Graphic Design Programs & Trainings
The right tool for the right job
Photography and Raster Images
Adobe Photoshop - A versatile raster graphics editor used for photo editing, digital painting, and graphic design, known for its extensive selection of photo editing and manipulation tools, including layers, masks, filters, and effects.
GIMP - A free and open-source alternative to Adobe Photoshop used for image retouching, editing, and drawing raster images.
Adobe Lightroom is a photo editing and management software used by photographers. It is known for its non-destructive editing capability and its organization features, including keywording, tagging, and rating.
Vector Illustration
Adobe Illustrator - A vector graphics editor for creating logos, icons, drawings, typography, and complex illustrations. It features drawing tools and supports gradients and patterns.
Inkscape is a free, open-source vector drawing software alternative to Illustrator.
CorelDRAW - A vector graphics editor for Windows known for its powerful illustration, layout, and photo-editing tools.
Affinity Designer - A vector graphics editor available for macOS, Windows, and iPad, offering a range of tools for illustration, UI design, and typography.
Documents
Adobe InDesign - A desktop publishing software for designing print and digital media layouts, including posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers, presentations, and ebooks. InDesign is known for its ability to create multi-page documents, layout tools, typography controls, and support for images and graphics.
Adobe Acrobat - Create, edit, and sign pdf.
Word - The original document editor is still the most used. Word is not the easiest to use and sometimes seems to have a mind of it's own, but many firms still use it for Cover Letters and Documents.
Social Media and Quick Graphics
Canva - Online platform and app best used to create various visual content, including social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents, and other visual content. Canva has thousands of customizable templates, stock photos, and graphics. Compared to other programs, customization is limited, so Canva is best suited for simple design projects like social media graphics, presentations, and posters. It may not be the best choice for more complex design projects or professional print materials. (The free version is limited; the Pro version is about $120/yr)
Adobe Express - Online platform and app best used for quick graphics like social media graphics, posters, flyers, animations, and short videos. Adobe Express has a vast library of free stock photos, icons, and fonts to work with and integrates with other Adobe Creative Cloud programs. (Pricing is ever-changing)
Presentations
PowerPoint—Microsoft’s PowerPoint is the standard for slide presentations, and frankly, it’s pretty awesome. It's easy to use and powerful.
Google Slides—The best part about Google Slides is how easy it is for multiple users to collaborate across multiple devices and platforms. Many presentations are multi-firm endeavors, so quick-and-easy collaboration is ideal.
Canva - Canva’s online slide templates are improving, and if you already have your brand’s guidelines in Canva, making presentations there makes sense.
Visual Data
Piktochart - Create infographics, charts, maps, etc... online. AI-generated tools.
Power BI is Microsoft's easy-to-use data visualization tool, which works well with multiple programs and is great for research, analytics, and large data outputs.
Tableau - Probably the most powerful data visualization tool out there. Great for research, analytics, and large data outputs.
Venngage - Create infographics and icons online. Great templates and easy to use.
Online Training
Subscriptions
Skillshare - Offers thousands of classes in design, illustration, typography, and more. Costs about $29/month.
LinkedIn Learning - A wide range of design courses taught by graphic design professionals. Costs about $29.99/month.
Udemy - Lots of comprehensive graphic design courses (Courses are $150 each, $21.00/month)
Cheaper Alternatives
Adobe MAX Online - Offers focused sessions and workshops on components of Adobe Programs. You can find recordings of these sessions on the Adobe MAX website.
Domestika - Allows you to pay by course (Courses around $5-$9 each). Some of the courses are translated from Spanish, but have easy-to-follow translations.
YouTube - A great place to look up quick how-to’s for specific actions in programs. There are numerous free InDesign tutorials available on YouTube. Some channels to check out include "Terry White" and "Bring Your Own Laptop".
Our Training Recommendation
We highly recommend that marketers learn InDesign - not only for their firms but also for working with others’ templates. Here are the highest recommended InDesign courses online:
Skillshare Beginner InDesign Courses: Essentials and More In-Depth Essentials
Udemy Beginner InDesign Course