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Design tools that can make your life as a designer easier
Introduction
In today’s digital world, design tools have become indispensable, I think. They help us designers to put our creative ideas into practice and significantly optimize our work. In this blog post, we’re going to look at some of what I think are the best design tools and show their benefits for designers and creative people.
Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe Creative Cloud is arguably one of the most popular suite of design tools on the market today. It includes a variety of tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and many more. With Adobe Creative Cloud, designers are able to bring their creative ideas to life and create exceptional designs. The suite also offers a variety of features including cloud storage, mobile apps, and the ability to collaborate with other designers. I have worked with it in the past and still do sometimes, however I discovered the Affinity programs for myself some time ago and find these are also a good alternative to the Adobe programs.
Affinity Programme
Serif’s Affinity programs are a great alternative to Adobe’s Creative Cloud programs. I personally find the Affinity programs very appealing and reliable as design tools. And since you can buy them with a perpetual license, in the long run even cheaper than the Adobe subscriptions. They are especially useful for designers, illustrators, and artists who need a powerful yet affordable Creative Suite. The Affinity programs include Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher.
Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer is a vector design tool that allows one to create logos, icons and other graphics. It offers a wide range of features, including an extensive collection of brushes, shape tools and effects. Affinity Designer is also very customizable and offers a wide range of export options. Affinity Designer is really a comparatively affordable and powerful design tool that is sure to be appreciated by many designers. It is a great alternative to Adobe Creative Cloud and offers a wide range of features such as vector design, UI design, and image editing. With Affinity Designer, designers can seamlessly switch between different design modes and export their work in different formats. The tool is easy to use and offers a variety of tutorials and resources to help designers get the most out of the tool.
Affinity Photo
Affinity Photo is a powerful image editor that can definitely compete with Adobe Photoshop in terms of functionality and performance. It offers a wide range of features, including an extensive collection of brushes, filters and effects. Affinity Photo is also a very customizable design tool and offers a wide range of export options. You can also switch to Affinity Designer in the program while editing. The three tools complement each other perfectly.
Affinity Publisher
Affinity Publisher is a layout and design tool that allows users to create professional-looking documents such as brochures, magazines and books. It offers a wide range of features, including an extensive collection of layout tools, text tools and effects. Affinity Publisher is also very customizable and offers a wide range of export options. One of my favorite design tools by the way, which is really fun, I think.
The Affinity programs are all relatively affordable and offer a real, powerful alternative to Adobe’s Creative Cloud programs. You can buy the versions for iPad or desktop individually or as a complete bundle.
Procreate
Procreate is a clear but powerful design tool for digital art on the iPad. It’s especially useful for designers, illustrators, and artists, or if you like to take notes or sketch with the iPencil. Especially if you like to work on the go, tools for the iPad are very handy, I find. Procreate offers a wide range of functions, including countless brushes, layers, stamps, textures and effects. You can also create your own custom brushes to personalize your work. Or you can buy bundles with many more brushes online. Procreate is highly customizable and can be adapted to the needs of different projects and artists. It also offers integrations with other tools like Dropbox and Adobe Creative Cloud. I used Procreate almost exclusively for my designs for a very long time. In the meantime, I also use Affinity Designer, but Procreate is still a tool that I like to use regularly.
Canva
Canva is all the rage these days as the go-to tool for graphic design. It is especially suitable also for people who have no experience in graphic design. But it’s also a useful tool for advanced graphic designers, I think. The tool offers a wide range of features, including templates, fonts and images. Users can also create custom designs by combining elements such as text, shapes and images. You can set up various branding materials, including logos, fonts and various palettes.
The handy thing about Canva is that with just one click, you can easily apply these pre-determined brand attributes to any design. For example, from a simple template, I can create several variations with my branding and that of Linen & Quince with just a few clicks. It’s faster and easier with no other tool, as far as I know. Canva, by the way, now also has an AI that can edit text to image. I find that this AI cannot yet keep up with the quality of Midjourney, for example. But the results are fine if you want to use this function.
Canva is highly customizable and offers a variety of export options, including export as PNG, JPEG, and PDF. The tool is especially useful for individuals or teams who need to create graphics quickly and easily, for example, for social media posts or marketing materials. One can also post or schedule social media posts directly from Canva. However, the integration to my Pinterest boards is always on strike, which is why I don’t use this function. I think Metricool is much better. But still, Canva can basically do almost everything you could need for a successful online business.
CLO
CLO is a 3D design software specialized in the creation of garments, but also household textiles. It allows designers to create and customize garments in 3D, reducing the number of physical prototypes. Working with CLO is really fun, I think. You can see your creations directly photorealistic in 3D on different avatars. These can also move. You get a very comprehensive impression of the garment even before it has ever been sewn. This saves an incredible amount of “trial & error” and you can also create entire collections, which allows you to see the designs in interaction with other garments. There are very many opportunities in CLO.
But what I find extremely good above all is that this design tool is easily accessible. You can basically create an account directly through CLO ‘s website and even get a free trial period. After that, there is a 50% discount on the monthly price for students. Comparable CAD programs directly cost several thousand € and you usually have to contact the providers personally to get access to these programs at all, moreover they are often designed for Windows only. CLO, on the other hand, also runs on Mac. One of my absolute favorite programs, but admittedly I’m still learning at the moment. But CLO has also taken care of that and provides us, in addition to tutorials directly at CLO, also a variety of video tutorials on YouTube.
Conclusion
Design tools have become indispensable in today’s digital world for turning creative ideas into action and optimizing the work of designers. Adobe Creative Cloud, the Affinity Programs, Procreate, Canva , and CLO are some of the best design tools on the market that help designers do their jobs more efficiently and create exceptional designs. If you’re a designer yourself, consider these tools to improve your work and bring your creative ideas to life. By the way, if you are also interested in time and project management methods in general, feel free to check out my personal blog, christinaernst.net. There I also regularly present methods and tools for easier and more efficient work. What do you think of my favorite design tools? Do you like to work with these or similar tools? If so, with which ones? Feel free to let me know in the comments.
Have a creative weekend.
All the love
Christina
“I have always believed in my vision of pure design and never let go.”
Jil Sander
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About the author
Christina Ernst is founder and CEO of Linen & Quince. She is also a designer, author and real estate expert. She shares her experiences and knowledge not only on our Linen & Quince blog, but also on her personal blog, christinaernst.net , where she writes about financial knowledge, starting a business, real estate knowledge and personal development. She loves interior design, art, antiques, as well as elegant, sustainable and high-quality fashion.
