Must-Learn Apps for Designers & Creatives: Beginner’s Guide

Design apps play an integral role in creating professional-grade work in the design industry. Adobe apps have long been the industry standard for graphic designers and creatives alike, but some new software programs with free or more affordable versions have emerged to offer competitive options.

Newbie designers looking to attain success in their field need to familiarize themselves with how to use the many available creative design app offerings, including Adobe Creative Cloud, Canva, and Figma. Learn how to take your work to the next level using Creative Cloud and other popular apps for designers.

In this guide, we’ll explore what applications a beginner needs to know, and why.

IN THIS GUIDE:

Why Creative Apps Are Essential

Adobe Creative Cloud: The Gold Standard?

Other Popular Creative Apps

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Creative Apps Are Essential for Designers

Graphic design apps are essential for producing professional, high-quality work. Even graphic designers with superior skills and a natural eye for visuals find it increasingly difficult to compete in the industry without the assistance of dedicated software. These apps aid in streamlining graphic design workflows by boosting efficiency and creativity.

Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe InDesign are must-learns for designers breaking into the business. Adobe Creative Cloud offers niche applications for specific types of design projects. Online design apps such as Canva and Figma offer budget options for beginners and anyone looking to expand their skills and knowledge of graphic design.

These relatively well established software applications are not the only tools a beginner should be familiar with, so we’ll touch on some new players like Sketch, Affinity, Da Vinci, and Blender, in this article.

Adobe Creative Cloud: The Gold Standard for Designers

By now, you may heard that Adobe is the “big dog” of design software manufacturers. Ever since the San Jose, California-based software giant Adobe began moving applications to the cloud in 2011, it has consolidated its position as the #1 design software provider.

In the bad old days, customers would purchase programs like Photoshop or InDesign on discs, one-at-a-time. Today, most Adobe customers have annual subscriptions to the entire Creative Cloud suite, which has more than 20 software programs.

It is for this reason that Adobe Creative Cloud software has become the industry standard for design tools, for creatives and employers. With crossover between applications and easy sharing, Adobe allows designers the freedom to create between platforms and collaborate across departments or organizations.

Don’t worry, if you are just starting out, you don’t need to master all 20 Adobe software programs.  At a minimum, graphic designers need these basic design tools in their toolbox for any project they undertake:

• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe InDesign

Let’s explore what they do.

Photoshop: The King of Image Editing

Adobe Photoshop is one of the best apps for designers to master. It’s used to edit, create, and enhance bitmap or photographic images, illustrations, and artwork. Most often working with photographs, amateurs and professionals alike commonly utilize Photoshop to:

• Remove flaws and adjust lighting levels, colors, and contrast
• Apply layers, special filters, and effects
• Create pixel-based digital graphics, or raster images
• Create digital illustrations using digital brushes, pens, and shape tools
• Trim and add text overlays as a video editing tool
• Create and optimize visual content for the web and social media posts
• Process digital images
• Edit and correct photos
• Create animation feature designs for GIFs
• Produce web banner ads
• Design basic 3D images

Photoshop is the go-to option for photo manipulation and design and is easy to integrate into Adobe Creative Cloud’s niche apps to unlock its full design potential across different types of media. Adobe has also released Adobe Photoshop Express, a mobile app for editing photos and images while on the go.

What does a Photoshop artist do? Click here to see some examples of outstanding Photoshop work.

Illustrator: Best for Vector Design

Adobe Illustrator is best for creating vector designs. Unlike raster images, which are made up of pixels, vector images rely on mathematical coordinates, lines, and curves to create art. Designers can scale vector illustrations to any size without sacrificing image quality, making them ideal for large projects like billboards and in logos and typography.

The smaller file size of a vector image means they load more quickly than raster-based files as well, a plus for web designers. Adobe Illustrator is most often used to:

• Draw vector illustrations and artwork
• Refine typographic designs
• Generate illustrations, infographics, icons, and symbols
• Design logotype and logomarks
• Design promotional single-page posters, flyers, and postcards
• Create patterns
• Produce charts and diagrams
• Make mockups for client websites
• Import Illustrator files into Adobe After Effects to create motion graphics
• Create layered images in conjunction with Photoshop

What can an illustrator or designer do with a vector application like Illustrator? Click here to view a vector art showcase.

InDesign: Perfect for Layouts and Publishing

Taking its rightful place among newbie designer must-haves, Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing and layout application for combining text and graphics. Its features include layout and typesetting tools such as customizable grids and guides for precise element alignment. InDesign also allows users to create templates for use across publications and offers hundreds of fonts and type treatments for customized typography projects.

InDesign can execute layout and publishing projects, which makes it perfect for creating books, magazines, and brochures. The most common uses of this software are to design:

• Multi-page publications
• Books, magazines, newspapers, brochures, newsletters, flyers, and posters
• Business cards and company letterhead
• Interactive digital publications and ebooks
• Slideshows and presentations
• Social media content

https://dev.sessions.edu/online-courses/indesign/des201/

Mastering Video and Motion Graphics

A subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud includes software for graphic design that assists in mastering video and incorporating motion graphics. Both amateur and professional video editors and filmmakers use Premiere Pro and After Effects. In conjunction with other Adobe products, these niche applications can unlock the full potential of your design ideas.

Premiere Pro: Professional Film Editing

Adobe Premiere Pro is a video editing program for producing film, television, and web content. Users can import and edit video and audio clips for professional results. Premiere Pro gives designers the ability to:

• Edit and trim videos using three-point editing
• Add text, images, and transitions to video clips
• Create animations and title cards
• Add special effects
• Mix audio to reduce noise and enhance dialogue
• Browse music tracks, auto-fit them to video clips, and license the music
• Harness the power of timesaving AI features
• Balance color palettes via color correction and grading

Premiere Pro interfaces with many other video editing programs and is compatible with Mac and Windows operating systems. It also works with a number of different file formats, making it a versatile app for graphic designers looking to incorporate video and motion graphics into their projects.

After Effects: Putting Graphics in Motion

Adobe After Effects is a graphic design app considered to be one of the best mobile design tools on the market. After Effects allows designers to create motion graphics, visual effects, and animation for games, videos, web content, marketing campaigns, and presentations. When used together with other Adobe apps such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro, After Effects is a powerhouse of creative possibilities such as:

• Animating a logo or character
• Adding motion and visual effects to video projects
• Setting still texts and graphics in motion for title sequences and credit rolls
• Designing 3D animations with the ability to refine lighting and shading
• Incorporating special effects
• Mixing 2D and 3D images to create scenes
• Removing unwanted background distractions
• Swapping out backgrounds
• Choosing from motion graphic templates
• Editing basic audio tracks
• Converting video or audio files from one format to another
• Creating engaging social media posts and YouTube videos

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Other Popular Creative Apps for Beginners

Other popular design apps on the market today do many of the things that Adobe Creative Cloud Apps do for less. These alternative apps offer free and pro versions for designers who want to dabble or who are first starting out in the field.

Canva: Easy, Accessible Designs for Non-Professionals

Canva is a user-friendly design tool ideal for quick, simple projects like social media graphics and presentations. It’s accessible to anyone who creates an account. Many of the better graphics and templates on Canva are restricted to users who sign up for a paid subscription to Canva Pro.

Canva offers amateur designers and aspiring professionals the following:

• Template options for social media presentations, business cards, flyers, invitations, and more
• The ability to create documents for both print and digital use
• Royalty-free stock media, including photos, videos, and graphics
• A drag-and-drop interface
• Multi-user collaboration with shared editing
• Cost-effective design tools
• Cloud-based storage and retrieval
• Regular updates on Canva features, elements, and templates
• The option to save projects in a variety of file formats
• Brand management and marketing features (Canva Pro)
• Magic Resize to resize designs for various purposes without manual adjustment (Canva Pro)
• Content planning features to schedule content drops (Canva Pro)

Figma: Collaborative UI/UX Design

Figma is a web-based app used for designing interfaces and prototyping. It’s geared toward teams working on UI/UX design projects. Figma’s starter option is great for design beginners and for personal use.

To unlock the full potential of Figma, users must subscribe to the platform’s professional option, which includes:

• Collaborative feature FigJam, Figma’s digital whiteboard
• Prototype testing
• Unlimited projects, files, pages, and version history
• Sharing permissions
• Team libraries
• Audio conversation

Affinity Designer: Illustrator/Photoshop Alternative

Not sure you want support Adobe’s global hegemony? One emerging option is Affinity Designer, a professional vector graphics design software with raster capability developed by Serif Labs. It provides tools for creating detailed illustrations, branding, web layouts, and more, featuring precise vector editing, pixel alignment, and real-time performance. It is known for its user-friendly interface and affordability.

Procreate: Sketching and Drawing Tool

Those searching for a more traditionally oriented way to create digital artwork may enjoy Procreate, a powerful (and popular) digital art application for iOS devices designed and developed by Savage Interactive. It offers advanced drawing, painting, and illustration tools, including customizable brushes and the ability to record artwork in time lapse. Due to its intuitive design and robust capabilities, Procreate is widely used by professional artists and illustrators.

Sketch: Vector-Based UI/UX Design

For interface designers, Sketch offers a serious competitor to Figma. Sketch is a macOS-based vector graphics design tool developed by Sketch BV and is widely popular in UI/UX design. It offers a powerful set of features for creating wireframes, interactive prototypes, and design systems, all while prioritizing simplicity and collaboration.

Its extensive plugin ecosystem and integration capabilities make Sketch highly customizable, catering to the specific needs of individual designers and teams. Additionally, with its real-time collaboration features, multiple designers can work seamlessly on the same project.

DaVinci Resolve: Professional Video Editing and Color Grading

Any software named after a Renaissance master has to be good. Developed by Blackmagic Design, DaVinci Resolve is a professional-grade solution for video editing, color grading, and audio post-production. It integrates non-linear editing with top-tier color correction and visual effects tools, making it a popular choice among filmmakers and video editors. The free version provides a wide range of features suitable for amateurs and professionals.

Blender – Open-Source 3D Modeling and Animation Tool

Finally, for the sculptors and gamers among us, Blender offers an open-source 3D creation suite developed by the Blender Foundation. It provides a wide range of modeling, animation, simulation, rendering, and compositing tools, making it popular among 3D artists, animators, and game developers. Its open-source nature allows for extensive customization and promotes community-driven development.

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Choosing the Right Apps for Your Creative Journey

If you’re an aspiring designer just dipping your toes into the digital water, you may be wondering where to start. So many apps, so little time!

Here are two possible routes to navigate the path to software nirvana.

Path #1: Learn the Adobe Core Applications

There’s a benefit to starting out by learning Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Getting a grounding in these apps can kickstart your design career, simply because most design employers expect a level of proficiency in these tools.

Subscriptions to Adobe Creative Cloud include access to 20+ apps, including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, and After Effects. Adobe does offer discounted subscription rates to students just beginning their design journey. Student accounts include access to a portfolio website where you can  showcase your work to potential employers.

In fact, Adobe subscription does provide a number of associated benefits, many of which are free:

• Advanced features – Adobe provides a comprehensive suite of powerful, professional-grade design and editing tools. These tools allow for creative control and accuracy when completing complex design projects.
• Seamless integration – Never underestimate the usefulness of integrating projects between apps. The power to manipulate images in one platform and seamlessly integrate them into publishing or video editing software is invaluable.
• Regular updates – Adobe frequently updates software with new features and improvements so that users have access to cutting-edge technology.
• Ample cloud storage capabilities – Adobe Creative Cloud boasts significant cloud storage options so your projects are secure and accessible across devices.
• Extensive resources – Adobe users have access to an expansive library of fonts, stock images, and videos included in the cost of the software. Free alternatives require users to pay for the use of better fonts and royalty-free photos.
• Learn as you go – Adobe Creative Cloud provides a number of online tutorials and learning resources to help new subscribers learn how to use Adobe Creative apps.

To develop basic skills in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, our Professional Certificate in Graphic Design offers a self-paced program to establish a foundation in design and software skills.

Path #2: Start Free and Simple

Another path is to utilize some of the alternative or free tools like Canva, Figma, and Affinity Designer. In many cases, these newer software programs can provide a simpler and more intuitive environment in which to explore your first projects, whether you are developing images, illustrations, or branding.

Your choice a creative tools can be very personal. Explore and select the tools that best meet your current creative goals.

It’s helpful to start small, mastering one app at a time, and then moving on to additional platforms. As you develop mastery of an application, your design skills and confidence will increase.

Sessions College can help jumpstart your career in graphic design with small online classes designed to prepare you to enter a new career field with the confidence and knowledge you need to be successful.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is Adobe Creative Cloud?

A: Adobe Creative Cloud is a comprehensive set of software applications that assists graphic designers and other creatives in producing print and digital content.

Q: How much is Adobe Creative Cloud?

A monthly subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud starts at $19.99 for student subscribers in their first 12 months. The cost of service jumps up to $34.99 per month following the first year of membership. Individuals not subscribing under student status can expect to pay between $59.99 and $89.99 monthly. There is a small discount for paying the annual subscription cost of $659.99 up front.

Q: What is the best way to learn Adobe Creative Cloud?

Adobe offers free online resources and tutorials to help beginners learn how to use the software. Taking classes and obtaining certification is a better option if you enjoy instructor-led guidance.

Q: How do I learn graphic design?

A: People often wonder, is graphic design hard? The answer is that anybody who dedicates themselves to learning new skills in graphic design can make progress and advance their skills. Some designers are self-taught, while many seek education and training through institutions of higher learning.

Q: What are alternative apps to Adobe products?

Canva and Figma are two alternative design apps with comparable features to Adobe products. Both apps offer free and subscription-based options. Other emerging or alternative apps include Affinity Designer, Procreate, Blender, Da Vinci Resolve, and Sketch.