Which graphic software is best?
It doesn’t have to be expensive to express your creativity for work, business, or personal projects, you just need some image editing or graphic software.
Using graphic software, also known as image editing tools, you can learn something new and improve your skills.
Here is a list of the cloud-based software for design that i have experienced:
VistaCreate
Previously known as “Crello,” this graphic design software is remarkably like Canva in terms of navigation and software design.
VistaCreate offers you a free (Starter) or pro account. The only differences between the Pro and Free accounts are that the Pro account offers unlimited storage, unlimited brand kits, and resizing of your designs.
However, if you are on a tight budget, the Free (Starter) offers everything you need if you are a beginner.
There is also a nifty trick with picture outline markers, which is having a coloured background edge around your favourite photos or designs. This is great for designing stickers or to make your designs have a different edge to them.
On the Pro account, you can share your designs on social media such as Facebook and Instagram straight from VistaCreate.
From my experiences with VistaCreate, you can do almost anything with this graphic design software. Although they have an app for your phone or tablet, my advice would be to begin learning the navigation on the desktop if you are an absolute beginner.
This cloud-based software does offer tutorials to help make your designs impressive!
Check out VistaCreate
Canva
Canva is an Australian graphic design platform, used to create social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents and other visual content. The app includes templates for users to use.
For beginners, Canva offers a 30-day trial period for you to learn and see all that Canva has to offer. With over 250,000 free templates, you can design visual content for an eBook, with many different ways to make your design impressive!
Canva offers a Pro account for individuals and small teams of up to five, which offers some more advanced tools for your designs. This includes the “magic” resize tool, background remover, scheduling your content on social media, brand kits, saving your designs for your team to use, and 100GB of storage.
Canva offers an Enterprise account, ideally for businesses, organizations, franchises, and agencies. This account offers everything on the Pro account, and more productivity-advanced features to collaborate and publish your content.
Canva offers free accounts for Canva for non-profits and Canva for Education.
I would have to say that I just love Canva, because it is easy-to-use, especially if you’re not a graphic designer. You can get plenty of inspiration from other designers about the different uses of fonts, photos, and colours. Canva offers an online “Design School,” which includes free courses available to be taught by the experts in graphic design, social media marketing, and brand-identity.
Check out Canva
Visme
Like the previous cloud-based software mentioned above, Visme is great for graphic design, social media marketing, and videos.
Visme is slightly different from Canva or VistaCreate, with most of its skillset catered for animation. Like other platforms, Visme offers access to most templates, including social media content, presentations, infographics, and data visualization.
You can have a free account to test drive it, and then decide if you wish to upgrade. The differences between the Personal and Business Accounts are increased storage; more options for downloading content—including video, GIF, HTML, and PPTX; brand kits; analytics; team collaborations and integrations. If you wish to upgrade to the business account, you will also have greater control over your privacy.
Visme offers free tutorials, online courses, and e-books to help you learn more about social media marketing, graphic design, typography, colour theory, and brand identity.
If you take Visme’s online course (which is free!) you can become a Certified Presentation Guru.
I did find with Visme that the navigation may be a little tricky for beginners, unless you practice, and continue to practice. There are a lot of choices with photos, graphics, and animations.
However, the price for an annual subscription is steep (for business it is $480 USD), especially if you are on a budget. But it is a great alternative to Canva or VistaCreate in terms of animation creation.
Check out: Visme
The Low Down:
Graphic design software is expensive. But if you investigate the different features and benefits of either having a free account or an upgraded account that suits your needs, such as how often you use the software (either for business, personal, or creativity),
Most companies that offer graphic design software are cloud-based and for a “trial” period. This is usually 30 days or less, so it allows a user to learn the basics of the software.
Most offer templates that you can edit by adding your own text, photos, graphics, or music.
Overall, seek out what software is right for you, and have fun!
Author: Elizabeth Inglis
