Design is an inseparable part of the digital world. It is used everywhere – in digital marketing, websites design, game development, etc. It’s no wonder, as we all know “An image is worth a thousand words”.
There are so many outstanding design tools and editors that can inspire even not creative people to discover a new passion. And I’m one of them. I’m not a very creative person, but web/graphic design was on my list of the new things that I want to learn. So I decided to start with exploring design tools and understanding which one I’ll need for discovering a genius artist within me)
So what are the most famous and not so famous web and graphic design tools?
I know that no one likes long and boring intros) Let’s start with the list.
In this guide, we’ll take a look at:
Photo Editors
Photoshop
There is no need to introduce Photoshop to anyone. It has every feature that a designer needs. Although its functionality is a little bit difficult, and it takes some time to get used to it, but this tool is a dream come true for every designer. The apparent disadvantage is its high cost and subscription-based monthly fee.
Affinity Photo
Affinity is a lesser-known but very functional and budget-friendly alternative to Photoshop. This tool has a powerful toolset and allows complex photo editing and professional retouching. The edited images will look natural and smooth. The interface is quite simple and user-friendly. You definitely should give it a try.
PIXLR
PIXLR is a multifunctional tool that offers mobile and desktop editors. And, ATTENTION please, it also allows you to edit any picture online – directly in your browser. It’s an AI-powered tool for quick but professional designs. You can:
- Make beautiful templates for different purposes – business cards, brochures, social media stories, invitations and more
- Create photo collages
- Add filters, effects and erase the background
InVision Studio
InVision Studio is not only a design tool, but also a collaboration platform. It allows you to design, animate, prototype and scale your design. You can create interactive, vivid and responsive designs.
It’s a perfect choice for you if you are collaborating with others or you are a part of a remote working designer team. You will be able to easily sync with others, get real-time updates and stay connected.
InVision is a very powerful and full-stack design tool that is a must-have for every designer.
Skylum Luminar AI
Skylum Luminar AI is an AI-powered tool that allows you to edit your images without spending much time or effort. You can edit landscapes, portraits, food photos and more.
Don’t be afraid if the resolution of your photos is too low, with the help of the powerful toolset you will make your photos stand out. And do you know what makes this tool even more appealing? The AI will suggest personalized templates to choose from. This will help you to save a lot of time and focus on creating more beautiful collages.
Corel PaintShop Pro
Corel PaintShop Pro offers a 30-day trial and affordable pricing. You will be able to get the results you want with powerful features, smart solutions, instant effects, templates, drawing and text tools.
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom is a perfect tool for beginners or the ones who want a simple and quick way to edit their photos. It’s a simpler alternative to Photoshop where you can store and manage your photos as well.
GIMP
GIMP is an open-source and entirely free photo editor that allows creating high-quality images, original artwork and graphic designs.
Blender
Blender is another free photo editor with modeling, animation, video editing features and more.
CyberLink PhotoDirector 365
CyberLink PhotoDirector 365 offers more than 3000 effects and templates, an audio library, stock video footage and photos.
Fotor
Fotor is a free tool that comes in mobile, desktop and online versions. Although it doesn’t have a professional toolkit or complex functionality, it is enough for the simple editing requirements and quick retouching.
Sumo Paint
Sumo Paint is an online photo editor that offers free and budget-friendly versions. It includes different brushes, gradients, pencils and more.
Canva
Canva is one of the wildly known and used online tools. It has a wide range of features and includes trendy filters, templates, collage makers, an image library and tons of other useful assets.
Illustration and Graphic Design Tools
Adobe Illustrator
Follow your imagination and experience the freedom of creating whatever you want. There are no limits or boundaries with Adobe Illustrator. You can create sketches, complex illustrations, posters, logos, icons, vector art and much more.
Corel Painter
Draw realistic artworks and illustrations with numerous art tools and features with Corel Painter. Create your next masterpiece right now. The software is compatible with:
- Photoshop
- Tablet
- Mac and PC
Autodesk Sketchbook
Autodesk Sketchbook is a great tool for architects, designers and professionals with experience. It is available on every device – desktop, tablet and mobile. The Sketchbook comes with hundreds of brushes, vivid colors and smooth lines. It’s a perfect tool for drawing wherever you want.
CorelDRAW
Bring your authentic ideas to life with this tool. CorelDRAW is an all-in-one software that allows you to create fantasy arts, illustrations, game personages, branding identity and paintings.
Artwaver
Artwaver is a full-featured art software with realistic brushes, a user-friendly interface, the opportunity to work together with a team.
ArtRage
ArtRage will allow you to create realistic and stunning masterpieces. The natural gradient, beautiful textures, shadows and smooth brushes will make your artwork more realistic.
Other illustration and graphic design tools:
Affinity Designer
Rebelle
Inkscape
Paintool SAI
Procreate
Wacom for Drawing
Tayasui Sketches
Inkscape
Gravit Designer
Color Tools
Brand Colors
If you want to check the branding colors of different brands and companies, then Brand Colors is for you. It suggests the biggest list of brand color codes from around the world.
Flat UI Colors
Find your next project’s color scheme inspiration at Flat UI Colors. Check different palettes and color combinations made by 13 different designers.
Adobe Color CC
Adobe’s Color wheel allows users to generate and combine different color palettes. If you want to save the results of your experiment, you must be a registered user.
Coolors
Coolors is a must-have tool for any designer. Even if you are not a designer, this tool will help you to:
- generate color palettes, different shades and color gradients
- upload an image and generate palettes based on its colors’ schemes
- crate collages
- check the trending color combinations
It’s a very simple, easy to use and user-friendly tool that offers options for people with color blindness as well. Just sign in, do your magic and save your creation or simply export it.
Color Hunt
Color Hunt is another cool tool that presents different color shades’ combinations. You can filter the palettes based on their popularity, recentness or based on the collection (like winter, space, pastel, etc.).
And, as a bonus, if you want to add more colors and creativity to your life then try Color Hunt’s Chrome extension. It will replace your boring screen tab with a beautiful one.
Colorzilla
Colorzilla makes it easy to create custom gradients, and copy or export its CSS or sCSS. It also offers Firefox and Chrome extensions.
Paletton
Paletton is another tool for creating beautiful and unique color combinations.
Palette Generator
Palette Generator is another great tool that makes your life easier. We all have been in a situation when we see a picture and want to find out the used color palette but there is no way to extract it.Palette Generator is the tool you need. Just upload the image and the website will show you the dominant color of your image, and you can choose how many colors you want to extract.
Colordrop.io
Colordrop.io combines a couple of important features. It can be used as one united tool instead of using various tools. You can choose from the ready color palettes or flat colors, edit gradients and scan images for extracting the dominant colors.
Material Palette
Choose two colors, and it will generate a matching color palette. You can also choose from one color’s different shades. As a bonus, Material Palette gives you an opportunity to pick an icon as well.
Stripe Generator
Experiment with different colors and shadows to get unique stripes. Stripe Generator is not only a great tool to unleash your creativity but also download the best ones.
Colrd
If you have lost your inspiration while doing your everyday mundane tasks and responsibilities, then Colrd is the place to get motivated and creative again. The users of the website upload:
- flat colors
- color palettes
- gradients
- patterns
- images
After getting the required dose of inspiration and artistry, go ahead and create your own design. After finishing, you can share it with other users.
Typography
Fonts Google
Google Fonts offers a wide range of beautiful fonts. You can browse the website and download the font family you liked the most, or copy the link and add it to your website’s CSS.
What Font Is
What Font Is is a necessary tool for every designer. It allows to upload an image and identify the font on it. You will be able to get inspiration from your favorite photos or spy on your competitors)
I have gathered a small list of other typography tools:
Adobe Fonts
Fontstruct
1001fonts
Font Squirrel
Flipping Typical
Fonts Ninja
Typewolf.com
Typeface App
Logo Design
Designmantic
Designmantic is an affordable and easy-to-use tool that will allow even non-designers to create simple logos. All you need to do:
- Enter company name
- Enter the industry
- Create your logo
- Download it
Renderforest
Renderforest is a great and budget-friendly platform for creating everything for your brand identity. You can create exceptional logos, graphics, videos, animations (from the scratch) or choose from the templates.
Graphic Springs
Graphic Springs is a simple tool intended for creating unique logos and other assets that a brand will need. Even if you are not a designer you can choose from the hundreds of templates.
Bonus Part
And, as I’ve promised, the bonus part. As a bonus you will find free and paid stock photo websites below:
Do you need to find icons for your next project? Here is the list of the best free and paid icons websites:
Do you think that’s all? Hold on! There is more. We all need inspiration and motivation from time to time:
Narine
Narine is a digital marketing specialist with more than 5 years of experience in the field and more than 10 years of experience in the banking and financial spheres. Her goal is to help people and companies to realize their dreams and achieve ambitious growth with digital marketing.
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