Graphic design is an instrumental part of marketing. The impact of design can make or break a brand. In such a competitive environment, graphic designers need the best resources to lift a brand into the hearts of its customers. Apps are great in a pinch, but you need to hone your skills in the software that can help elevate your brands.

  • Photoshop
    Photoshop is a design software/application that is used for image editing and photo retouching. It offers users the ability to create, enhance, or otherwise edit images, artwork, and illustrations.
  • Illustrator
    Illustrator shares many of the same tools and functions as Photoshop. However, its capabilities are focused around vector design. Unlike Photoshop, Illustrator allows you to freely manipulate the shape, color, effects and typography of graphics that can be used anywhere. This includes logos, graphs and illustrations.
  • InDesign
    If you are a designer in the publishing industry, then InDesign is a tool that you can’t do without. It is used for creating flyers, brochures, magazines, books, etc. It works by providing designers with tools to create pages & visual layouts that can be used for print. It is especially useful for documents containing multiple pages including those that combine type and images or contain significant amounts of text.
  • InVision
    InVision is a prototyping tool that allows designers to create interactive mockups for your designs and share them with their team or clients when they are ready, all on a single subscription. The features include screen design tools, advanced animations and so much more. It can also be integrated with Sketch and Photoshop.
  • After Effects
    Created in 1993, After Effects is used for creating motion graphics, animations & special effects in video, online content, and presentations. It also functions as a very basic non-linear editor, audio editor, and media transcoder. It even won an Academy Award for scientific and technical achievement.

SCOOTER NOTE: If you want to learn how to use these apps, there are plenty of ways to go about it. InVision is available free online just by signing up on the official website, while Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator and After Effects are all available through Adobe Creative Cloud plans.

  1. To learn how to use InVision, their website offers a knowledge base and starter guide to help people to learn. The individual plans are free, while the pro plans are offered at $7.95 per month.
  2. Adobe also offers basic tutorials if you sign up for one of their plans and there are also plenty of educational videos available through youtube, but if you want something a bit more in depth, I would recommend online classes through places like lynda.com. Ordinarily,a complete individual plan (which allows you to use all the adobe design apps) would cost $52.99 per month, but there is a special deal going on for students and teacher, where only have to pay $19.99 per month for the first year and $29.99 after that.