It’s astounding to me that in 2015 the question of which operating system you should use is still a debate. Many designers find themselves turned down for jobs if they prefer using a PC rather than a Mac. Many designers feel that if they can’t afford a Mac they won’t be taken seriously, so they’ll even invest in buying a used Mac that cost twice as much as a newer Windows PC.
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In reality these “marketing optics” do matter to some people, even if they shouldn’t. You will in fact be judged by whether or not you use or own a Mac as a Graphic Designer. There is a reason, it’s not a practical one… (in my opinion) but it is a reason. Tradition.
Minimum Requirements:. Mac OS 10.5 or later GraphicConverter 7.4 is a free update to registered users of GraphicConverter 7.0-7.3.1. New users may purchase the software for $39.95 (USD) directly from their website or the Mac App Store. There is no longer any reason to consider Mac the default option for graphic design. Long-time Mac users also frequently cite usability as a Mac advantage. In most cases, usability comes down to what you're used to, however. Many designers switch between the two platforms with no trouble.
The History of Macs and Graphic Design
In my opinion, the bias towards using Macs today is based on the long-standing history and tradition of Graphic Designers using Macs. It has no technical basis (currently in terms of performance and hardware), since Apple moved to using 3rd party components from Intel and other companies.
Adobe has gone on record via their Adobe Hardware Performance Whitepaper to point out that the performance of their software comes down to specs, not operating system. So there is no real evidence for the old saying “Adobe software runs better on Mac.” Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator etc were not designed to perform better due to OS preference.
Digital Typography was Born on the Mac
In the early days of Graphic Design and Digital Typography (early 1980s) the Apple Macintosh was the first computer to truly allow for Digital Typography. Susan Kare was a pioneer in this field.
Adobe Photoshop Was Born on the Mac
Over 25 Years Ago (1988) John and Thomas Knoll built the first version of Photoshop on a Macintosh Computer, because it was essentially the only computer with a color display and the capacity to handle the program they were building. It was released exclusively for the Mac in 1990 (a Windows version followed over two years later). The Knolls pitched Photoshop to two companies in Silicon Valley, Adobe and Apple… the rest is history.
So What Does That Have To Do With Mac vs PC?
The reason many designers gravitate to buying a Mac and are looked down on in the industry if they don’t is mostly a matter of tradition, not substance. Most people who have been in the industry with 20 years or more of experience have a preference for Mac, because for a very long time it was the only option, and in their minds it still is. Apple has been good to them and good for their careers and they know it works, so they remain loyal.
This culture has been handed down to their “disciples”, because they respect the experience of their mentors and then it becomes their experience as well, and the cycle continues.
You also have to remember that until recently, technology was a mystery to the people using it. Most computer users no matter how intelligent, didn’t have a clue about how things work under the hood, many still don’t. They just know how to use them to get their job done.
Mac vs. PC Today in Graphic Design
Due to changes in how users understand and relate to technology there are many graphic designers today who use Windows-based PCs to get their work done. I use both Mac and PC myself and see very little difference in my ability to get my work done if both machines have similar hardware.
Part of the shift is that many designers also are gamers or video editors and want to take advantage of the ability to customize their hardware and get more power for the price, something they can’t easily do with a Mac.
As a result, more designers are dropping the bias towards Mac, having experienced a certain degree of freedom in choosing what components and hardware they use, and having more options based on their budgets.
Legitimate Reasons to Prefer a Mac:
Of course, there are legitimate technical reasons why some people should choose a Mac for their design workflow. Here are a few.
- Using Thunderbolt 2 for large file transfers or connecting to 4K monitors, especially when using laptops
- Integrating a workflow that uses other Apple devices such as the iPad and iPhone.
- You’re a Motion Graphic Designer that uses Apple Motion and Final Cut Pro in addition to your Adobe applications.
- Operating System preference for usability and minor features.
Legitimate Reasons to Prefer a Windows PC:
Likewise, here are some important reasons you might opt for a PC.
- Windows Computers cost dramatically less for the same performance specs, particularly in laptops.
- Access to Windows-only productivity and business software.
- System compatibility with your business clients, especially if they are outside the creative services industry (90% Windows Users).
- The ability to upgrade and customize hardware to specific needs.
- You’re doing high-end animation or video production in addition to design and need to leverage multiple hard drives and graphics cards in your workflow.
- Operating System preference for usability and minor features.
In The End It’s a Matter of Preference
Ultimately, it’s up to each person to choose the tools they feel help them get their job done and will be reliable. Quality tools are quality tools regardless of the brand.
Those of you who are photographers in your spare time may remember there are similar debates between Canon and Nikon users, but at the end of the day you can’t tell if a picture was shot on one or the other just by looking.
The same is true of design work. The “Real Designers Use Mac” argument dies the moment you are shown quality work, regardless of what device was used in its creation.
Tags Illustrator is great for graphic design but it's not for everyone. Here's a list of several powerful vector design tools you don't want to miss.
In this post, we’ll explore 14+ paid and free graphic design tools that you can use as vector editor Adobe Illustrator alternatives.
While Adobe Creative Cloud — Illustrator, Photoshop, Adobe XD, InDesign, and more — may be known as the industry standard for graphic design, its expensive monthly subscription model ($20.99 per month or $52.99 per month for the entire Creative Cloud) can bruise a budget.
This post delves into some surprising alternative vector design tools to uncover:
- Features
- Files supported
- Pricing
- Compatible systems (Windows, Mac, iPad, etc.)
- Potential downsides
For a list of some FREE Adobe Illustrator alternatives, scroll to the bottom.
If you’re looking for alternatives to Adobe Photoshop, we’ve also got a handy list here, along with our picks for the best web design software tools.
Vectors vs. rasters: quick lesson for the uninitiated
Graphic Design Apps For Mac
For context, graphic designers work on two types of static image formats: vectors and rasters. Vectors are made from lines, curves, and shapes (plus some machine learning magic). Rasters are comprised of pixels.
Have you ever noticed an image get super grainy when you try to blow it up? That’s raster image pixelation at work (and why you don’t want your logo to be a raster).
Vectors: Scale ’em up, scale ’em down. Vectors are easily editable and resizable — perfect for logos, icons, illustrations, print/signage graphics, and even some animations.
Rasters: Preferred for digital photography, enormously wider range of color palette options (16 million), better for nuanced detail
If you’re looking for Adobe Illustrator alternatives to create digital graphics, logos, illustrations, and animations for print, web, and interfaces — you’re in the right place.
Our list of top Adobe Illustrator alternatives:
- RelayThat
- Affinity Designer
- CorelDRAW
- Sketch
- Figma
- Snappa
- Canva
- Artboard
- Vector Creator
- Boxy SVG
- Graphic
- Gravit Designer
- Inkscape
- Vectornator
- Design Wizard
- + more free Adobe Illustrator alternatives at the end
Sure, Adobe Illustrator may be king. But if you’re into coups, here’s where you should start:
1. RelayThat
RelayThat flips the whole idea of a professional marketing graphics design tool on its head by allowing you to import your brand assets (or magically upload from a URL). This cloud-based graphics design superstar let’s you immediately get to work with thousands of premade, social-friendly layouts based on specific branding.
- Files: Import PNG, JPEG, and SVG. Export PNG and JPEG
- Trial version: No
- OS: Web app, optimized for Chrome
- Pricing model: AppSumo Lifetime Deal: $49 forever [limited time]
Potential downsides: Focus on digital social media graphic creation, limited layout sizes
2. Affinity Designer
![Software Software](/uploads/1/1/9/5/119528230/199714905.png)
Built and continuously improved as Serif’s pièce de résistance, Affinity Designer is designed to be intuitive for the experienced Adobe user. With one of the most comprehensive vector design toolsets on this list, plus raster finishing, Affinity Designer might be the alternative you’re looking for.
With full compatibility with Adobe’s Suite, Affinity Designer supports standards: 10-bit, CMYK, CIELAB, and Pantone. Affinity Designer has some capabilities similar to Photoshop, like bitmap functions. Users like that the program is not too heavy and doesn’t take up too much RAM.
- Files: PSD, AI, PDF, SVG, JPG, TIFF, EXR
- Free trial: Yes (for Mac and Windows)
- OS: Mac, PC, iPad
- Pricing: One-time price of $49.99, free and frequent updates (only $19.99 on iPad)
Potential downsides: Relatively newer product, awaiting more advanced editing features that Illustrator has, lack of educational and how-to resources
3. CorelDRAW
Compatible with other tools in the Corel graphic suite including Photo-Paint, a Photoshop competitor, CorelDRAW gives you a robust set of vector illustration tools. Get vectors ready for print fast and easy, edit multi-page documents, convert bitmap to vector non-destructively, and generate QR codes.
Check out the LiveSketch feature on touch-enabled devices to turn sketching into precise vector graphics. CorelDRAW is the go-to software for many printing industries in certain parts of the world.
- Files: Download to AI, PSD, PDF, JPG, PNG, SVG, DWG, DXF, EPS, TIFF + more
- Free trial: Yes
- OS: Windows and Mac (and tablet-compatible app)
- Pricing: Buy a full license for $669 or get an annual subscription for $198
Potential downsides: Very large application size, fairly expensive, fewer updates
4. Sketch
Built for UI design, prototyping, and wireframing, Sketch also gives users powerful vector graphics editing abilities. Users report that it is fairly easy to use and has strong organizational/breadcrumb features. Plus, Sketch has a diverse suite of educational resources.
- Files: PNG, JPG, TIFF, WebP, SVG, EPS, SVG code, PDF. AI and PSD files are upload-only, giving you a flattened layer.
- Free trial: Yes
- OS: Mac
- Pricing: $100 per year to renew license
Potential downsides: Reliance on third-party plugins and integrations (may be good or bad), focus on UX/UI and prototyping
(For a free Sketch alternative for Windows, check outLunacyfrom icons8.)
5. Figma
As a collaborative wireframing and UI design tool, Figma isn’t a direct Adobe competitor, but its collaborative, web app-based approach might be worth your consideration. Share files with links, instead of exporting each time you need another pair of eyes on your work.
Speaking of collaboration, Figma might be most well-known for offering real-time teamwork-friendly possibilities. This Adobe Illustrator alternative is focused in on design made for the web, so its tools for pure vector graphic creation are more basic. But you’ve still got your pen tool, vector networks, and smart components.
- Files: Export to PNG, JPG, SVG, or PDF. Import .sketch, PNG, JPG, GIF or Figma Files (.fig)
- Free trial: Sort of? It is free up to 2 editors and 3 projects
- OS: Windows, Linux, Mac, and Chrome
- Pricing: Free up to 2 editors and 3 projects, $12-45 per editor per month after that
Potential downsides: Not a pure vector graphics editor, not touchscreen compatible, reliance on plugins, focus on UX/UI and prototyping
6. Snappa
Snappa is great for creating professional marketing designs in that made-for-social-media style. Its UI is a lot simpler and more lightweight compared to Adobe – of course, that comes with many relative limitations as well. Users seem to like its easy graphic resizing feature and library of visual assets. As part of the Stocksnap.io family, you also get access to tons of pre-licensed, free stock images.
- Files: Download to JPG or PNG
- Free trial: Free up to 5 saved/downloaded designs per month
- OS: Web app
- Pricing: $10-$15 per month or $120 annually
Potential downsides: Focus on digital social media graphic creation, limited file export options
7. Canva
Many people who use Illustrator or Sketch rely on tools like Canva when they need to create graphics quickly. Canva is extremely versatile, and while it doesn’t have the same deep vector editing features as Illustrator, the tool boasts an impressive range of assets, vector icons, templates, and ready-made design solutions.
- Files: Upload SVG, PNG, or JPEG. Download to JPG, PNG, PDF, Powerpoint, GIF, or MP4.
- Free trial: Yes
- OS: Web app
- Pricing: $12.95 per month or $119.40 annually
Potential downsides: Limited export options, users dislike the feeling of being nickeled and dimed for +$1 additional assets.)
[Looking for Canva alternatives? We’ve written about 9 different options.]
I am creating an Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook for both Windows & Mac. One platform on the Mac I want it to run on is Excel 2011. My workbook uses a custom Ribbon tab. Sometimes, depending on what the user does, I want the text of the ribbon buttons to change. So I have code that does this. I know that a custom Ribbon tab is not possible in. You can access the VBA environment in Excel 2011 for Mac by opening the Visual Basic editor. First, be sure that the Developer tab is visible in the toolbar in Excel. The Developer tab is the toolbar that has the buttons to open the VBA editor and create Form Controls like buttons, checkboxes, etc. Build an interactive worksheet in Excel 2011 Microsoft Office brings support for Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros back to the Mac. But if you haven’t used VBA before, you might be. The first option on the View menu of the Office 2011 for Mac Visual Basic Editor (VBE) is the Code option, which is grayed out until you make at least one Code window visible in the VBE. A common way to open a new code window is to use Insert→Module. A module is like a new word processing document window — it’s blank. Vba for excel mac 2011. In Excel 2011 for Mac, the Project Explorer is a window that can be accessed from the Visual Basic editor. It is a hierarchical listing of the objects recognized by VBA. In this example, there are four Excel objects which represent each sheet and workbook in your Excel file.
8. Artboard
Built by the team at Mapdiva, Artboard is a Mac app with surprisingly smart vector editing capabilities. With tons of drawing tools, timesaving workflows, layers, and boolean tools, Artboard is a simplified Illustrator alternative for quick design turnaround.
- Files: Import JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIF, PDF, and SVG. Export to PNG, TIF, JPEG, and fully scalable PDFs.
- Free trial: Yes
- OS: Mac
- Pricing: Starts at $39.99 for a single user license
Potential downsides: User complaints about the lack of a pathfinder tool, struggle to edit text
9. Vector Creator
From the team at Icons8: meet Vector Creator. This tool is uniquely focused on creating those soft people illustrations you see all over SaaS websites.
- Files: Import in SVG, PNG, and JPEG. Export to PNG or editable .SVG with Icons8 license (Pro features include SVG export and attribution removal)
- Free trial: Free version
- OS: Web app
- Pricing: Free or $19.90 per month for Vector Creator Pro (plus all of Icons8)
Potential downsides: Newer tool, basic features, lacks file export options
10. Boxy SVG
Graphic Design Software For Mac Os
Using SVG as its native document format, Boxy SVG was made just for scalable vector graphics. This tool is available across operating systems and devices.
- Files: Upload PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, PDF and AI files. Download to PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP and HTML. Plus .pdf for Windows and macOS apps
- Free trial: Not really
- OS: MacOS, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, web app
- Pricing: $9 or $9.99 per month depending on the version, free for Linux
Potential downsides: Dated UI, super focused on vector editing (SVGs) so missing some broader graphic design features
11. Graphic
Graphic started as a vector drawing iPad app, but it’s since moved to iPhone and Mac OS X as well. This vector software also gives you tools like layers, editable brush strokes, and UI creation elements.
- Files: Import and export SVG, PDF, and PSD
- Free trial: No
- OS: iPad, iPhone, MacOS only
- Pricing: Mac App Store for only $29.99
Potential downsides: Originating from iPad, this tool has a different feel from native web or desktop apps (may be a good or bad thing)
Free Adobe Illustrator Alternatives:
12. Gravit Designer
Gravit Designer is a free vector graphic design app geared toward professional designers. Choose from a wide library of shapes, illustrations, etc., and export infinitely scalable vector graphics. The paid PRO version has even more vector graphic features, including cloud file syncing and offline mode, as well as way more file import/export options.
- Files: Export to PNG, JPG, PDF, and SVG. With PRO: Import PDF, EPS, SVG, AI, and .sketch
- Free trial: Full free version. Free trial of PRO.
- OS: Any desktop (Mac OS, Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS)
- Pricing: Free. Get PRO for $49.99 per year
Potential downsides: Doesn’t support graphics tablets, some users complain that it can take up a lot of RAM, missing some key features under the hood like snap to grid functions
13. Inkscape
Free, open-source, and impressive, Inkscape gives you flexible drawing tools, embedded bitmaps, transformations, gradient editor, node editing, boolean operations. Sure, the UI is a bit dated. But with Inkscape, you can design, edit, draw in 2D, easily convert bitmap images into vectors, and create compliant SVG files.
- Files: Import/export: SVG, PNG, OpenDocument Drawing, DXF, sk1, PDF, EPS, + more
- OS: Windows, Mac OS X and GNU/Linux
- Pricing: It’s free
Potential downsides: Interface can be overwhelming, can lag or crash when working with super high-res files, no preview features for the visualization of filters and effects
14. Vectornator
Starting as an iPad app, Vectornator is a pretty interesting free choice with some more advanced vector editing tools like boolean operations, grouping, pen tool, anchoring, and masking capabilities. Plus, this will be a tool to watch, since real-time collaboration is coming soon.
- Files: AI, SVG and PDF
- OS: iPad, iOS, MacOS only
- Pricing: It’s free
Potential downsides: It’s really new and it remains to be seen how all the features will develop and mature.
15. Design Wizard
Design Wizard gives you the freedom to create great videos and images easily. The resize feature is a standout here, and allows you to quickly resize images on the free plan. Design Wizard holds over 1 million premium images and thousands of high-quality videos. And every video and image has also been licensed for commercial use!
Files: Upload SVG, PNG, JPEG or MP4. Download to JPG, PNG, PDF, SVG, M-JPEG, MP4
Free trial: Yes
OS: Web app
Graphic Design On Mac
Pricing: $9.99 per month for Pro or $49.99 per month for Business
Graphic Design Mac Free
Potential downsides: No print or music integrations as of yet!
Here are more free alternatives to Adobe Illustrator that you may want to check out:
- Vectr – free vector graphics software
- GIMP – free, not for Macs
Free Graphic Design Software For Mac Os X
Free vector-editing adjacent tools:
- Vecteezy (Vector images with an editor)
- Vector Magic (convert files with an editor)
Graphic Design Software For Mac
You can also check out our list of discounted graphic design tools to help you create without breaking the bank.
Graphic Design Programs Mac
Good luck! We hope you find an Adobe Illustrator alternative that you love — a tool that can scale with you! Comment below letting us know which tool is your favorite to work with!