When I first started learning computer based illustration and graphic design, you had to pay thousands of dollars for the software. And I only remember knowing of two possible choices... Corel and Adobe.
These days, anyone can be a graphic designer, with the tools and resources to do so more accessible now than ever before. And every year it seems like a raft of new choices crop up. It's quite amazing.
In fact, there are so many design software choices it can be super overwhelming to figure out which one to start with, or which one has the tools you need.
Since a lot of my customers are looking for affordable and simple options, I've made a list of my favorite choices that I would use if I didn't have Photoshop or Illustrator and had a simple project to work on.
These are listed in random order, I haven't tested each so thoroughly that I can rank which one is 'best' - and besides,'best' is a bit subjective depending on your project and skill set.
Also note that these are selected based on desktop computing, although some of these will work well on a tablet. (these are full programs and not apps)
PHOTOPEA
I recommend this one because it's actually compatible with Photoshop files (among others) and looks and feels a lot like Photoshop when you are using it. It doesn't have ALL the features that Photoshop has (obviously) but it's great for creating basic design layouts with lots of drawing tool options.
It's also a web based software, so it's accessible on any device, anywhere.
PIXLR
This is another online editor, also a lot like Photoshop in how it looks and feels. Recently revamped there are now two options; Pixlr X and Pixlr E.
Pixlr X is super basic and only has very limited editing options. Great for projects where you are just adding a text overlay, cropping or making photo adjustments. Pixlr E is the advanced option that mimics Photoshop and has a robust selection of design and drawing tools.
While it will open photoshop files, it doesn't seem to be able to handle larger sized files very well and doesn't keep layers organized in folders, so complex files end up very messy.
GIMP
I hesitate to call this a favorite (it's not), but it's been a few years since I last tried it and I'm adding it to the list because it is a popular free software with advanced editing capabilities. It is very similar to how Photoshop works and has all the tools you could need for either drawing or graphic design. This is a downloadable software.
Beginners will likely find it rather overwhelming as it does have a steep learning curve and isn't particularly intuitive. Luckily there are loads of helpful tutorials available as Gimp has been around for quite some time now.
While it will open Photoshop files it doesn't support all features so some files may not function properly.
SUMOPAINT
Another simple and easy to use software. It has a nice selection of tools for beginners and a friendly navigation.
This is not one that I have personally tested, but it comes highly rated for what it is and is the most likely candidate for me to recommend as a beginners graphic design tool with an easy learning curve.
It is only compatible with image files such as jpg and png and has a more limited selection of tools than some of the more advanced software options but otherwise a perfect option for the occasional project.
INKSCAPE
This downloadable software is a vector graphics editor and a comparable substitute for Illustrator. It opens both Illustrator and Corel Draw vector files with full functionality intact.
It has a very steep learning curve but plenty of tutorials can be found online to get you started.
It's a great option for anyone looking to learn vector drawing or wants to edit an Illustrator file.
While you can use it for graphic design projects I don't really recommend it for beginners unless you're prepared to spend some time upfront learning.
CANVA
This
design program is a closed system editor. What that means is, you can't
create and save files the same way as regular software programs. Files
'in progress' can only be saved inside Canva and you can only download
finished projects in flattened form such as PDF, PNG or JPG.
Designers offering Canva templates therefore will always label their products specifically as Canva templates. If a designer (like me) does not mention Canva in the product details... a Canva specific template is not included.
However, Canva is still a very useful design tool and my PNG format files can be used here with a little creativity. Canva is very user friendly and reasonably quick to learn.
VECTORNATOR
I haven't used this one, but it
looks comprehensive as a vector based program. It's free to download and also available as a mobile app. It
looks to be built for pro designers so there should be good support and
tutorials. An excellent option if you plan to do a lot of designing on
the go.
For Mac users only there is Pages. This is Apple's version of Word + Powerpoint combined making it a versatile editor capable of reasonably sophisticated graphic design, depending what you are looking to do. Usually included with all Mac devices it is available for free in the app store.
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These are saved as PNG files with transparent backgrounds which will work beautifully online or in print.
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Now and again you might find yourself needing to grab a screenshot from your computer, whether it's because of a tech issue you need help with or something you just need to share.
Luckily both PC and Mac come with built in tools to assist and make this a super easy and quick task.
Let's start with the PC. There are actually quite a few different ways to accomplish a screenshot on a PC, but by far the easiest, imo, is the following method.
To create and save the screenshot, just tap the Windows key + Print Screen key at the same time. The screenshot will then be saved to your Pictures > Screenshots folder.
And it's just as easy as that. Should you really not want to share the entire picture you just snapped, you can quickly crop out the parts you want to hide, or you can use one of the tools or methods listed in this handy article that covers all the ways to screen grab.
Here's a keyboard pic showing where the Windows and Print Screen keys are:
So let's cover the Mac desktop now. My favorite tool that I use all.the.time is the Screenshot application. You'll find this in Finder > Applications > Utilities. I drag it to the dock so it's always handy because I use it so often.
Just click the program to open it, then position and size the box you get on your screen to fit what you're capturing and click 'Capture'. The image will then be automatically saved to your desktop.
Mac also has a few other methods to do a screenshot such as keyboard shortcuts, but I much prefer the tool and find it faster and easier to use.
Need help with screenshots on other devices? Find all the other instructions here from CNET.
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I use RTF files for delivering download links on my digital products whenever I can't upload the actual files directly. It's a helpful alternative that's commonplace practice in the digital realm, although different sellers may use different types of documents to do the same thing.
So what exactly is an RTF file?
Basically it is just a simplified document file, a sort of up-scaled version of the TXT file. What makes it useful is that it is a universal document type that can be opened in a wide variety of word processing software on either PC, Mac or Linux. It means the file is easily shareable to absolutely anyone.
I like using it for that very reason, but it's also super quick for me to make and save the file too. As an added security bonus, RTF files cannot transmit viruses or malware (unlike word or pdf docs). So it's a super safe file type to use when sharing really simple data.
How do you open an RTF file?
The first thing you should try is to just double-click (or tap on mobile) to open the RTF file directly.
You likely have an app already built-in or installed on your system for opening RTF files. To start with, if you’ve got any word processing app installed—Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, OpenOffice, AbiWord, for example—you can open an RTF file with it.
Most file services—like Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive; will have built in viewers that let you at least read an RTF file, while Google Docs also lets you edit RTF files.
And most operating systems will have a built-in editor that can open RTF files. In Windows, that would be WordPad and in Mac it's TextEdit or Apple Pages.
If you prefer that an RTF file opens with a different app than the one currently set as your default program you can easily change that to your preferred app. On Windows or Mac, just right-click the file and you’ll see an “Open With” command or something similar for choosing the app you want to use. Change your default app for RTF files by selecting the “always use this app to open .rtf files” option.
And that's all there is to it. Simple and easy peasy. :)