The tech industry’s focus on user experience has exploded in the last five years. A major part of offering a digital space that is appealing to visitors is the creation of pristine, eye-catching graphics. But, chances are you’ve seen or even made site graphics yourself that were either poor quality or unappealing. Chances are that these sub-par graphics were created on sub-par software.
Today, we will explore some of the most easy-to-use and high-quality tools and software systems to help you create the graphics that will really help your site to stand out from the crowd.
How to Choose the Software System that Will Work Best for Your Site
Let’s face it, no one wants to be known for a bland or ugly website. In fact, big companies will spend just about any amount of money to avoid having even the smallest visual detail out of place on their website.
But, the reality is that many smaller organizations simply don’t need or want to have million-dollar graphic design budgets or large teams to manage their digital assets.
The good news is that there are literally hundreds of graphic design tools available to website and business owners today that allow small teams or even individuals to create and optimize stunning graphics that will be sure to keep eyes on your webpages. But how does one choose which software to use? Fortunately, you only really need to ask yourself three questions:
- What’s my budget?
- How many graphics am I looking to make?
- What level of graphic design skill do I possess?
Once you know the answers to these three questions, choosing the necessary tools and software for your site should become much easier. Knowing how much you want to spend will help you narrow down the list quite quickly. Lots of graphic design tools are sleek, but also incredibly expensive. If this tier of resources is out of your range, that’s okay!
There are plenty of affordable options left when you cross the big-ticket items off the list. If your site requires tons and tons of graphics each month, you may have to pay more of a premium to easily produce these visuals.
Finally, there’s no use in spending hundreds of dollars on software that you can’t utilize without hours of training. If you’re not a trained graphic designer, you may want to start with an easier-to-use tool to get yourself started.
The bottom line is that there are pros and cons to every graphic design software. Without further ado, let’s explore the best graphic design tools on the market.
Adobe Creative Cloud
- Cost: $29.00/month
- Billing: Monthly
- Skill level: Beginner to advanced
- Pros: User-friendly mobile app version, works even for beginners, lots of types of software to choose from in the suite, great quality graphics
- Cons: Expensive for small website needs, need to pay monthly — there is no one-time-buy option, tools can be overwhelming to the casual user
Adobe is a household name now, but surprisingly — many website proprietors and designers aren’t familiar with just how accessible and affordable the Adobe Creative Cloud is today. For 30 dollars a month you get access to the whole adobe creative suite of tools.
It used to be that you had to download Adobe’s expensive software onto the hard drive of your computer which not only ate up precious space, it also made it hard to travel with the software if you kept it on a desktop computer. Now, you can take the Creative Cloud with you almost anywhere you go!
These tools have been around for a long time, and with each new iteration, Adobe makes it easier and easier for novices to produce truly remarkable graphic design collateral.
Of course, these tools are also used by seasoned professionals. Basically, with Adobe, you get what you put into it. If you familiarize yourself with the software offerings, the sky is the limit on what you can produce. If you prefer to keep it to simple logo updates and graphics for ad campaigns or blog visuals, the Creative Cloud can also help you out.
Inkscape
- Cost: Free
- Billing: Never
- Skill level: Beginner to intermediate
- Pros: It’s free (what could be better than that), user-friendly, graphics can be sized and scaled without stretching or warping
- Cons: Not the same number of tools as other purchasable software, slower processing, some users report glitches
Inkscape is a frugal site administrator’s best friend. While this free software program isn’t without its flaws and limitations, the price tag makes it ideal for the dabbling, new graphic designer to try things out and get their feet wet. Another great feature Inkscape offers is the ability to use open source code to customize the software experience. You may not produce the highest quality graphics using this program, but if you’re looking for a cheap way to figure out what your site needs and what would look good, Inkscape is a solid choice.
Gravit Designer
- Cost: Free (Gravit Designer Pro costs $100 after an introductory period)
- Billing: Never (Pro bills annually)
- Skill level: Beginner to intermediate
- Pros: Free version offers an impressive tool kit, social media graphics are easy to design
- Cons: Users can’t test what a design will look like on mobile, not incredibly intuitive, some features require an internet connection to utilize
Gravit Designer offers both free and Pro versions for casual and more serious designers. In addition to that versatility, both versions make it easy to design cool, eye-catching social media graphics. The Gravit Designer software can be used across multiple operating systems, and once you get the hang of it, users report it’s a seamless product. Though, upfront you may have to do your own research to figure out how to fully use all of the features.
Sketch
- Cost: $99
- Billing: Annually
- Skill level: Beginner to advanced
- Pros: Designed to create great web graphics, quick to mock-up designs, easy to use
- Cons: No Windows compatibility, some plugins are cumbersome
For the price, Sketch gives graphic designers of all stripes a lot of wiggle room. Users report a low learning curve and features that are ridiculously intuitive and easy to navigate. Sketch can offer great useability for single users and it encourages collaboration across teams. Sketch also allows users to easily scale and build the necessary foundations to make website graphics simple and quick to design.
How to Choose the Software System that Will Work Best for Your Site
Let’s face it, no one wants to be known for a bland or ugly website. In fact, big companies will spend just about any amount of money to avoid having even the smallest visual detail out of place on their website.
But, the reality is that many smaller organizations simply don’t need or want to have million-dollar graphic design budgets or large teams to manage their digital assets.
The good news is that there are literally hundreds of graphic design tools available to website and business owners today that allow small teams or even individuals to create and optimize stunning graphics that will be sure to keep eyes on your webpages. But how does one choose which software to use? Fortunately, you only really need to ask yourself three questions:
- What’s my budget?
- How many graphics am I looking to make?
- What level of graphic design skill do I possess?
Once you know the answers to these three questions, choosing the necessary tools and software for your site should become much easier. Knowing how much you want to spend will help you narrow down the list quite quickly. Lots of graphic design tools are sleek, but also incredibly expensive. If this tier of resources is out of your range, that’s okay!
There are plenty of affordable options left when you cross the big-ticket items off the list. If your site requires tons and tons of graphics each month, you may have to pay more of a premium to easily produce these visuals.
Finally, there’s no use in spending hundreds of dollars on software that you can’t utilize without hours of training. If you’re not a trained graphic designer, you may want to start with an easier-to-use tool to get yourself started.
The bottom line is that there are pros and cons to every graphic design software. Without further ado, let’s explore the best graphic design tools on the market.
