:

  • Developed for iPad.
  • Made for Apple Pencil.

Pricing Plan:

  • No subscriptions. Just $9.99

Features:

  • Pencil filters
  • Powerful new filters
  • Gradient Map
  • Paint directly onto your face without all the mess
  • Private Layer
  • SwatchDrop
  • Scribble
  • A faster way to color

Pros

  • It gives the natural feel of physical drawing.
  • Supports import/export to Adobe Photoshop
  • Can be used by beginners and professionals alike.

Cons

  • It was designed specifically for iOS and iPad users
  • Has limited abilities and features, edit and render texts and vector graphics.

Procreate is a raster editor software for graphic design and digital painting. It is designed for iPad users to explore their artistic possibilities. It comes with many classic and digital art tools

Find Procreate at the iPad app store. Find tips, tricks, and tutorials at procreate.art 


Clip Studio Paint

What is Clip Studio Paint?

Clip Studio Paint is an affordable alternative to expensive Adobe products such as Photoshop or Illustrator. It's been used by animators from around the world for many years because of its versatility and power.

Visit clipstudio.net to learn more, buy or get a free trial or buy it from amazon.com ( Clip Studio Paint Software ).

Platform:

  • Windows
  • macOS
  • iPad
  • iPhone
  • Galaxy
  • Android
  • Chromebook

Pricing:

  • Free for iphone
  • 3 month Trial available
  • Price $59.99 one time payment for Clip Studio Paint Pro For Character Art, Concept Art, Illustration
  • Price $229 one time payment for Clip Studio Paint Ex For Manga & Comics, Animations

Features:

  • A cheaper alternative to Adobe suite—great for graphic designers on a budget
  • Available for Mac or PC
  • Available on iPad with a free 6-month trial

Pros:

  • Drawing Flexibility
  • Bundles Of Brush Options
  • Advanced Vector Toolkit
  • 3D Capability
  • AI Technology
  • Frame-By-Frame Animation
  • Dark Theme

Cons:

  • Immense Interface
  • Lack of Audio Support in Animation
  • Manipulate Text And Fonts
  • Complex Keybinding
  • Too Many Options
  • Stifling Ex or Pro Prices

Clip Studio Paint is a popular alternative to Photoshop, Illustrator, and Fireworks. It has some features that these other programs do not have. If you are looking for a more simplistic animation software with a focus on illustrations, then Clip Studio Paint is a good choice, and If you have an iPad and have been wondering how to use it for designing, this is your hookup.

Visit clipstudio.net to learn more, buy or get a free trial or buy it from amazon.com ( Clip Studio Paint Software ).


Adobe Photoshop

There are raster graphics editing programs, then there’s Photoshop. It’s the industry standard for manipulating digital photos and photorealistic computer art. It’s even entered the modern day lexicon of non graphic designers, “No way that picture’s real! It’s totally Photoshopped.”

If you want to create pixel art, it is important that you learn either Photoshop or risk not being able to keep up with the digital artists of today.

Platform:

  • Windows
  • Mac
  • Ipad

Pricing Plan:

  • Starting at $9.99/mo

Features:

  • 2D image manipulation
  • 3D image manipulation
  • Compositing
  • Video editing
  • Image analysis

Pros

  • Very widely used. This means that there are a lot of learning resources. Best resources for learning Photoshop can be found at the Adobe Website, PSDDude Photoshop Tutorials and Tuts+.
  • It has probably the most advanced engine for photo editing. In recent years Adobe perfected its machine learning & AI assist (Adobe Sensei Engine) that can do automated photo editing (content aware fill, content aware scale, etc)
  • Batch processing with Photoshop actions
  • Supports masks, alpha compositing and several tools

Cons

  • Quite costly and you need a powerful computer.
  • Updates are mandatory which means that in theory you are not allowed to use versions older than the latest. This creates some nasty problems with incompatible features (eg. old actions might not work anymore)
  • Has limited and selected features for iPad users
  • Limited support for raster and vector images like SVG files.
  • Can be very intimidating for a beginner graphic designer

Adobe.com is a great place to buy Photoshop, but you can also get it from Amazon.com for a free trial or to purchase the software outright. Buy Photoshop on Amazon.com


Best Font & Color Tools for Graphic Design

Fonts and colors are the basic building blocks of any design. And while it's always a good idea to rely on your taste and gut feeling, there are a few handy tools that might help you make even better choices.

So, what is a font manager? A font manager is a software application used to install, activate and organize font files from a centralized dashboard.

Fontbase

When it comes to fonts, there are so many different options available to you. But, Fontbase is an online service that helps you find fonts you can use on your website. FontBase is a beautiful, modern take on something as boring as font management. The tool is fast, feature-rich, cross-platform, and best of all? It’s free.

Platform

  • Windows
  • Mac
  • Linux

Features

  • Preview and test fonts
  • Install and Uninstall fonts with a click
  • Permanently delete fonts
  • Font categorization
  • Auto starts with your computer
  • Compatible with popular Adobe apps
  • OpenType Features
  • View or copy glyphs
  • Adjust text properties like color and size
  • Font experimenting
  • Nested folders support
  • Automatic updates

Pricing

Free and a Premium Version called FontBase Awesome is only $3 per month but you can also pay $29 per year or $180 for a lifetime subscription which includes all updates.

With FontBase Awesome subscription, in addition to all our free features, you'll get a set of advanced features to improve your font management workflow.

Pros

  • Free.
  • Syncs to Google fonts smoothly.
  • Nice interface.
  • Recognizes OTF, TTF, and web fonts.
  • Very easy to install.

Cons

  • Doesn't allow you to add a font to a collection and the library at the same time.
  • Doesn't detect system fonts.
  • Activating a font takes a very long time.
  • Fonts take a long time to preview.

https://fontba.se/

Visit fontbase to learn more, download, or buy.


Fontspark & Colorspark

If you’re truly passionate about graphics, these two little apps might become irreplaceable in your toolbox. Fontspark helps designers discover and preview fonts, while Colorspark is all about - you guessed it - colors and gradients.

FontSpark is a simple tool to help designers quickly find the best fonts for their projects. By randomly generating fonts from a curated list of popular web fonts, designers are sure to break out of the habit of using the same 3 or 4 fonts in nearly every project and discover the perfect fit for their next website or design.

Platform:

  • Web

Pricing:

  • Free

Features:

Clean and simple, and it works well on mobile.

Pros:

  • Free
  • Clean and Simple
  • Cool concept, easy to use
  • Quick to generate

Cons:

  • Would like to see options for body copy vs headlines
  • No way to filter and save the generated font
  • Font pairing is missing

Visit fontspark to learn more or start using it today. You can find ColorSpark here.


Myfonts.com

MyFonts offers great resources for graphic designers, UI/UX designers, and art directors. You can find the perfect font with filters that allow you to search through thousands of options. Then, you can try out the software online and purchase it by choosing the appropriate license.

Not only is Myfonts.com a website with fonts galore, but its “WhatTheFont” feature also solves a crucial problem for graphic artists.

Platform:

  • Web
  • ios ( WhatTheFont app )
  • Android ( WhatTheFont app )

Pricing:

In a comparison of the average price of a single font, MyFonts was generally less expensive than one of their leading online competitors. The average price of single font on MyFonts ranges from $5 – $29 while the leading competitor prices range from $9 – $49.

Features:

  • Supply your archive with a very large collection of fonts (many are free, some can be purchased)
  • Track the origin of a particular font by uploading it to the WhatTheFont tool

Quickly identify the font of a text by taking a screenshot or using one from your phone.

Pros:

  • This site is easy to navigate, providing icons with pictures of new and popular fonts.
  • There are also keywords to click, which lead users to different sections of the website.
  • MyFonts lets users search for fonts using any keyword that one desires which ultimately will populate the top fonts.

Cons

  • The service does not offer returns or exchanges on their fonts.

This software is great for people who are looking for fonts that are free or exclusive.

Visit myfonts.com and WhatTheFont to identify which font is the one you saw.


Best Collaboration Tools for Graphic Design

Graphic Design is my Passion and is the passion of several other designers worldwide, and we are working together more now than ever before. Teams that work across various departments, such as graphic designers, need the ability to communicate quickly. Below we'll cover a few essential workspace collaboration tools that you might use in your freelance business and in your journey to shout Graphic Design is my Passion.

ProofHub – Proofing tool

Designing teams are overloaded with creative work that includes discussions regarding the design, drafting the framework for the design, making changes, and many other things to handle.

The design you make will be checked at multiple levels before it gets final. And the whole process includes countless changes, several feedbacks, and many things. So, the biggest challenge that comes for designers is proofing.

Platform:

  • Web Online

Pricing:

  • Essential Package $45/month
  • Ultimate Control Package $89/month

Features:

  • An online proofing tool like ProofHub for designing teams
  • Help you manage all your tasks easily and hassle-free.
  • The client can easily explain to you small changes like- Hey, shift this text here, or add color to this portion of the design.
  • It eliminates the game of emails, feedback and approvals and reduces the time consumed for the entire process.
  • You can make changes in your file instantly, add comments, highlight the flaws in the design while keeping everyone in the loop.

Pros

  • Easy to set up and use.
  • Great proofing tool.
  • A good combination of tools and features. ProofHub offers more options to help teams plan projects, complete tasks, track time, organize files, and collaborate with each other.
  • Gantt charts with dependencies, Kanban boards, calendars, chats, discussions, timers and timesheets, and more.
  • Powerful file management and generous storage.
  • Affordable solution.

Cons

  • Limited integration.
  • Needs a better interface.
  • Too many notifications.
  • Missing messages/tasks.
  • Good for simple projects for small teams not for larger teams and/or highly complex projects.

Learn more about proofhub.com or buy it now at https://www.proofhub.com/pricing


Filestage

Filestage is the content review and collaboration platform used by marketing teams, agencies, and media companies. Need content proofed within your team, or approval from internal or external stakeholders? Filestage makes it easy to set up the structure you need for the entire process, and with no sign-up required for reviewers – it’s simple to gather their feedback. Companies like Sixt, Netflix, BBC, and Lufthansa are using Filestage to improve their work.

Platform:

  • Web online

Pricing:

  • Free trial available
  • Essential package $9/seat
  • Advance package $19/seat
  • Professional package $39/seat

Features:

  • Comment on files: Tap to add comments and annotations with full context.
  • Stay organized: Bring your files, versions, and feedback together in one place.
  • Track your progress: See which files are ready for action at a glance.
  • Get work approved: Speed up review rounds and hit all your deadlines.

Pros

  • Easy interface
  • Easy feedback & documentation
  • Great customer service
  • Clients can provide detailed feedback on the spot – they simply click into the video and write a comment. They don’t need to send timecodes, need to make lists, write an email.
  • The user gets immediate revision notifications
  • It’s possible to brand the software and fit it into your company.
  • You also have clear documentation and approval from your customers, which can be handy when things get complicated at a later point.

Cons

  • Projects in the overview can’t be sorted easily.
  • The app is clunky to use on mobile.
  • The tool is more expensive than its competitors.

Learn more about filestage.io or buy a seat today at filestage.io/pricing/


Best Logo Design Tools for Graphic Design

Creating a logo is a difficult and time-consuming job that can take weeks or months of work. If you're not a professional logo designer, the services of a graphic artist will be expensive.

You can create a logo that looks great and follows the best industry standards in only a few minutes with the help of some modern graphic design tools. Here is are some of the best tools we tested and use.

DesignEvo

Platform:

  • Web
  • Mac
  • Windows

Pricing:

  • Limited free version
  • From $24.99 per logo

Features:

  • Free to use.
  • Million of Icons.
  • Hundreds of Fonts.
  • Fully Customizable.
  • Drag and Drop interface.

Pros:

  • Lots of templates and icons to choose from

Cons:

  • Quite expensive

If you need to create a logo quickly and effortlessly, DesignEvo might be the perfect choice for you. It's a free online logo maker with 10,000+ templates that you can use and customize as you like.

Note that in order to download a high-resolution raster version of your logo you'll have to pay $24.99. And if you need a vector file (scalable, and thus reusable for different purposes), you'll have to pay twice that.

https://www.designevo.com/


Looka

Looka is another great choice for creating a logo. Just pick a few logo templates you like, choose your color scheme, add symbols, and their logo generator will design endless logo concepts using the power of artificial intelligence.

While Looka might be a perfect option for marketers or small business owners, it will be quite limiting for professional designers. If you feel that's the case, you can always purchase a ready-made logo concept from Looka and use a vector graphics tool to make your own tweaks.

Platform: Web

Pricing:

  • Subscription plans start at $4.99
  • A one-time purchase option, from $20 per logo

Features:

  • Great-Looking Logos by Default
  • Great Add-ons
  • Fast step-by-step wizard

Pros:

  • Very smart and engaging logo generator
  • Fast and easy to use
  • Cheaper than a Freelancer
  • 300+ designs
  • Source files
  • Flexible payment plans (both perpetual and subscription)

Cons:

  • The AI generator might limit creativity

Learn more about looka.com or buy a logo today at looka.com/pricing/


Mojomox

Mojomox logo maker: Create simple wordmark logos with modern typefaces for a unique logo design. Free. Try it out.

With the Mojomox Wordmark logo maker, you can create a logo for free online to test in your pitch deck, on your website, or within your app for as long as you like.

Only high-resolution files that are ready for print and web are charged. Hi-res files come in ready-to-use packages that include logo sizes for social media and sample applications specific to your industry.

The 3-step process allows you to access our unique design code pattern and create a logo that meets the requirements of modern branding, including applications for web, app, and mobile design, packaging, and classic formats such as business cards.

Platform

  • Desktop (Mac and Windows)
  • Tablets (iPad and Android)
  • Smartphones (iPhone and Android)

Pricing:

  • Free for low-resolution logo file
  • $5 per month, which includes high-resolution logo and brand kit files

Features

  • free, modern logo maker
  • hipster wordmark app builder
  • custom fonts
  • custom colors
  • custom letter-spacing & font weights
  • immediate file download

Pros:

  • Easy three-step logo making process
  • Provides tips on how to integrate logo with branding
  • Minimalist logo styles

Cons:

  • Limited options for font styles

Learn more about MOJOMAX.COM logo maker here.


Envato Elements

Envato Elements is a paid subscription service that allows creators to access over 2,000,000 digital assets that can be downloaded for use in their projects. Subscription is billed either monthly or annually.

Both subscription pricing plans offer unlimited digital downloads. After a recent change to their pricing plan, customers who use either subscription (instead of just the annual subscription) can use Envato Elements’ 900+ WordPress plugins and themes.

Who is Envato Elements For?

Here are some of the main groups that could benefit from using this service:

  • Audio producers looking for sound effects for their compositions.
  • Bloggers who are searching for high-quality images to go along with their blog posts.
  • Business owners who could use ready-made business cards, stationery, and website templates.
  • Illustrators and graphic designers who want more font, action, brushes, and layer style choices.
  • Podcasters who could use audio for their episodes.
  • T-shirt designers and creators who want starter templates and graphics.
  • Vloggers in need of video templates and stock video files.
  • Website owners, agencies, and freelancers need various WordPress plugins and themes.
  • Web designers that need HTML templates, WordPress themes, and other similar assets for the sites they’re working on.

Anyone who creates or uses audio and/or visual content should be considered part of the Envato Elements’ target market.

Platform:

  • Web
  • WordPress Plugin

Pricing:

  • The annual membership cost breaks down to just $16.50 per month (for those in Europe price is 14.50€/month). If you opt to pay monthly, your price is 29€ per month.

Features:

  • unlimited premium themes to download.
  • unlimited advanced plugins.
  • unlimited fonts for a stylish site.
  • unlimited icons and graphics for website design.
  • royalty-free stock photos and videos.
  • logos.
  • the Elements plugin for WordPress.

PROS

  • A single subscription with access to unlimited downloads
  • A single commercial license for all items
  • New items are added every day
  • A vast library of themes, photos, videos, templates, design assets, etc.
  • Affordable price
  • Each subscription includes premium access to EnvatoTuts+
  • It’s an excellent value for the money

CONS

  • Quality is a mixed bag
  • Finding the right graphic is a challenge
  • Everyone gets access to the same files
  • No item support or update notifications
  • Smaller catalog than traditional stock marketplaces

Learn more about Envato Elements here.


Best Infographic Design Tools

There are two options when it comes to creating an infographic: either use a professional vector-graphics tool like Adobe Illustrator or use a specialized online tool.

The advantage of the former option is that you'd be using familiar tools and wouldn't be limited in any way. However, you'd have to start from a blank page, get all the proportions and color palettes right, and create or purchase all the icons and illustrations.

If you don't have much experience in data visualization, check out the infographic creators listed below.

Genially

Genially is a powerful tool whose drag-and-drop editor allows users to quickly edit and create their own infographics. Creators can start from scratch or choose a template as a starting point. Best of all, the tool is highly flexible with no limit to the number of free creations or their complexity.

Genially is especially useful for creating interactive and animated infographics, though their static options are as good as those of other infographic tools. Users can also make presentations, interactive images, guides, and website sliders.

Platform:

  • Web

Pricing:

  • Free
  • Premium plans start at $9

Features:

  • Animation & Visual Effects.
  • Interactive & Layered Content.
  • Integrations.
  • Content Performance Measurement.
  • Collaborative Tools.
  • Branding.
  • Templates.
  • Resource Library.

Pros:

  • Intuitive platform
  • No limit to the number of creations you can make for free
  • Also has options for presentations, interactive images, guides, and more
  • Thousands of templates available for each category
  • Great for making interactive and animated content

Cons:

  • Chat support is only available for Premium users (Free users can use the Help Center and an email address provided)

Learn more about Genially here.


Venngage

Venngage is an intuitive and visual tool with a drag-and-drop editor which has thousands of custom-designed infographic templates to choose from (many of which cost nothing to use). The best thing about Venngage is how versatile it is. You can create images for your blog posts, complex infographics, posters, or even ebooks.

Venngage does have a free plan, allowing you to create up to five files. If you want to use the tool day to day or for multiple projects though, you'll have to subscribe to one of the paid plans.

Platform:

  • Web

Pricing:

  • Free
  • Premium plans start at $19

Features:

  • Add multiple pages.
  • Unlimited support.
  • Branding.
  • Custom templates.
  • 100 image uploads.
  • Privacy controls.
  • Business and premium templates.
  • Team sharing.

Pros:

  • Simple interface
  • Thousands of free and premium templates

Cons:

  • The free plan is very limited

Learn more about Venngage here.


Visme

Visme is an easy-to-use online graphic design software that allows designers and non-designers alike to quickly create stunning infographics, presentations, or documents.

With thousands of professionally designed templates and millions of design assets like stock photos, icons, illustrations, data visualization tools, stock video clips, and more, users can create stunning visual content that helps them to stand out from the crowd.

Platform:

  • Web

Pricing:

  • Free
  • Premium plans start at $19/month

Features:

  • Data visualization
  • Project templates
  • Document templates
  • Offline mode
  • User interface
  • Drag and drop functionality
  • Safety and privacy
  • Content database
  • Social media marketing
  • Lead generation
  • Streaming and video support
  • Animations
  • Collaborative interface
  • Access management
  • Customer activity reports
  • Graphics and charts
  • Microsoft Office integration

Pros:

  • Plenty of tutorials, webinars, and educational ebooks
  • Possible to create embeddable interactive maps

Cons:

  • Video downloads are only possible on a paid plan

Learn more about Visme here.


Best Social Media Design Tools

When designing for social media, we don't need advanced features that professional tools have. What matters is how quickly and easily we can create graphics people will enjoy seeing while they scroll through their feeds.

Some of the best social media design tools are listed here.

Pablo

Pablo is the fastest and easiest way to create images for social media posts. It’s free to use and you won’t even need to sign in to start creating inspirational quote images, blog post headers, testimonial posters, or social media covers.

Platform:

  • Web

Pricing:

  • Free

Features:

  • Over 600 images.
  • Canvas.
  • Filters.
  • Multiple templates.
  • Upload image.
  • Share and download.
  • Text editing.
  • Resize image.

Pros:

  • Completely free
  • Doesn't require an account

Cons:

  • Very basic editing tools

Learn more about Pablo here.


DesignWizard

DesignWizard allows you to easily create personalized images and videos optimized for social media and the web. The basic version is free, but you'd need to pay for the premium visuals, video templates, or if you want to upload your own assets.

Design Wizard's intuitive and easy-to-use interface lets you quickly whip up graphic images for marketing campaigns, social media ads, invitations, business cards, flyers, and so much more!

With a library of 25,000 image templates and 1M+ premium images, Design Wizard has everything you need to tackle any online or print project. (All images have been licensed for commercial use — so no copyright complications for you.)

Design Wizard's library menu separates images into easy to find categories like icons, frames, backgrounds, logos, effects, etc.

Every element in these second-to-none image templates are editable. You can change or upload backgrounds, images, text and colors. You can also add your logo, change fonts, or include a personalized caption.

Platform:

  • Web

Pricing:

  • Free
  • Premium plans start at $9.99

Features:

  • Quickly create graphic images for marketing campaigns, social media ads, invitations, business cards, and more
  • Gain access to a library of 1M premium images and 25K professionally designed image templates
  • Download, share, or schedule image designs
  • Best for: Entrepreneurs, Marketers, and Visual Content Creators

Pros:

  • Simple interface
  • More affordable than many alternatives

Cons:

  • Video downloads are only possible on a paid plan

DesignWizard allows you to easily create personalized images and videos optimized for social media and the web. The basic version is free, but you'd need to pay for the premium visuals, video templates, or if you want to upload your own assets.

Learn more about DesignWizard here.


Canv

Canv is the easiest and most powerful graphic design resource online. It is a free graphic design tool that enables you to create, design, and share professional designs for free. It has over 1 million users and is rated as the best graphic design tool for beginners.

You can create designs for free without the need to buy any software or design templates. You can also open and edit Microsoft and Apple-designed templates and graphics with ease. Apart from this, you can also use Canva to design social media graphics, business cards, and flyers, with the free version.

Canv is probably the most popular online graphic design software, with over 30 million users and a $6 billion valuation.

I discovered Canva around the time it launched. It made a lot of waves, so I checked it out. If I am honest, back then, I didn’t like it.

Before Canva came about, I used a combination of Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and PicMonkey for designing.

Platform:

  • Web
  • Desktop (Mac and Windows)

Canv Pricing:

  • Free
  • Premium plans start at $12.95 per month

Canv Features:

  • Photo effects to improve photos
    Canv has several effects to enhance photos. You can add effects to photos that Canva provides and photos you upload.
  • Access to photos, videos, and templates
    You can access 75+ million photos and videos and 420,000+ templates with the Canva Pro plan; a fraction of these are available with the free plan.
  • Access to icons, shapes, and stickers
    Canva has an Elements tab to find icons, shapes, stickers, charts, grids, gradients, and more.
  • Font library
    Canva has a font library under Text where you can find dozens of fonts, ranging from simple to sophisticated fonts, with individual fonts and font pairs.
  • Drag-and-drop editor
    The drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to work with the photos, videos, templates, elements, and fonts. Choose what you want to create, and Canv will display all the relevant items. You can add them by the drag-and-drop method and make changes. You should be able to create your visuals in minutes. If you have used the templates before, you can probably make them in seconds.
  • Creates more than images
    Most people think of Canva as only for creating images. But you can create invitations, planners, business cards, blog banners, newsletters, menus, certificates, workbooks, websites, flyers, and more. There are many resources for online education, too.
  • Animate images
    Canv lets you apply animation effects. Just click Animate. This shows all the effects you can use. Free ones include Block, Breathe, Fade, Pan, and Rise; paid animations are also available.
  • Publish to social media or schedule
    Like most online photo editors, Canva lets you share your images directly to some top social networks. A convenient feature they added recently is scheduling your posts to social media, including Facebook pages, Facebook groups, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn profiles, LinkedIn pages, Slack, and Tumblr.
  • Content planner
    Another new feature is the content planner. Here you can view all the images you have scheduled. If you find gaps in the calendar, click the ‘+’ sign to add a design you created earlier, or create one immediately.
  • Brand Kit
    The Band Kit is a storage area for your brand assets, including fonts, brand colors, and logos.

Canv Pros:

  • Check out the feature above, I covered everything they offer.
  • Easy to use
  • Thousands of templates
  • Amazing support
  • Keeps adding features by the month

Canv Cons:

  • No advanced features
  • Not the best photo editor
  • You cannot create unique elements
  • The free plan has limitations

Canva is indisputably one of the most popular image editing tools among marketers and small business owners, and it’s not hard to see why. It has an incredibly easy to use interface, a free tier that comes with a lot of useful features, and can be used to make anything from Facebook Cover Photos to Instagram Stories.

In Canva you can layer images, colors, and create impressive typography in a myriad of ways. The resulting graphics look great in terms of quality, style, and proportions.

Hands down this is the best tool I've seen in years, at the end of the line you will only need two tools, adobe Photoshop and canva, invest in them, and go start your freelance business right away. Stop creating cheap Graphic design is my passion memes and start posting real amazing designs today. Here is to your success.

Bonus Graphic Design Resources

Stock Photos

There are many free stock photo platforms out there. Sometimes you just have to be persistent and check a couple of platforms before you find what you need.

Here are the major royalty-free images directories that we recommend:

  • Unsplash — probably the most popular and widely used stock images platform out there.
  • Pexels — another large and popular royalty-free photos directory.
  • Burst — free stock photos for websites and commercial use.
  • FoodiesFeed — thousands of beautiful food pictures.
  • Freestocks.org — high-quality photos all released under Creative Commons CC0.
  • New Old Stock — vintage free of copyright photos from the public archives.
  • Duotone — free duotone images.
  • LoremPixel — an API that serves stock photos at specified sizes.
  • Twenty20 - Explore millions of real-world authentic images, crowdsourced from photographers around the world. Finally. Enjoy stock photos that don't suck. ( This one is my favorite and it is included on your envato elements subscription ).

Stock Icons & Illustrations

As a graphic designer, you can never have too many icons and illustrations to use in projects. It’s usually easier to modify pre-made assets instead of creating them from scratch.

Check out these marketplaces:

  • Iconscout — a leading platform that features over 3M royalty-free icons, illustrations, and 3D assets from thousands of contributors around the world. Recently, Iconscout also added Lottie animations to their platform, making it easy to download interactive and customizable animation files.
  • Flaticon — 1593000+ vector icons in SVG, PSD, PNG, EPS formats. The platform features a great diversity of icons, both free (with required attribution) and premium.
  • Iconfinder — a marketplace for SVG vector icons. Iconfinder specializes in designer-made vectors crafted for specific niches and industries.
  • Iconmonstr — another big stock directory. The icons are divided into theme-based collections, which makes search easy and intuitive.
  • Icons8 — SVG icons categorized by styles and trends.
  • Font Awesome — the web's most popular icon set and toolkit, also it's open source.

Best Hardware Tools for Graphic Design

  1. Laptop: Apple Macbook Pro 16 inch M1 Chip
  2. Desktop Computer: iMac (2021)
  3. Tablet: Ipad Pro 12.9 inch 2021
  4. High-Res Monitor: BenQ PD3200U
  5. Monitor CalibratorDatacolor SpyderX ELITE
  6. Reliable Hard Drive: LaCie Porsche Design External Hard Drive (5TB)
  7. Graphics Tablet: Wacom Cintiq 16
  8. Stylus PenApple Pencil
  9. Brainstorm Board: Dry Erase Whiteboard Paint
  10. Ergonomic Chair: Herman Miller Aeron
  11. Studio Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
  12. Noise-Cancelling Earphones: Bose SoundSport Free 
  13. Wide-Format Printer: Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000 
  14. High-End Smart Phone: iPhone
  15. Ergonomic Mouse: Logitech MX Master 3
  16. Standing Desk: FlexiSpot Standing Desk
  17. Pens: Sakura Fine Liner Set
  18. Keyboard: Logitech MX Keys Advanced Wireless Illuminated Keyboard You can also check our list of the most powerful and expensive keyboards.
  19. Pencil: Staedtler Lumograph Graphite Drawing and Sketching Pencils
  20. Notebook: Moleskine Pen+ Smart Writing Set Pen & Dotted Smart Notebook

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