Breaking the Mold: The Cost-Effective Route to Professional Graphic Design
2023.11.13
Design is intertwined into our daily life. It is all around us, from advertisements posted on billboards along the highway to the beer cans at your local craft brewery it’s there enriching our lives through visuals.
More likely than not most of the designs you encounter were made using Adobe’s line of creative software which has cemented itself as the industry standard tool for creatives covering almost every creative need since the early 2000s.
If you want to be seen as a professional by your peers or you want to work with a team of other professional designers you do in fact need to know how to use Adobe’s software. So yes if you want to be seen as a competent creative you must know Adobe. When collaborating with other professionals you want to be using the same tools for seamless workflow.
Because of their strong hold on the creative industry, it can be easy to convince yourself that you must buy the creative cloud subscription for your own, even when you financially can not afford to do so for your personal use in order to succeed or to be a professional, but that is not always the case.
Adobe products are fantastic and under the right circumstances they are your best bet but they aren’t the only solution to solving a problem. When working alone or creating for yourself you often have more flexibility in your choice of tools.
Amateurs Blame Their Tools. Professionals Deliver Results
Despite the popularity of Adobe software, a subscription model is not always the best option for the end user. There are quality software options that are more cost-effective available on the market that can help one become a professional graphic designer.
One such software is Corel. Corel has earned a reputation as a solid choice for design software and it’s name is recognized amongst professionals since it is occasionally found in use at businesses across various industries and disciplines. As of the writing of this article, Corel offers two options to creators: a monthly subscription or a one-time purchase. Although Corel offers a subscription model that can cost more in the long run than saving and purchasing once, the advantage of their subscription is that it costs less than an Adobe Creative Cloud Subscription. Therefore, if you are someone who prefers a subscription model to keep your software up to date with the latest and greatest new features, this might be a more financially attainable solution.
Another excellent choice and my personal favorite is the Affinity by Serif Suite. Based in Nottingham UK, Affinity is a lesser-known and newer competitor to Adobe and Corel available on the market. The second edition of their software launched in the Fall of 2022 and offer stand-alone purchases or each of their desktop software or apps or a universal license for all three software plus the apps for a one time cost with periodic updates at least until version three is released somewhere down the line.
Both Corel and Affinity can deliver professional results and one of them may be a good choice for you to access design software to keep creating those passion projects when you aren’t on the clock especially if Adobe’s cost is just too far out of reach for you at this time. The tools aren’t what makes you a professional, rather it is the results you can deliver that make you a pro or not.
Adobe is Still King...For Now
Adobe may be the top dog of design software right now but before Adobe was the standard QuarkXPress was the king of design software holding approximately 95% of the market share in the 1990s. It’s not outlandish to expect someone someday will come along and knock Adobe off their throne but we are still a long way from that day and Adobe is here to stay for the foreseeable future.
For now embrace cost-effective design tools if you need them or simply enjoy learning and trying new things. You might find a new favorite software that helps you be more creative.
