Graphic Design Software

[Aldmi]

We are looking at introducing a graphic design course for the next academic year.

 

I have been asked to source some software for a mac for this course, but have no idea what software to look for.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations?

[angrycomputingteacher]

Photoshop is worth a look at.

[localzuk]

For graphic design work, you'll want a mix of vector and raster image software. So, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop go well together for that.

 

If that is well out of your budget (which it is for many schools, we couldn't afford it here), then Serif DrawPlus and Serif PhotoPlus may be another good choice.

 

Finally, another couple of options would be Corel Draw and PaintShop Pro.

[Al_NetSupport]

I know from my visits a lot of schools use Photoshop and Illustrator for photo editing and DTP based tasks, but i have seen a few also using GIMP as a free alternative, might be worth a look, many of the features are very photoshop like and it follows the same concepts of layers etc. It is available for both PC and Mac. https://www.gimp.org/

 

Sketch for Mac is a good cheap alternative to Illustrator. https://www.sketchapp.com/

 

Al.

Edited October 17, 2016 by Al_NetSupport

[Arthur]

I have been asked to source some software for a mac for this course, but have no idea what software to look for.

Affinity Photo (£16.66-£33.33 ex. VAT) and Affinity Designer (£12.49-£24.99 ex. VAT) are really good alternatives to Photoshop and Illustrator. Both are designed specifically for Macs by Serif (unlike DrawPlus and PhotoPlus) and significantly cheaper than Adobe's apps.

 

Sketch is also good too (as @Al_NetSupport mentioned).

Edited October 17, 2016 by Arthur

[Brimstone]

For Page Layout you will also need either QuarkXpress or InDesign...and a PostScript capable printer.

 

Typical Raster image editing software like The Gimp are good alternatives to Photoshop and if you want a cheaper alternative to Illustrator for Vector drawings then Sketch Up Make is good.

[3s-gtech]

I really like Inkscape as an alternative to Illustrator - I've used both a fair bit but I'm no pro.

[unixman_again]

We use Adobe CS on our graphics course, which is taught on Macs. They mostly use Illustrator and Photoshop but the entire CS6 suite is available to students.

 

Top tip - Don't use wireless mice which the previous graphics teacher insisted were a must. A class set of 24 Macs each with a wireless mouse is entertaining!

 

Gimp, Inkscape and Blender might be alternatives. I personally use these even though I have CS6 installed on my work box.