The Differences of Different Graphic Design Softwares in a Nutshell

Wondering where to start in your search for the perfect graphic design software? Should you choose Photoshop, Corel, or something less complicated? Here's a rundown of four popular graphic design software, whether you plan on starting a professional career or just need something to touch up photos for a simple brochure printing project for your home business. Keep in mind that the list below includes image editing and other graphic design tools only and excludes desktop publishing software.

Adobe Photoshop
Easily the most popular of the graphic design software, Photoshop has it all. Adobe has kept Photoshop at the top of the game with easy upgrades, tutorials, training videos, not to mention all of the free brush and texture sets available online. Plus, as far as a complicated design program goes, Photoshop is very well laid out so that it is easy to learn. Lots of keyboard shortcuts allow users to quickly edit images with the tools they use the most. Plus, it comes with ImageReady specifically for web design. If you don't mind paying a pretty penny for your design program, Photoshop is definitely one of the best programs out there. Plus, it is available for both Windows and Mac users.

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
This graphics suite from Corel includes both CorelDRAW for vector drawing and PHOTO-PAINT for image editing. Because of the wide variety of graphics features included in this suite, Corel is excellent for when you need a program that can support a variety of graphic design needs. Although some of the features are not as up-to-date as other design programs, the wide range of features from illustration to photo editing to web design makes up for this disadvantage. It is fairly expensive, so you'll want to make sure that you will use all of the features included. Another disadvantage includes the fact that Corel is only available for Windows Vista/XP.

Paintshop Pro
You may have heard that Paintshop Pro is only for amateurs, but this concept has recently been disproved with the new upgrades added. Although still somewhat lacking in the most advanced graphic editing and design tools, Paintshop Pro can do all that is needed for everything but the most complicated designs. At a much more affordable price than other design software, this one will work well if you are planning on designing printed materials that won't need the extra design features. The biggest drawback is that Paintshop Pro is only available for Windows, so Mac users will have to go with a more expensive software.

Picasa 3
If your purpose for image editing is mainly in-house, then you may want to try Picasa 3. It's a photo imaging software available for free from Google. Available for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux, Picasa includes some very impressive features. Of course, Picasa is not recommended for professional graphic designers, but is capable of handling the needs of a small business only planning on touching up photos for use in print materials.