Best Graphic design software for beginners in 2022

Designing is an art!. Every designers have their on styles and patterns. We have to choose the software depending on the design we are doing. Today I will talk about the 15 best graphic design software for beginners or even an experienced one.

Graphic design plays a major role in advertising area. A good design attract more customers to know their brand and buy their service or products. A good design is the sum of creative designer and ideal software.

In this blog we cover best graphic design software for amateur designer or an experienced digital artist. It covers all the advantage and disadvantage of designing software. Also explain purchasing rate and other related terms.

Graphic design software(Free and Paid)

• Adobe Photoshop.
• Adobe Illustrator
• Corel Draw
• Desygner
• Adobe InDesign
• GIMP
• Inkscape
• Sketch
• Affinity Designer
• Adobe Comp
• PixTeller
• Canva
• Gravit Designer
• Adobe Lightroom
• DesignEvo
• Pixlr

Before go through this you must know different types of computer graphics. There are 2 types of graphics.

1. Raster Graphics
2. Vector Graphics

Raster graphics is made up of tiny pixels that use color to produce an image. Adobe Photoshop is the best example for raster graphics. In vector graphics there is no pixels in it. It rendered by using mathematical formula. When we zoomed in vector graphics, we can only seen by sharp edges or shapes.

Here is the detailed description about each graphic design software for beginners or expert in 2022

Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop is a Raster graphics software. It work based on pixels. This is one of the famous and widely used software from Adobe. It is best for image editing, drawing, poster designs, brochures, leaflets etc. Photoshop is the favorite tool for photographers and ad agencies. Because color correction and color upgrading was so easy in photoshop. We can scale from small design to highly sophisticated designs.

Photoshop is also allow to do some 3D related works. It has lots of presets to support designers to archive their design goals. The current version that available is Adobe photoshop 2022.

You can also check this video to find the new features and how to use it well.

pros

• Ease of editing in different image file formats
• Ability to do some mini animation and video editing
• Plenty of tools available for retouching and editing
• Lots of filters available to edit images
• convert low quality art work to high class

Cons

• Interface is difficult to understand for beginners.
• Limitation for taking very large measurements
• Loss quality when it zoomed
• Photoshop is some kind expensive
• Less detailed tool bar
• Heavy software size

Platforms that work photoshop: Windows, Mac

Rate for photoshop Licensed version

₹1,675.60/month – Inclusive of GST

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics. Mathematical formula is used to draw the shapes. So there is no pixel in illustrator. Mainly it is used for illustrations and sketches. Illustrator interface is similar to photoshop. Illustrator is very easy to understand for someone who knows Photoshop. Most designers widely used to develop logos. It include better tools to draw shapes.

It provides professional templets to create awesome designs. We can create good posters with the help of creative shapes, attractive typography and colors in Illustrator.

Illustrator is one of the widely preferable software in across the world. Because of the easiness of the software. Now we can check what are the pros and cons of Illustrator.

Pros

• Better for creating illustrations
• Endless File Exporting Options
• Supported Auto file recovery
• Better tools for creating shapes

Cons

• Software consume lots of space
• Very large Measurements is not possible
• Purchasing is some kind of costly

Platforms that work Illustrator: Windows, Mac, mini version available for Android

Rate for Illustraor Licensed version

₹1,675.60/month – Inclusive of GST(More detail about rate)

Corel Draw

CorelDraw has easy understandable interface. It is best for illustrations, photo editing and typography. The main advantage of CorelDraw is that we can work on large sized artworks. Supporting large measurements are feet, yard, kilometer etc.

CorelDraw is early built only for windows operating system. Now it available on mac system. It now uses Artificial Intelligence technology to provide you with LiveSketch and much more.

Pros

• Easy to learn
• Better for Architecture design
• Creating high resolution graphics or Artworks
• Ability to work with vector and images with ease.
• Work with large files

Cons

• Pricing is very costly
• Consume more memory space
• Updates are slow

Latest version of CorelDraw is CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2021

Platforms that work CorelDraw: Windows, Mac

Rate for CorelDraw Licensed version is Apr: $14.50/month

Desygner

Desygner is a graphic design tool made for non designers, Make any plan come lively immediately. So simple to utilize! Make your shocking activities in seconds, with no scripting or plan aptitudes required. Enhance up the visuals on your web journal, site, social media, and more. With an broad library of ready-to-use resources, no program or plugins required, you’ve got everything to inspire your group of onlookers.

With awesome features like background Remover, Resize Image, PDF Editor, Animator, Print, and Free Stock Photos with over 120+ million ShutterStock image and thousands of free templates to choose from. 

Check the super cool designing tool now!

Pros

• Easy to use UI with Drag and Drop Feature
• Best Plan offers
• All in one tool
• Fast contact support

Cons

• Needs internet to the tool 
• Some features need to be added 

Adobe InDesign

Popular designing software from Adobe. Mainly used in publishing industry. Because designers can design magazines, books, posters, brochures etc.

The main advantage of InDesign is that the responsible nature, means one design converted into different sizes. Interface and tools can be easily understand by a beginner. The Adobe InCopy word processor uses the same formatting engine as InDesign. InDesign supports XML, style sheets, and other coding markup, making it suitable for exporting tagged text content for use in other digital and online formats.

pros

• Easy to setup
• Full control over text elements
• Adjust into different sizes
• Precise image placement

Cons

• InDesign files of newer versions are rarely compatible with older versions
• Table design is too complicated
• Less Trial period

Platforms that work InDesign: Windows, Mac

Gimp

Gimp is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and other some tasks. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer etc.

Gimp supports custom brushes for creating art works. It also supports main image file formats. Gimp can free to use and download.

To download Gimp

Pros

• Supports custom brushes
• Virtually unlimited number of images open at one time
• Advanced manipulation

Cons

• Only 8-bit RBG color support
• Has lower features than other paid software.
• Download time is slow

Platforms that work GIMP:GNU/LINUX, Windows, Mac

Inkscape

Inkscape is an open source graphics editor. It is also a vector based software. One of the main priorities of the Inkscape project was interface consistency and usability by following the GNOME human interface guidelines.

Inkscape primary supporting format is the svg file format. It has more than sixty interface languages.

Pros

• Open-source, free
• Creates excellent vector based graphics
• Keyboard shortcuts are very simple
• Data import functions.

Cons

• UI is not user friendly
• Inkscape doesn’t support multiple artboard exports compared to other vector graphics

Platforms that work Inkscape: GNU/LINUX, Windows, Mac

Sketch

Sketch is a vector graphics software for macOS. It has also a web application for any users to work on any computer. Mainly focus on interface design like websites and mobile app interfaces.

Designs can be saved in different image file format. We can use sketch web app for small drawings in online.

Pros

• Support over 1000 plugins
• Design component repository
• Can handle simple and complex artboard in one file
• Strong design tools

Cons

• Not cross-platform
• File sizes can get rather large
• Only support MAC platform
• File sharing could be improved

Platforms that work Sketch: Mac

Affinity Designer

Affinity designer is a trending software for making good designs and illustrations. it includes 3 modes

1. Vector
2. Pixel
3. Persona

It is very fast compared to other graphic software. We can import PSDs(photoshop document), PDFs just like the old program without much loss.

Pros

• Fast as compared to other premium software
• Less expensive
• Great customer support and an amazing community behind it
• One software for vector, raster and persona

Cons

• Some difficulty to understand in starting stage

Comparison between Illustrator and Affinity Designer

Affinity Designer		Adobe Illustrator
Only Available in MacOS		Available on Mac, Windows
Short works space option		Large workspace option
No Compatibility issues		Some Compatible issue
$49.99 (one-time)		Price: $20.99/month

Platforms that work Affinity designer:  Windows, Mac

Adobe Comp

Create layouts on your phone or tablet using natural drawing gestures. Comp converts your rough shapes and lines into crisp graphics model. Then finish it on your desktop. Mainly it available on mobile version. It is similar to InDesign software. Its very light weight tool and easy to use.

Pros

• For Creating layouts Make Easy

Cons

• Final output will be the help of another software

Platforms that work Adobe Comp:  Android, Apple

PixTeller

PixTeller is an easy to use online web application. It used for image editing and small animations. Also used to create posters, banners, flyers etc. We can use this service as free to use and download.

The main advantage for using PixTeller is that no design skills or technical knowledge is required. It has over +100,000 Templates to help the designers to archive their design goals.

Pros

• PixBot will shape the design automatically
• +100,000 Templates
• No need for any design skills or technical knowledge

Cons

• Internet service is required
• Pay for advanced service

Platforms that work PixTeller: Web App

Canva

Canva is a most widely used super simple web application. In my personal opinion Canva is the no 1 in web application. Because it is easy to design and download from it. It has also a thousands of templates that help to design out of the world.

Canva also have premium version. But the premium is very cheap and affordable rate. In single premium account we can add two more users to access the premium feature also.

Use this link to find more information and pricing plan about canva

Pros

• Easy to design and use
• Lots of free templates
• Cheap premium plans

Cons

• Internet connection is needed
• Doesn’t have any system software

Platforms that work Canva: Web App, Mobile App

Gravit Designer

Gravit designer is a full featured vector application let you create drawings and other illustrations. It has power full text engine and professional vector tools. Available in 14 languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian, Chinese, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Czech, Dutch.

We can also create beautiful typography with advance character and paragraph control panel. It is very easy to use for beginners.

Pros

• Professional vector tools
• Powerful text engine
• Advanced import & export
• Available at any desktop platform

Cons

• Gravit is its lack of shareable features
• Online – Many of the features are not accessible with the free version

Platforms that work Gravit Designer: Mac OS, Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS

Adobe Lightroom

Adobe Lightroom is used for image manipulation and organization from Adobe family. It is mainly used for image color correction and color upgrading. Unlike Photoshop, Lightroom is a non-destructive editing software that keeps the original image in separate from any in-program edit and saving the edited image as a brand new file.

It supported all the major system platforms.

Pros

• Fast and easy photo books, slide shows, and web galleries
• Easy to learn
• Non-destructive editing 
• Easy and fast syncing of editing artworks

Cons

• No blend modes
• Editing has some limitations

Platforms that work Adboe Lightroom: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and tvOS (Apple TV)

DesignEvo

DesignEvo is a free online logo maker tool. It has 10,000+ predefined templates to make your brand look logo. We can get results within minutes. First you have select which category that include your business and give your decide name. Then DesignEvo AI system creates beautiful designs for you.

Pros

• Zero payments
• Don’t need to register
• 100% free downloads
• 10,000+ templates

Cons

• Web application, Must have internet

Platforms that work DesignEvo: Web app, Mobile app

Pixlr

Pixlr is a cloud base service. It includes photo editing tools and photo sharing. For using Pixlr, doesn’t have any designing skills. It opens almost any image format such as PSD (Photoshop document), PXD, JPEG, PNG (transparent), WebP etc.

Pixlr includes built in filters and effects. Also they have thousands of design templates are available.

Pros

• Free and easy to use.
• Use less memory space
• User friendly interface
• Built in beautiful templates

Cons

• It doesn’t support BMP and Tiff format
• Annoying ad popups

Platforms that work Pixlr: Web app, Mobile app

Also You can read:-

10+ Best Valuable Websites for Free Graphic Design Resources

30+ Best Free Online Graphic Design tools

What is the best free graphic design tool?

What online tools do graphic designers use?

Summary

In conclusion, above mentioned tools are some paid and others are free to use. Some of the tools are doesn’t have any design skills. In my opinion we have some designing knowledge to make better design. That means basic understanding of colors, typography, shapes etc. You have some kind of basic idea, then you can choose appropriate platform for your designing.

How to choose best graphic designing Software or applications?

To make decision on selecting best graphic designing software we have to consider several factors.

Features

First you have to understand your concept of designs. Next you have to select what are the features you want to include in your project. Finally you have select appropriate tool for meet your requirement. Most of the time free tools can satisfy our goals. Otherwise you can go premium software such as Photoshop, CorelDraw etc.

Templates and tools

If you want to tell a software is good for beginners, then it includes much amount of templates and easy to use tools.

Service support

A good service support can make people to good impression. Means services like photoshop creative cloud service.

I hope this article will help you to find better Graphic design software for beginners in 2022 !

Thank you.

Freelance web designer and developer from Kerala