Essential Design Tools for 2019

Graphic design software has come a long way since the introduction of Richard Shoup’s SuperPaint in the 1970s. Yet for the past two decades (at least), Adobe Inc. products have dominated the graphic design industry. Even today, our top three picks for design tools in 2019 are all Adobe products: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop. All three applications are available with a paid subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud.

 1.  Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing and typesetting application. It’s the ideal software for page design and layout projects, as well as digital media such as eBooks and interactive PDFs. The Diace Designs creative team relies heavily on this application for print design projects. The tools inside the program make multi-page editing highly efficient—perfect for tight-turnarounds. More specifically, InDesign offers features such as smart objects and anchors that allow advanced text flow between pages and around images. Definitely a bonus when working with long text files (e.g. books) or multi-page projects with multiple text files and images (e.g. magazines).

2.  Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics application. Vector graphics are images based on mathematical equations (rather than pixels). The benefit of working with vector graphics is the ability to scale your images: you can make a vector graphic as large as you want, and it will never look distorted or “pixelated.” This makes programs like Illustrator perfect for creating logos, typography, and illustrations. One of our favorite ways to use Illustrator is to create custom product illustrations, like we recently did for our client, BostonSight SCLERAL.

3.  Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor and the most well-known application within the Adobe suite. It is used to edit and retouch images and to create image compositions. At Diace Designs, we use Photoshop all the time. It’s the perfect tool for removing the background of an image, mashing together and morphing images, and adjusting lighting, hue, and saturation settings. We use Photoshop primarily for silhouetting products from our clients’ product photoshoots. The end result is a versatile image that can be used almost anywhere.

As a graphic designer in 2019, it is essential that you have access to (and know how to use) Adobe’s creative applications and design tools. Mastering these programs takes time and experience. If you’re short on either one, contact us.

About Kara Franco
Kara writes copy that speaks. She has a knack for creating clear, compelling messages without wasting words. She is passionate about digital marketing and believes that copy is the cornerstone of user experience.

Copywriter + Content Strategist
Kara@diacedesigns.com