Paying $500+ for a new CorelDRAW Suite may not be the best investment for a graphic designer, especially a beginner. The same goes for Adobe’s stingy subscriptions. Give or take, most graphic design tools are built on the same principles. And more often than not, we need to create something simple and effective – an icon for our website, a logo, or just have some fun with vector art. Even for serious vector art, we probably never use all the fancy features big companies throw at us. Thankfully, there is a free vector software that allows us to do what we want. In this article, we will cover the most popular and effective of ones. Inkscape Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux Download link: Inkscape is often called the GIMP of vector apps. It’s an open-source program with plenty of features that make you wonder why people aren’t selling it. And yet, it’s completely free. The app was released in 2003, and since then has become one of the most popular vector graphics software programs in the world. It’s available in 90 languages and across many platforms, including OS X and Linux. The node workflow in Inkscape is similar to that of Adobe Illustrator and allows adding new nodes, as well as moving and editing them. Helpful features like node aligning and symmetry are also available to use. Bezier curves and pencil tools work smoothly with graphic tablets, allowing users to create hand-drawn vector images of any complexity. Inkscape also has image bitmap tracing, which is for converting rasterized images into vector paths. However, the feature is not as advanced as the in Adobe Illustrator, and you may need some extra to make it work, or you’ll have to trace it. Inkscape supports all popular formats, including SVG, EPS, JPG, PNG, PostScript and others. ![]() The list of features the app has is beyond listing, and chances are it can do pretty much everything paid programs like Adobe Illustrator can do. Full video tutorial by Logos By Nick At the very least Inkscape is nearly as good as Adobe Illustrator. Both programs share a very similar workflow and if you’re used to one of them, it makes it easier to make the switch. Gravit Designer is a full featured free vector design app right at your fingertip. It is available for different platforms including Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome and the Web. Quickly create awesome graphics and share them with the world. For logo designs and creating vector graphics, there won’t be much difference in whichever one of you use, apart from having an extra buck to spend on something else. Tutorials: Inkscape’s website offers a wide variety of tutorials from beginner to advanced. We also recommend Logos by Nick’s Youtube – it offers many excellent tips and workflows from a practicing designer. Pros: • Many features, solid AI alternative • Works smoothly with tablets • Multiple platforms (Linux included) • Extensions Cons: • Rare performance issues with big files • Some features are not intuitive – tutorials are needed Vectr Platform: Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Chrome OS, Web Download link: Unlike Inkscape, Vectr is fresh blood in the yard. Which is good, because it means the development is shifted by industry demands, and not by the curse of bloatware.
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March 2019
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