The Best Tools for DIY Graphic Design

Today’s marketing professionals, business owners, graphic designers, and average Joes all have something in common. A design secret, if you will. They are embracing the DIY craze, utilizing accessible and affordable graphic design programs to create their visual content. In these uncertain times, many have found they prefer flexing their creative muscles and learning how to use these software options instead of hiring out the work. There are various DIY graphic design tools and visual content creators to choose from, all with unique features, custom editing tools, and price points. Which software you choose to use will depend on your graphic design team, your design needs, and the time you have to learn how to use the software. In this article, we’ll list the top 11 best tools for DIY graphic design, their price, best features, and the pros and cons of using them. Who Uses DIY Design Tools? So who uses DIY graphic design tools? The simple answer: everyone! Social media managers looking to beef up their social media platform posts, first-time website owners who use various types of web design software to create a site of their own, and of course, professional graphic designers who sell their work, DIY graphic designing tools have become very widely used. The reason for this is no surprise. DIY graphic design tools are affordable and easy to master. Gone are the days where you needed a degree from a prestigious design school to create beautiful designs or hire a freelance graphic designer, which can cost upwards of $150 per hour. Many businesses don’t have that kind of design budget to work with. Instead, people are embracing the fun features of DIY tools and developing or improving upon their graphic design skills. The Best Tools for DIY Graphic Design If you are in the market for graphic design software that is affordable and suitable for beginners, you have come to the right place. When most people think of graphic designing tools, they think of the apps available through the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite. Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom are useful for photo editing, while visual artists can use Adobe Illustrator for graphic and logo design. Adobe InDesign is for designing print materials like brochures or booklets, while video content can be created and edited in Adobe Premiere Pro or After Effects. The problem here is that although these platforms allow you to create some pretty incredible work, they are complex apps that are difficult to master. They are also expensive and require existing graphic design skills. When picking out a DIY graphic design platform, you’ll want to consider the availability of templates, whether or not it has sharing features for collaboration, and the overall price for using it. Consider what its main purpose is as well. If you are looking for simple image creation software, you probably won’t get much use from one built for video editing or animation. 1. WebWave Pricing: Free Key Features: Drag and Drop Editor Templates and Themes E-Commerce Functionality SEO Optimization WebWave is a website builder that works like a graphic design program, making it the perfect tool for graphic designers looking to make their first steps in web design. WebWave combines the ease of use of a website builder with the flexibility and creativity of a graphic design program. The platform offers an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, which makes it easy to create beautiful and functional websites without needing to write a single line of code. The platform offers a wide range of features that enable users to create custom designs and layouts. The extensive library of templates and elements provides users with the tools they need to create professional-looking websites quickly and easily. With its user-friendly interface and intuitive design tools, WebWave provides an ideal environment for graphic designers who want to explore their skills in web design. Pros: Customizable Design Range of third-party tools and services Optimized for desktop, tablet, and mobile devices White-label functionality, which especially comes in handy for web designers and agencies. Cons: Relatively small template library Limited Advanced Features The learning curve can be steep if you’re unfamiliar with graphic design software. 2. Vectornator Pricing: Free Key Features: Pen tool with pen gesture support Path options Node types Contextual menus for faster workflows Tagged as “the design tool of the future,” Vectornator is an illustration software that allows anyone, regardless of their profession or skill level, to create beautiful images, website designs, cool fonts, and more. At its core, Vectornator allows for creating vector illustrations and vector icons, perfect for social posts, artwork, e-commerce, and more. It makes graphic designing easy. It has a library of templates that include ready-made social media templates for images, website banner ads, labels, and more. There are numerous advanced design features such as typography tools to create custom fonts, custom brushes for an elevated drawing experience, and integrations with other software like Adobe Illustrator and 3rd-party hardware. Pros: Completely free No features are hidden behind a paywall Has a dedicated Learning Hub and support team Good for creatives Cons: There is a slight learning curve for beginners Only available for iOS users 3. Canva Pricing: Free for the basic plan, $119.99 annually for Pro Key Features: Social media posts template library Simple design experience Thousands of templates, icons, and graphics Stock photo library Canva graphic design tool has made waves recently for its easy-to-use platform and its desire to make design and online publishing accessible to people of all skill levels. It is an online photo editor and video content creator that allows you to create custom images. There are two versions of Canva: Canva and Canva Pro. Both are great options for your next graphic design project. The standard Canva plan is free. With this plan, users access over 250,000 design templates and 100 design types, including correctly sized social media images, brochures, business cards, gifs, and more. You can also create custom sizes for your photos. You can also share images to social media with the free plan, download in a variety of formats, and invite members to your team for easy collaboration and simultaneous editing. Canva Pro has some additional features, such as access to their full template and stock photo libraries, as well as unlimited photo storage. Users can take advantage of photo effects editing and can create transparent backgrounds for their uploaded images. Pros: Free plan availability Easy to use Extensive template library Stock photo and video library Graphics and animations library Cons: Many features, including some templates and stock photos, are hidden behind a paywall No local file storage Size dimensions are permanent once you begin your design More: https://webwave.me/blog/best-graphic-design-tools