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Graphic Design Tools That Must Have
Learning graphic design is beneficial to open business opportunities, even without going to school. Having the right graphic design tools is important to learn and apply your skill. If you just start to learn, you must invest in essential tools to support the process. If possible, the tools must be something you can keep using even after you acquire the skill.
Here are the most recommended graphic design tools you must have as a beginner graphic designer.
01. Sketchpad and complete stationery
Complete basic tools, such as sketch pad, coloring pencils, pens, and drawing pencils are important for any designers. You can use them to plan your design or make rough draft when inspiration strikes. Having coloring pencils will help to create more detailed design plans or drafts, so invest in buying a set.
02. The right phone
There are certain phones graphic designers love to have because they are useful in many ways. A right phone will help you take pictures for inspiration, viewing images in a clear way, watching tutorial videos, and even running the smaller versions of design programs, such as Lightroom and Photoshop.
Depending on your budgets, you can focus on phones that have large screen and storage capacity. Some of the best phones for designers are Samsung S7 and S8 series, Google Pixel, and iPhone.
03. The Right Design Software
Adobe software such as Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, and InDesign are the go-to for graphic designers in all levels. They are available widely, and you can find many online tutorials to use them. If you don’t mind spending monthly fees, you can subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud. Here, you can get access to all important Adobe tools for designers. You can sync files, photos, and fonts, and access all your data straight from the app.
If you aim for vector design skill, you can add Affinity tools to the arsenal. Affinity Photo and Designer are useful for designers that focus on doing logos, illustrations, or photo editing project.
04. Interactive Pen Display
Interactive Pen Display is a tool that allows you to create a design with a stylus right on the screen. It is the further step than paper since you can quickly transfer the result of your drawing to the computer. Interactive Pen Display is also more natural for hand compared to a mouse, so you can improve the quality of your drawing and quickly transfer it to the computer screen.
05. Pantone Color Reference Library
A graphic designer deal with a diverse range of hues, and there are times when a color looks different once you transfer it to the screen. Having manual color library as a reference is a way to pick an accurate shade for your design. Pantone Color Reference Library is a popular color reference among graphic designers. The color references are wide and giving you numerous options for various design combinations.
The color library comes in various color strips. You can peel off the strip to stick on reference paper, printer, message wall, and many other convenient spots. It is a good tool to have, especially if you aim to start a business with graphic design skill.
06. Pixlr
Pixlr is a website for photo editing, perfect for designers who know how to use Photoshop. This website is helpful for various easy photo editing functions, from cropping to resizing. The access is easy, and you don’t have to buy software to use it. You can also get various options of free graphics and fonts, which are useful for learning process or beginner design projects.
07. IconFinder
Another helpful website, IconFinder is a source of numerous high-quality icons. There are more than 570,000 icons in CSH and AI formats. Many of these icons are a license for commercial and non-commercial projects, so you can save a lot of time and money to find the right icons for your design.
08. Time-tracking Tool
When you start doing a graphic design project for other people, you need to be organized, especially if you do more than one projects. A time-tracking tool such as HourGuard (for Windows), iBiz (for Mac), and DesignSoft (for Windows and Mac) are useful to track the progress of your design project. These tools also have a billing system, which you can use to make a transaction with clients easier.
There are many others tools a graphic designer can have to create great projects. However, having essential graphic design tools since the beginning will help the process in learning and starting projects.
