Graphic designers need good tools to make their ideas come to life. In this guide, we’ll look at 12 great tools that can help you create amazing designs and work better. These tools are important for staying competitive in graphic design. They let you do all kinds of projects well, whether you’ve been designing for years or are just starting out.
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways:
Key Takeaways for Graphic Designers in 2025
- Get a powerful computer: Fast processor, good graphics card, lots of RAM, and SSD storage
- Learn professional design software to do many things
- Use AI tools to work faster
- Try cloud tools to work better with others
- Keep up with new tech like 3D and AR design tools
- Learn UI/UX design – it’s in high demand
- Know some basic coding for web design projects
- Make designs that everyone can use easily
- Be ready to work from home more
- Think about freelancing as more people hire for short-term jobs
1. High-Performance Computers
Graphic designers really need a strong computer. It should be able to run big design programs without slowing down. When picking a computer for design work, look for:
- Fast processors with multiple cores, like Intel Core i7 or i9, or AMD Ryzen 7 or 9
- Good graphics cards from NVIDIA or AMD with at least 4GB VRAM
- At least 16GB of RAM (32GB is even better for big files and running lots of programs)
- SSD storage for quick file access, 512GB or bigger is good
- High-quality screen with accurate colors, like 4K or 5K screens
A good computer helps you work faster and handle big projects. It’s worth spending money on because it lets you do more work and take on harder jobs. Check out our guide on best certifications for remote jobs to learn about boosting your design career and maybe working from anywhere with your great computer setup.
2. Adobe Creative Suite
Adobe Creative Suite is the top choice for professional designers. It has many tools that work well together for different design needs:
- Photoshop: For editing photos, digital painting, and making detailed pictures
- Illustrator: For making logos and drawings that can be any size
- InDesign: For making books, magazines, and other things with many pages
- XD: For designing websites and apps that people can click through
- After Effects: For making moving graphics and special effects
- Premiere Pro: For editing videos professionally
These programs work together, so you can easily move your work between them. This helps keep your designs looking the same across different projects. Adobe also updates these tools often, so you always have the newest features. Learn how to start a t-shirt printing business using Adobe Creative Suite. You can use these pro tools to make cool t-shirt designs.
3. Wacom Tablets
Wacom tablets have changed how designers draw on computers. They feel more natural than using a mouse, which is great for drawing, fixing photos, and doing detailed work. Wacom has different tablets for different needs:
- Wacom Intuos Pro: A pro-level tablet that’s very sensitive and has buttons you can set up
- Wacom Cintiq: Has a screen you can draw on directly
- Wacom One: Good for beginners who want to try digital art
- Wacom MobileStudio Pro: A tablet computer for designers who travel a lot
Using a Wacom tablet can make your digital art look better. The pen feels like a real pencil or brush, so you can control your lines and colors better. These tablets are also comfy to use for a long time, which is good for your hands and back.
4. Procreate
Procreate is a cool app for making art on iPads. It’s easy to use but has lots of pro features. Here’s what’s great about Procreate:
- Easy to learn but has advanced stuff for pros
- You can make your own brushes
- It can record your drawing so you can show others how you made it
- Works well with other design tools
- Has layers like Photoshop for complex drawings
- Special controls that make drawing faster
Procreate is great for drawing ideas anywhere, making detailed pictures, or even working for clients outside your office. It’s almost as good as computer programs. Find out how to start a graphics art business using Procreate and Fiverr. You can make special art for people all over the world.
5. Canva
Canva makes design easy for everyone, from pros to beginners. It’s an online tool with lots of templates and pictures. Canva is great for making:
- Pictures for social media
- Professional presentations
- Posters, flyers, and brochures
- Infographics to show information
- Designs for businesses
- Book covers and inside pages
Canva is great because it’s simple and fast. You can drag and drop things, choose sizes for different social media, and use lots of templates. It’s perfect for quick projects or social media stuff. While it’s not for super complex designs, it’s really useful for many design tasks.
6. Figma
Figma is changing how designers work together. It’s an online tool that lets teams work on designs at the same time. Figma is great for:
- Working with others in real-time on the same file
- Keeping track of changes and making sure designs stay consistent
- Making clickable mockups of websites and apps
- Adding extra features with plugins
- Working on both Mac and Windows computers
- Creating reusable design pieces to keep everything looking the same
Because Figma is online, your work is always saved and you can access it from any computer. This is great for teams working from different places. It also makes it easy to show designs to clients and get feedback. Check out our guide on voice imitation software to add cool voiceovers to your Figma designs, making them even more impressive.
7. Sketch
Sketch is popular with designers who use Mac computers. It’s great for making app interfaces, website layouts, and digital product designs. Here’s what’s good about Sketch:
- It’s easy to use and learn
- You can make precise designs that look good at any size
- It has symbols and styles to keep big projects consistent
- Lots of plugins to add more features
- Good for organizing designs for different screens or pages
- You can make clickable prototypes
Sketch is really good for digital design, especially for making app and website interfaces. It helps keep designs consistent across big projects. Even though it’s only for Mac, lots of other design tools work well with Sketch because it’s so popular.
8. CorelDRAW
CorelDRAW is a big set of design tools that’s been around for a long time. It’s really good for print design and making things for manufacturing. CorelDRAW includes:
- CorelDRAW: For making vector drawings and page layouts
- Corel PHOTO-PAINT: For editing photos and digital painting
- Corel Font Manager: For organizing fonts
- AfterShot: For editing RAW photos
- PowerTRACE: For turning bitmap images into vector drawings
- CAPTURE: For taking screenshots
CorelDRAW is really good for designers who work on print projects, packaging, or technical drawings. It has tools to make sure colors look right when printed and special features for things like making barcodes or big posters.
9. Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer is becoming popular as a cheaper option to Adobe Illustrator. It’s professional software for making vector graphics like illustrations, icons, logos, and app designs. Good things about Affinity Designer include:
- You can zoom in really close to work on tiny details
- It works fast, showing changes right away
- You can switch between vector and raster drawing in the same file
- Lots of effects you can add to your designs
- Good tools for working with text
- It handles colors well, including special Pantone colors
One of the best things about Affinity Designer is that you only have to buy it once, not pay every month like some other software. This makes it great for freelancers or small design teams who want to save money. Even though it’s cheaper, it still has lots of professional features.
10. Blender
Blender is free software that’s usually for 3D modeling and animation, but graphic designers are starting to use it too. Here’s how designers can use Blender:
- Making 3D logos and text effects with cool lighting
- Creating realistic product mockups
- Making 3D illustrations for marketing
- Creating short animated videos
- Making unique textures and backgrounds
- Trying out virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) designs
Blender is harder to learn than regular 2D design software, but knowing how to use it can make your designs stand out. As more people want 3D and moving graphics in designs, knowing Blender becomes more valuable.
11. Adobe After Effects
Adobe After Effects is the top software for making moving graphics and special effects. It’s great for designers who want to add animation to their work. Here’s how designers can use After Effects:
- Making logos and brand designs move
- Creating eye-catching graphics for social media and ads
- Making animated infographics to show data in an interesting way
- Adding special effects to videos
- Designing moving prototypes for apps and websites
- Creating text that moves in cool ways for videos
After Effects works well with other Adobe programs, so it’s easy to use with designs you’ve made in Illustrator or videos from Premiere Pro. Learn how moving graphics can help your t-shirt business stand out by making animated previews of your designs or videos that show off your products in a cool way.
12. Pantone Color Systems
Pantone Color Systems help designers make sure colors look the same everywhere, from computer screens to printed products. Important parts of the Pantone Color System are:
- Pantone Formula Guide: A book of color samples with exact recipes for printing
- Pantone Color Bridge: Shows how Pantone colors look in CMYK printing
- Pantone Solid Chips: Individual color samples to show clients
- Pantone Color Manager Software: A program for using Pantone colors in design software
- Pantone Fashion, Home + Interiors system: Special color guides for fabric and product design
- Pantone Matching System (PMS): A standard way of matching colors used around the world
Using Pantone colors helps make sure your designs look the same no matter where they’re shown or printed. This is really important for brand designs, where colors need to be exactly right. Pantone also helps designers talk about colors clearly with clients and printers, so there are fewer mistakes.
Conclusion
Having the right tools can really help you as a graphic designer. The 12 tools we talked about in this guide can help you do all kinds of design projects well. From powerful computers to special color tools, each of these helps in different ways.
As you grow in your design career, keep learning about new tools and trends. The design world is always changing, with new tech coming out all the time. Try new software, experiment with different ways of working, and push yourself to be more creative.
Keep practicing, stay up to date with what’s new in design, and don’t be afraid to try new things. The best designers are those who can use new tech while still being good at the basics of design. No matter what kind of projects you work on, these tools will help you make great designs.
Check out our article on best certifications for remote jobs to learn more ways to boost your graphic design career and work from anywhere. Being able to work remotely is really valuable today, and having the right certifications can help you get jobs from all over the world.