Graphics Designing Applications For Mac

Jun

New Member
Hello, so recently I have started a project regarding designing a logo, however I have a mac and I don't know which programs are compatible with mac regarding graphics designing so please can people recommend and help me find good softwares regarding graphics designing for MAC OS
 
I recommend Adobe Illustrator, this application is compatible for not only windows but for Mac OS as well, and it has a free-trial system for approximately 20 days however after that you'll need to pay for a subscription, but no worries! The subscription ranges from £19 and Comes with four additional features that will benefit you whole fully in graphics design; Step-by-step video tutorials 100GB of cloud storage Your own portfolio website Premium fonts from Adobe Typekit.
Hope this helps, Jun!
 
As a mac user, I also had this problem when I first started graphic design. Shijihura's suggestion was a good one, however if you're not sure on Adobe Illustrator, I could recommend Affinity designer (a vector graphics editor). That being said, my first choice would have to be Adobe Illustrator as it has the most useful tools and once you get the hang of it you can use it for a plethora of things.
 
I think it all depends on how you intend to use it and what you can justify spending.

If it's for a one off design then I'd consider using one of the free, vector design app's that are available but if you intend to use them regularly or work as a Designer in a studio then Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard but the subscription to Adobe CC is around £50 ppm.

As mentioned, Affinity Designer is very well spoken of and is giving Ai a run for it's money.
It's a snip a approx £50 one off cost.
 
I don't think you need to be looking for macOS-specific apps. The big general design software packages are available and more or less the same on both windows and macOS these days. So if you're familiar with a design suite (like Adobe) you can just keep using that.

If you're new to design I'd recommend not starting to use the Adobe suite. While arguably it might be the best, it's also by far the most expensive and will lock you into a subscription for the rest of your professional life to keep using the software. So as someone else wrote I'd recommend looking at the Affinity package (Designer / Photo) first at least as it's a one-time purchase and doesn't require you to subscribe. If you're doing UI/UX work specifically, Sketch might also be worth a look.
 
I would recommend Affinity over an Adobe subscription 99% of the time. I use it all the time, and for logos, it's just so much more intuitive and efficient. It's still lacking a few features, but will do more than enough for what the general designer needs.
 
I'm very new here and keenly aware of the pitfalls of contradicting a mod. However, after trying to integrate Affinity Designer into a professional workflow for more than two years, I have come to the humble opinion that it is a steaming pile of poo.

Firstly, it lacks some very fundamental vector tools. Of these, the most glaring is the omission of any kind of vector distort tools. This means that trying to impose any type of 2D graphic into a photo or other 3D environment is at best horrendously time-consuming - at worst impossible. It also lacks other basic tools like a knife tool.

The most worrying thing is that when I first bought the app these things were at the top of the development roadmap, but over two years later literally nothing on that roadmap has been implemented. In fact, with the exception of a few cosmetic changes, no meaningful development has happened with this app for over two years.

Did I mention that despite pleas from the user base, Serif still hasn't implemented lines with arrowheads? Or that the outline stroke function produces hilariously unusable results. Needless to say, there is no offset path.

However, the two main reasons that I would discourage anyone from investing time in learning this app are: Serif have already abandoned development on a previous suite of design apps and I wouldn't be surprised if this also happens in the future with the Affinity suite. Secondly, this is not the industry standard. Although printers or web developers will be able to deal with with the files which Affinity experts, in 99.9% of cases, handing over an Affinity file to another designer is going to cause a major problem.

Personally, I'm back with Adobe now and the time I save by using it more than compensates for the increased price. Yes, it's more expensive, but at least it's still being developed and is fit for purpose. I guess we get what we pay for.
 
However, the two main reasons that I would discourage anyone from investing time in learning this app are: Serif have already abandoned development on a previous suite of design apps and I wouldn't be surprised if this also happens in the future with the Affinity suite.
If you're on about the serif suite of software (drawplus etc), that software had/has been around for around 20 years, it was due an 'update'... I remember older versions being given away for free on magazines from when I was still in high school so I doubt they're in it for the short haul.
 
That is indeed what I am "on about". the initial idea of developing an app which placed an equal weight of the manipulation of both pixels and vector graphics was a sound one. However, rather than developing this to a point where it could be considered more than merely a hobbyist application, Serif made the decision to spread their limited resources as widely (and thinly) as possible.

Decisions like developing their own page layout software seem to me to be monumentally flawed. It's as if they have no historical knowledge of the development of DTP software. Affinity Publisher has no appeal whatsoever to the hobbyist designer (99% of there customers) and it will never be adopted by professionals.

If Affinity does eventually decide to start developing Designer again, they will probably have to hit their largely amateur customer base with an upgrade charge - They won't like that. Although Serif may have every intention of being in this for the long-term, they are operating in a very competitive budget market and it is likely that the decision will not be theirs to make.

I would never stipulate what software people should use, but I have used (or at least tried to use) Affinity software extensively and eventually come to the realisation that I can make a lot more money by not using it. As for those people who are complaining about the Adobe subscription, we have to accept this is the new model - If we want good software, we need to pay for it. Lastly, if an individual is not making enough money so that the cost of Adobe subscription is pretty insignificant, then maybe they're in the wrong game.

I wonder how long it will be before the Affinity suite is being given away free with magazines. I wonder if anyone will want it.
 
If we want good software, we need to pay for it. Lastly, if an individual is not making enough money so that the cost of Adobe subscription is pretty insignificant, then maybe they're in the wrong game.
Um tell that to the people that make a living using free software like blender or one of the many free video editing suites... now yes many of these are financially supported via donations etc but you don't have to pay to use them.

Depending on the work you do you do not need to have adobe software. I can get away without using it in my daily work, now I specialise in 3D design but I still need to use graphic programs from time to time but the fact is I don't need 90% of the features of adobe software. I would also put money on a large portion of designers using nowhere near the full feature set of adobe software, they're pretty bloated these days.

As to serif dropping the old software... sometimes it's more efficient to start from scratch with new code, utilising new technology (the old stuff didn't make use of new apple api's iirc), especially when it's getting a UI overhaul etc as well.
The amount of junk code that can accumulate over 20 years can be massive, we only need to look at adobe to see how bloated their software is and I very much doubt that is well optimised at code. Not to mention the old stuff didn't support iPad, this new software was initially designed with the iPad in mind and spread out to the os-x and windows pc's.
 
From what I read Affinity is gaining support and converts.
Especially not that they make a full working version for the iPad,
I think it all depends on what you use it for though.

With what I do, nobody cares what it's made in.

I have had a go with Affinity and there are a few things missing that I tend to rely on a lot in Ai.
I do a lot of isometric work and the ability to write some simple actions to convert an object into isometric projection is so time saving that it's pretty essential to me.
I have a love hate thing foe Ai and I'd love to swap to Affinity Designer but at the moment it's not really practical to do so.
 
I'm very new here and keenly aware of the pitfalls of contradicting a mod. However, after trying to integrate Affinity Designer into a professional workflow for more than two years, I have come to the humble opinion that it is a steaming pile of poo.

Firstly, it lacks some very fundamental vector tools. Of these, the most glaring is the omission of any kind of vector distort tools. This means that trying to impose any type of 2D graphic into a photo or other 3D environment is at best horrendously time-consuming - at worst impossible. It also lacks other basic tools like a knife tool.
I agree, it is still lacking some greatly needed featres. Not being able to distort or warp text for example is something I need quite often.

Personally, I'm back with Adobe now and the time I save by using it more than compensates for the increased price. Yes, it's more expensive, but at least it's still being developed and is fit for purpose. I guess we get what we pay for.

Each to their own. I've found I'm able to cut Adobe out for the vast majority of my work but others may need to use tools and features I'll never touch. To me it feels very dated to use, there's often so many fiddly steps needed to do something simple such as change a gradient. 99% of my work is digital nowdays and I think there's a lot more freedom with the tools you use in that field. Ironically I still have to maintain an active monthly subscription with Adobe though because so many other designers and studios are using it.
 
I agree, it is still lacking some greatly needed featres. Not being able to distort or warp text for example is something I need quite often.

Each to their own. I've found I'm able to cut Adobe out for the vast majority of my work but others may need to use tools and features I'll never touch. To me it feels very dated to use, there's often so many fiddly steps needed to do something simple such as change a gradient. 99% of my work is digital nowdays and I think there's a lot more freedom with the tools you use in that field. Ironically I still have to maintain an active monthly subscription with Adobe though because so many other designers and studios are using it.

I agree totally @Paul .

I find that Ai isn't as intuitive as it could be but maybe that's because its quite old and despite all of it's updates, it's structure is still the same and it carries a lot of old baggage.
I remember moving from Freehand to Ai and although it had a much greater functionality, it's ease of use just wasn't there.
I kind of expected Adobe to pick Freehand's bones a little and use some of its better features but that never happened.
 
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