Apr 09, 2020  The Best Graphic Design Software for 2020. Whether you are a professional graphic designer or just want to dive into high-end design, this the graphic design software you need to master. Windows Phone apps; Software for Mac; Business Software; Software support; Games & Entertainment. Xbox consoles. Top free apps. Top free; Apps; PC; Multimedia design. There are 906 reviews 906. Free + Lunacy - Graphic Design Editor, Sketch for Windows. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars. There are 1414 reviews 1K.

• Free Apps To Create Graphics

Apps For Graphic Design. If there is one industry in particular that continues to benefit from ongoing software refinement its graphic design. Progress in this industry tends to well up from the user base as much as it trickles down from the programmers with the result being a continuous chain of upgrades, add-ons and entirely new graphic design apps for Android and iOS hitting the market on. Feb 17, 2020 Best iMac for Graphic Designers iMore 2020 When it comes to graphic design, you're going to want a powerful computer that can handle pretty much anything you throw at it. And for the creative community, which involves graphic design, music creation, writing, photo editing, and more, you just can't go wrong with a Mac.

BestiMac for Graphic DesignersiMore2020

When it comes to graphic design, you want a powerful machine that would be able to handle anything you throw at it in terms of visuals. And graphic design is part of the creative community, which includes graphic design, along with other industries like music creation, writing, photo and video editing, and so much more. Macs are the computers of choice for the creative community, and we think the 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K Display is the best option for serious graphic designers. That's because you get the best possible screen, great specs, and all for a reasonable price.

Top 15 Free Mac Apps for Graphic Designers About the author: This guest article was written by Emma Best from Laptopical - a guide to the latest laptop reviews and laptop related news. You can also follow her on Twitter.

Best Overall: 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina Display

If you're looking for an iMac for graphic design, then you're going to want one with a stunning display to see all of your graphical work. With this iMac, you get a huge 27-inch Retina 5K display, which supports 500 nits of brightness and has a substantial 5120-by-2880 screen resolution with support for one billion colors and wide color. You also get high graphics with a Radeon Pro 570X 4GB video card for the base model, 575X 4GB for the middle tier, and 580X with 8GB for the high-end model. The high-end model is also configurable to Radeon Pro Vega 48 with 8GB of memory if you need it.

The 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina Display has a 3.0GHz 6-core Intel i5 processor with Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz, 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB Fusion Drive. If the base stats aren't enough for you, the machine can always be configured for more memory or storage (including SSD), but the middle and high-end offerings offer more power and can also be configured.

Even though the iMac was last updated in March 2019, it's still a very capable machine that is perfect for graphic design work and more.

Pros:

• Large 27-inch Retina 5K Display
• Three base models to choose from
• Reasonably priced for what you get

Cons:

• Different configurations can be pricey
• Only starts with 8GB of RAM
• New model could be coming very soon

Best Overall

27-inch iMac with 5K Retina Display

Get the most bang for your buck

The 27-inch iMac comes with a gorgeous 5K Retina display and has three base models that are configurable for your needs.

Best Entry Level: 21.5-inch iMac with 4K Retina Display

The iMac with 4K Retina display is less money than the 27-inch, and the 4K display should be good enough for a lot of graphic design work. However, you will need to keep in mind that the 4K Retina display is only available in the 21.5-inch size, which is slightly disappointing. Still, the 4K display has a nice 4096-by-2304 resolution with support for one billion colors, and it also has 500 nits of brightness and wide color.

The base model for the 4K iMac starts with a 3.6GHz quad-core Intel i3 processor that's configurable to 3.6GHz 6-core Intel Core i7 with Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz. You also start with 8GB of RAM (configurable up to 16GB or 32GB), 1TB hard drive (configurable to 1TB Fusion Drive or 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSD), and Radeon Pro 555X with 2GB memory. You can get the higher level 4K iMac if you need a boost in processor power or video card.

Pros:

• Affordable price
• Beautiful 4k Retina display
• Less than the 5K iMac
• Two base choices that can be configured

Cons:

• Only comes in 21.5-inch size
• Starts with only 8GB of RAM
• New model could be coming soon

Best Entry Level

21.5-inch iMac with 4K Retina Display

A great middle ground

The 4K Retina Display still looks fantastic and is highly affordable. It doesn't come in a 27-inch size, though.

Source: iMore

If you're on a budget and just need an iMac for the basics, then the Non-Retina 21.5-inch iMac is a good option to consider. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a 4K or 5K Retina Display, but it has a decent 1920-by-1080 resolution, which should suffice for basic graphic design.

On the inside, the Non-Retina 21.5-inch iMac has a 2.3GHz dual-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz. It starts with 8GB of RAM that you can configure up to 16GB, a 1TB hard drive that can be configured to a 1TB Fusion Drive or 256GB SSD, and Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640.

Pros:

• The least expensive iMac
• Good for basic graphic design

Cons:

• Hasn't been updated since 2017
• No 4K or 5K Retina Display

Best Value

21.5-inch iMac (Non-Retina)

The most affordable option

This is the cheapest iMac, but its 21.5-inch display is Non-Retina. But it should still be enough for basic graphic design.

Source: Craig A. Hunter

If the 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina Display doesn't offer enough power for you, then you may want to consider the beastly iMac Pro. That is if you can afford it — this thing isn't cheap!

With the iMac Pro, you get a 27-inch 5K Retina Display, but it has an 8-core 3.2GHz Intel Zeon W processor with Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz with a 19MB cache. You can configure it up to 18-cores if you really need it, but that's going to cost you a pretty penny. It also starts with Radeon Pro Vega 56 graphics card with 8GB memory that you can also configure up to Radeon Vega 64X with 16GB of memory. The base RAM in the iMac Pro is 32GB, but you can go all the way to 256GB RAM if you want to. And it comes with a 1TB SSD, configurable up to 4TB.

It may be more than what most people need, but if you need a serious machine to handle tons of rendering and other graphic-intensive tasks, the iMac Pro will do nicely.

Pros:

• Packs in a ton of power
• 27-inch 5K Retina Display
• Comes in Space Gray color

Cons:

• Very expensive
• Not for most people
• Hasn't been updated since 2017

Best Power

iMac Pro

More power!

The iMac Pro has enough power to handle pretty much anything. And it's the only iMac to come in Space Gray. But it'll cost you.

Design characters that can move, dance, draw, and interact. Kids (and parents) can dive into programming with this easy-to-use app. Control your project by tapping, tilting, shaking, and even shouting at your tablet. Follow simple videos to learn to create fun games like 'Food Fight Dodgeball' and more.

Source: Rene Ritchie / iMore

For those who need a Mac for graphic design, but want it to be portable, then we recommend taking a look at the 16-inch MacBook Pro. The 16-inch display has 3072-by-1920 native resolution at 226 pixels per inch with support for millions of colors, 500 nits of brightness, wide color and True Tone, making it perfect for graphic design.

Not only does the display look great, but you get power too. The base model 16-inch MacBook Pro gives you a 2.6GHz 6-core Intel Core i7 with Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz, and you can even upgrade it to 8-cores with a more powerful processor if need be. It also starts with a 512GB SSD that can go all the way up to 8TB, 16GB of RAM that's configurable up to 64GB, and you get AMD Radeon Pro 5300M 4GB graphics card that can also be upgraded if desired.

If you want a serious portable machine for graphic design, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is the one to look into.

Pros:

• Portable power
• 16-inch display is gorgeous
• Configurable to suit your needs

Best Portability

16-inch MacBook Pro

Portable power

It's no iMac, but the 16-inch MacBook Pro packs in a ton of power with a gorgeous display, and you can take it anywhere.

Bottom line

The 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina Display is the best iMac for graphic designers. With the large 27-inch screen and stunning 5K Retina display that it's capable of, you're getting the most capable machine for graphic design work at a reasonable price. Plus, it has three base configurations for you to customize if need be, so you can create the 5K iMac of your dreams.

And while we seem to be due for a refreshed iMac lineup, the 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina Display was only released in March 2019, so it's still a very powerful machine. Even if you buy it now, it should run flawlessly. United airline app on mac.

Credits — The team that worked on this guide

Christine Romero-Chan has been using Macs for a little over a decade now. She has a strong understanding of what each Mac is capable of and their purpose and can give anyone a good recommendation. You can find her and various musings on Twitter, or check out her photography on Instagram.

Rene Ritchie Rene Ritchie has been covering the personal technology industry for a decade. An outspoken analyst and critic, he writes at iMore.com/vector, podcasts at applepodcasts.com/vector, and you can find his show at youtube.com/vector. Follow him @reneritchie on Twitter and Instagram.

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Don't like Apple's Magic Keyboard? Try these alternatives

Do you like the look of Apples Magic Keyboard but want something a little different? There are alternatives.

In this post we have gathered 28 free Mac apps for graphic and web designers. Here they are:

GIMP

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a freely distributed piece of software suitable for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring. It is a powerful piece of software with capabilities not found in any other free software product. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert-quality photo-retouching program, an online batch-processing system, a mass production image renderer, or an image-format converter. GIMP is modular, expandable, and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image-manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.
Overview and Download:GIMP Homepage.

Scribus

Scribus is an open-source program that brings award-winning professional page layout to Linux/Unix, MacOS X, OS/2 and Windows desktops with a combination of “press-ready” output and new approaches to page layout.Underneath the modern and user friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation.
Overview:Scribus Homepage.
Download:Scribus Download Page.

JAlbum

JAlbum allows you to create nice-looking photo galleries for the Web. You simply select or drag and drop folders containing images or movie files onto JAlbum, and it creates thumbnails and HTML pages to publish your images as a gallery or as a picture slide show. The galleries are based on various templates, and their appearance can be further customized by advanced users. The application’s additional features include support for IPTC/EXIF data, style sheets, lossless image manipulation, pluggable image filters, and a built-in FTP/SFTP client.
Overview:JAlbum Homepage.
Download:JAlbum Download Page.

Paparazzi

Paparazzi! is a small utility for Mac OS X that makes screenshots of webpages.It’s written in Objective-C using the Cocoa API and the WebKit framework.
Overview:Paparazzi Homepage.
Download: Paparazzi Download Page.

Google SketchUp

Developed for the conceptual stages of design, SketchUp is powerful yet easy-to-learn 3D software. We think of it as “the pencil of digital design”. This award-winning product combines a simple yet robust tool set that streamlines and simplifies 3D design. SketchUp is used by professionals and consumers alike. It contains a unique interface that allows 3D forms to be created, viewed, and modified quickly and easily. The core of its simplicity is that you draw the edges of the desired model in 3D space, just as you would using a pencil and paper. SketchUp infers your design intent and automatically determines the nature of the lines and fill shapes to create 3D geometry.
Overview:Google SketchUp Homepage.
Download:Google SketchUp Download Page.

Linotype Explorer

Linotype Explorer is a great font management application for the Mac. You can use it to both install, manage and “test” fonts.
Overview:Linotype Explorer Homepage.
Download:Linotype Explorer Download Page.

FotoFlexer

FotoFlexer is the world’s most advanced online image editor. Completely free access to hundreds of fun and powerful features. Includes photo effects, graphics, shapes, seam carving, morphing and collages. Integrates with Facebook, MySpace, Photobucket, Flickr, and Google.
Overview: FotoFlexer Homepage.

Seashore

Based on Gimp, but doesn’t require X11.
Overview:Seashore Explorer Homepage.

Xee

Fast image viewer and image browser.
Download:XEE Download Page.

Lego Digital Designer

Lego Digital Designer, also known as LDD. With the free Digital Designer software you can build absolutely anything with virtual Lego bricks right on your computer. Then you can buy the real bricks to build your creation online in Lego Factory, or you can print out an inventory of bricks and take it to any Legoland theme park or LEGO Store. The latest version of LDD is 1.5 This version has increased stability and fixes a number of small bugs from version 1.4.
New in Version 2: Improved building experience, quicker brick selection, easier to connect bricks when building, new brick palette tool, more bricks, partly built models for easy start, new backgrounds, new UI, and more.
Overview: Lego Digital Designer Homepage.
Download: Lego Digital Designer Download Page.

Colorate

Colorate is a utility for creation of harmonized color palettes and color schemes, aimed from hobbyist to professional designers.Colorate fully automatizes the palette generation from a particular color swatch, selected from the standard Color Panel, dragged from other application or obtained from an image through the integrated Image Analyze feature.Once the palette has been generated, it is possible to add the new palette to the Library. Colorate can save and open as many Libraries as needed. Colorate also lets save the selected palettes as standard “.clr” system palette files. This feature allows use any of the generated palettes from hundreds of application that uses the Mac OS X standard Color Panel for color selection.
Overview: Colorate Homepage.
Download: Colorate Designer Download Page.

Front End Digital Media WorkShop

Front End Digital Media Workshop harnesses the power of QuickTime to bring you powerful batch based conversion of sound, video, and image files. Resize, resample, join, split, trim, basic edits, selective conversions via marked I/O points are some of the tools. All in an environment that provides powerful play back features including variable speed, slow motion, full screen playback and video to image frame capture. Batch lists can be saved and also used as play lists. Some of the dozens of supported formats include: MP4, MOV, AIFF, 3GP, 3GP2, WAV, AU, AVI (basic codecs), JPEG, PICT, PNG, PSD, BMP, and TIFF. QuickTime video filters and effects are also available.
Overview:Front End Digital Media WorkShop Homepage.
Download:Front End Digital Media WorkShop Download Page.

Autodesk Maya

Maya Personal Learning Edition (PLE) is a special version of Autodesk Maya software, which provides free access to Maya for non-commercial use. It gives 3D graphics and animation students, industry professionals, and those interested in breaking into the world of computer graphics an opportunity to explore most aspects of the Autodesk Maya Complete software in a non-commercial capacity.
Overview: Autodesk Maya Homepage.
Download: Autodesk Maya Download Page.

Graphisoft ArchiCAD

Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD 11 delivers new and enriched capabilities designed to help architects develop their concepts, compete for business more effectively and boost business efficiency. The enhancements reinforce ArchiCAD as an extraordinarily powerful design tool for architectural practices – large and small – worldwide.
Overview:Graphisoft ArchiCAD Homepage.
Download: Graphisoft ArchiCAD Download Page.

Simple CSS

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a way to specify the styles of fonts and other page elements on your sites. It makes it easier for you to update styles too, because when done right, you only need to make a single change to update the styles on multiple pages and elements. Another bonus is that your visitor’s browser needs to load less data per page, helping you reduce your data transfer usage while serving the same information. That means you’ll be able to accommodate more site visitors without having to spend more on data transfer. Your pages will also load faster. To help you work with CSS, we’ve created a tool called Simple CSS, which runs on Macs, Windows and Linux. Simple CSS allows you to create cascading style sheets from scratch, and/or modify existing ones, using a familiar point-and-click interface.
Overview:Simple CSS Homepage.
Download:Simple CSS Download Page.

Free Apps To Create Graphics

Blender

Blender is the open-source software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback. It is available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License. Version 2.44 offers numerous bug fixes. Version 2.46 includes cloth and fur simulation, physics caching and baking, shading, glossy reflection and refraction, raytraced soft shadows, improved rendering features, and more.
Overview:Blender Homepage.
Download:Blender Download Page.

HyperEngine-AV

HyperEngine-AV is a true multimedia editor that lets you combine seamlessly video, photos, sounds and text to create slide shows, family movies, business presentations, or your own feature films quickly and easily, with full DV quality.Media clips can be dragged and dropped, imported or captured in real time from a FireWire DV camera, then freely arranged in the workspace to make movies. Real-time, editable transitions are automatically created when video clips are dragged on top of each other and over a dozen video effects are available and can be applied to any video clip.Audio clips can be edited, arranged, stacked, and processed to generate stunning soundtracks. There is no track limit because . . . there are no tracks! With HyperEngine-AV there is simply no learning curve, you learn as you go, and you can get all the fun of creating any multimedia pieces without the hassle of dealing with tedious and counter-intuitive software interface.
Overview and Download:HyperEngine-AV Homepage.

POV-Ray

POV-Ray is a three-dimensional ray-tracing engine. It takes information you supply and simulates the way light interacts with the objects you’ve defined, creating stunning 3D pictures and animation
Overview:POV-Ray Homepage.
Download:POV-Ray Download Page.

Gnuplot

Gnuplot is a portable command-line driven interactive data and function plotting utility for UNIX, IBM OS/2, MS Windows, DOS, Macintosh, VMS, Atari and many other platforms. It was originally intended as to allow scientists and students to visualize mathematical functions and data. It does this job pretty well, but has grown to support many non-interactive uses, including web scripting and integration as a plotting engine for third-party applications like Octave. Gnuplot supports many different types of terminals: interactive screen terminals (with mouse and hotkey functionality), pen plotters (like hpgl), printers (including postscript and many color devices), and printings to output file as vectorial pseudo-devices like LaTeX, metafont, pdf, svg, or bitmap png. Gnuplot is easily extensible to include new devices.
Overview:Gnuplot Homepage.
Download:Gnuplot Download Page.

DAZ Studio

DAZ Studio is a feature rich 3D figure posing and animation tool that enables users of any skill level to easily create stunning digital imagery. Whether youre a 3D newbie or an avid 3D artist, you’ll find DAZ Studio is the perfect tool for designing unique digital art and animation with virtual people, animals, props, vehicles, backgrounds and more. Experience total creative freedom with DAZ Studio and express yourself in 3D like never before. Version 2.2.2.20 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.
Overview:DAZ Studio Homepage.
Download: DAZ Studio Download Page.

Bryce

Create breathtaking realistic 3D landscapes and animations with DAZ 3D Bryce 5.5. The easy user interface simplifies the design process for a novice or the seasoned professional. Start out building or importing a landscape as impressive as the Grand Canyon. Populate it with buildings, people or any other object you create or from the extensive DAZ 3D library. The Light Lab provides you robust control over your sunsets, moonlight nights or high-noon ambiance. Tree Lab allows you to plant your landscape like the gardens of Versailles. You’ll have to register your copy of Bryce 5.5 on the publishers web-site to gain access to your free Bryce serial number.
Overview and Download:Bryce Homepage.

Goldberg

Goldberg is a freeware image and movie viewer with image-editing capabilities and support for applying QuickTime and other effects.and its new version affering rotation capabilities, free zooming, and undo support.
Overview and Download:Goldberg Homepage.

Image Tricks

Image Tricks is an image editing application that allows you to easily edit and apply various effects and filters to your photos and images. This program allows modification of around 50 core image effects and filters, import over 20 image formats (TIFF, JPEG, GIF, PDF, EPS among them), export to TIFF, JPEG, PNG, and GIF formats, resize images, and iPhoto integration.
Overview and Download: Image Tricks Homepage.

Inkscape

Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Supported SVG features include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping. Inkscape also supports Creative Commons meta-data, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text-on-path, flowed text, direct XML editing, and more. It imports formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and others and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats. Inkscape’s main goal is to create a powerful and convenient drawing tool fully compliant with XML, SVG, and CSS standards. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development process, and by making sure Inkcape is easy to learn, to use, and to extend.
Overview:Inkscape Homepage.
Download:Inkscape Download Page.

NIH Image

NIH Image can acquire, display, edit, enhance, analyze, and animate images. It reads and writes TIFF, PICT, PICS, and MacPaint files, providing compatibility with many applications, including programs for scanning, processing, editing, publishing, and analyzing images. NIH Image supports many standard image-processing functions, such as contrast enhancement, density profiling, smoothing, sharpening, edge detection, median filtering, and spatial convolution with user-defined kernels. NIH Image can be used to measure area, mean, centroid, and perimeter. It also performs automated particle analysis and provides tools for measuring path lengths and angles. Spatial calibration is supported to provide real-world area and length measurements. Version 1.62 fixes bugs and improves compatibility with PowerPC machines.
Overview:NIH Image Homepage.
Download:NIH Image Download Page.

Comipro Plus

Comipro Plus is a cartoon production software. You can produce the cartoon work with the kind of feeling which compiles the document with the word processor as the material using the picture and the photograph. Version 4.0.20 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.
Overview:Comipro Plus Homepage.

Scratch

Designed for children, this freeware multimedia programming tool makes creating animated stories, video games and interactive artwork a snap. Scratch uses a simple graphical interface that lets users put together multimedia programs without any programming knowledge.
Overview:Scratch Homepage.
Download:Scratch Download Page.

iPhoto

Whether you have twenty or twenty thousand digital photos, iPhoto 4 keeps track of them all, automatically organizing them so you can find them fast. Lightning fast. Easy to use, iPhoto puts you in charge of your photographs-helping you import them, organize them into albums, enhance their appearance, as well as, share them in print, via email, over the web and in stunning coffee-table books.
This update addresses several issues with using multiple text rules in Smart Albums and it also eliminates some problems with creating iPhoto books in the German and Dutch languages. Additionally, 4.0.3 keeps users informed about new version of iPhoto that have become available.
Overview and Download:iPhoto Homepage.

Well thats it, I hope I haven’t missed any. (Let me know if I have).