Graphic Design for Beginners: Adobe Creative Cloud vs InDesign vs Photoshop vs Illustrator
So you are creative, driven, and have an eye for design. It sounds like graphic design is perfect for you! But where do you begin to bring these creative aspirations to life? Navigating the world of graphic design as a beginner can be overwhelming and intimidating. Whether you want to establish a career in creative content and design or are just dabbling in it for fun, Adobe is the place to go for all things creative. With their industry standard professionalism and user-friendly tools, these Adobe applications are the best place to start learning graphic design for beginners.
Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe Creative Cloud is a must-have for those wanting to start a career in graphic design. It is the industry standard for professional creativity and design, meaning that everyone uses it from beginners to creative directors. Creative Cloud is a collection of 20+ desktop and mobile apps for photography, design, video, web, UX, and more. There are different plans depending on your specific app needs, as well as different prices for your status — whether you are a student, business, or individual. Some of the features and tools of Creative Cloud along with the 20 apps are Creative Cloud Libraries, collaboration tools, Adobe Fonts, Adobe Portfolio, Behance, and storage. You can jumpstart your creative journey by downloading a trial of the apps for free, too.
InDesign
Adobe InDesign is a layout and page design software for print and digital media. InDesign is the industry standard for page design and has all the tools you need to create advertisements, books, digital magazines, eBooks, posters, PDFs, and so much more. If you are designing any sort of document at a professional level, InDesign gives you the capabilities to create striking, unique designs with stylish typography and rich graphics all within its platform.
There are plenty of great resources you can access to learn InDesign. Here’s a collection of our favorites:
Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is most well-known for its photo editing capabilities, but it also has tools for digital painting, animation, and graphic design. Photoshop offers graphic designers the ability to create, enhance, or otherwise edit images, artwork, and illustrations. As one of the most widely used software on the planet, learning Photoshop is an essential skill to anyone wanting to dive into the graphic design world.
Some of the best Photoshop resources include:
Illustrator
When it comes to drawings, icons, and logos, Adobe Illustrator is the best place to go. It is the industry standard for vector graphics and where most illustrations begin. With Illustrator, you can design a logo from scratch with colors and shapes. You can draw by hand and watch it come to life as a vector graphic. You can even create your own typography. With both desktop and tablet compatibility, the creative possibilities are endless on Illustrator. From logos and icons to book illustrations and billboards, Illustrator will bring your ideas to life.
Our favorite Illustrator resources are:
Once you determine the kind of graphic design you’re most interested in, you can select the software that caters to your needs the best. To be a multi-faceted graphic designer with a long-term career, dig into all of these amazing Adobe tools and use them together to create amazing designs.
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