Top 5 Graphic Design Tools The Professionals Use

Nov 15, 2011 by Ajeet Khurana

There are certain standard tools for every profession, and graphic design is no different. Each designer has his or her own preferred tool set, but there’s a standard kit that everyone learns and knows. If you’re new to the field or are considering a job in graphic design, here are five tools you’ll be working with.

Photoshop:
Among graphic design programs, no name is bigger than Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is the King of the Hill and has been since it entered the scene in its earliest form in 1987. Photoshop is the handiwork of Thomas Knoll, then a graduate student at the University of Michigan, who originally wrote the program to display grayscale graphic images on a black and white display. As it turns out, Thomas’ brother John worked for Industrial Light and Magic in California and the pair teamed up to perfect the product. John took the product out for an exhibition at Apple and Adobe. Adobe licensed the product and in 1990, the first version of Photoshop was released for Macintosh computers. The product quickly became the de facto standard for photo editing and photo manipulation. If you plan to be a graphic designer and need to limit the graphic design programs you work with, make sure Photoshop ends up on your short list.
InDesign:
For page layout, Adobe’s InDesign product is another short-list candidate. You’ll use this program to create print pieces of all kinds, including newsletters, posters, brochures, flyers and other page layouts. Like Photoshop, it’s the de facto standard these days for high-end print pieces. You can also use it for laying out electronic documents for e-readers and other digital displays. InDesign has its roots in former category-killer PageMaker, which Adobe acquired from Aldus in the early 1990′s. After a brief entanglement with QuarkXPress, the products were separated and they’ve been desktop competitors ever since. InDesign captured a big portion of the market in a multiple-software distribution arrangement called Creative Suite that included most of Adobe’s top software packages, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat.
QuarkXPress:
Don’t think that you’ll get out of learning QuarkXPress if you know InDesign. Quark is an equally qualified candidate for your short list of graphic design programs. Quark has been around for more than 25 years and you’ll need to be able to work with both. At one time Quark had the market virtually locked up, but it’s share has shrunk to about 25%. There are plenty of shops that still use it, so don’t give up on it yet.
Flash:
Flash is a standard for sure, but its future is getting a little cloudier with the advent of tablet computing. Flash is designed to animate websites and enable full motion video online. It’s also used heavily in games, but it falls short in the mobile computing environment. Mobile computing devices require less rich content than desktops and laptops do, and frequently Flash-enabled sites don’t work well- if at all- with these handhelds. Further, Flash is used heavily in website advertising and many users have added “Flash-blockers” to their computers to disable Flash content. Despite its uncertain future, designers will be adding Flash content to websites for now.
Dreamweaver:
Another Adobe entry, and another component of the current version of Creative Studio 5.5, Dreamweaver is a web development application that shows no signs of slowing down. Originally a Macromedia property, Dreamweaver was acquired and bundled with CS in 2007. It replaced GoLive, a WYSIWYG page editor that was itself a replacement for PageMill. If you plan to do any Web development, you should plan to get comfortable with Dreamweaver.

James Chang is a huge tech geek that’s actually loves to design and freelance. This article was written by a guest author. Would you like to write for us?