Creative Design Platforms

Whether you’re brainstorming ideas, designing prototypes, or building solutions, individually or for teams there are many all-in-one design platforms available, each with its unique set of features and capabilities. These platforms offer a wide range of design tools and resources, including templates, stock images, typography, and more, to help you create stunning designs for your projects. They are popular among designers, marketers, business owners, and anyone else who needs to create professional-looking graphics and designs quickly and easily. Here are some popular ones:

• Canva
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Figma
• Sketch
• InVision Studio
• Corel Vector (formerly Gravit Designer)
• CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
• Affinity Designer
• Marq (formerly Lucidpress)
• Piktochart

Canva

Canva is a popular online graphic design platform that allows users to create a wide range of digital and print designs using a drag-and-drop interface. It was founded in 2012 and has grown to become a leading design tool, used by individuals, businesses, and organizations of all sizes.

Canva offers a range of pre-made templates for a variety of design types, including social media graphics, presentations, posters, flyers, and more. Users can also upload their own images and designs to customize their projects. Canva provides a comprehensive set of design tools, including text editing, image editing, and layout tools, as well as a vast library of stock images, illustrations, and icons.

Canva’s collaborative features allow teams to work together on designs in real-time, share feedback and comments, and access team branding assets and templates. It also offers a range of integrations with other tools, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and Hubspot, making it easy to incorporate Canva designs into existing workflows.

Canva offers a free version with limited features, as well as paid subscriptions that provide access to additional templates, features, and team collaboration tools. Its ease of use and affordability have made it a popular choice for individuals and small businesses looking to create high-quality designs quickly and easily.

Learn more about Canva here.

Adobe Creative Cloud

Adobe Creative Cloud is a suite of software and services provided by Adobe that includes a wide range of tools for graphic design, video editing, web development, and photography. It offers a collection of industry-leading applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and many more, as well as a range of services such as cloud storage, fonts, and online portfolio hosting.

Creative Cloud allows users to create and collaborate on projects across multiple devices and platforms, making it a popular choice among individual creators, creative professionals, and businesses. The subscription-based model ensures that users always have access to the latest versions of their favorite software, as well as access to new features and updates as they become available.

In addition to its core applications, Creative Cloud also offers a range of integrations with other software and services, including Adobe Stock, Behance, and Typekit, making it a comprehensive platform for all aspects of the creative process. The flexibility and power of Creative Cloud have made it an industry-standard tool for designers, photographers, video editors, and other creative professionals.

Learn more about Adobe here.

Adobe XD (Experience Design)

Adobe XD (Experience Design) is a vector-based design and prototyping tool developed by Adobe. It is used by designers to create user interfaces, websites, and mobile apps, among other digital design projects.

XD provides a range of features specifically designed for UI/UX designers, including wireframing and prototyping tools, vector editing, and asset management. It also offers a range of collaboration features, including real-time co-editing, design sharing, and developer handoff.

One of the key advantages of XD is its integration with other Adobe Creative Cloud tools, such as Photoshop and Illustrator, making it easy for designers to incorporate existing assets and designs into their projects. It also offers a range of plugins and integrations with other software, such as Sketch, InVision, and Zeplin.

XD is available as part of Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions and offers a free version with limited features. Its focus on UI/UX design, prototyping, and collaboration has made it a popular choice among designers and design teams.

Learn more about Adobe here.

Figma

Figma is a cloud-based design and prototyping tool that allows designers to collaborate and create designs in real-time. It is similar to other design software such as Adobe XD and Sketch, but its cloud-based nature means that multiple designers can work on the same project simultaneously and from different locations.

Figma provides a comprehensive suite of design tools, including vector editing, boolean operations, and advanced text manipulation, making it a popular choice for UI/UX designers, graphic designers, and product designers. It also offers a range of features specifically designed for collaboration, including real-time commenting and feedback, version history, and team libraries.

One of Figma’s most significant advantages is its cross-platform compatibility – it can be used on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems, as well as in the browser, making it highly accessible for teams with diverse technology setups. Additionally, Figma offers a free version, making it accessible to individuals and small teams who may not have the budget for premium design tools.

Learn more about Figma here.

Sketch

Sketch is a vector graphics editor and digital design tool for Mac OS. It is used by designers to create user interfaces, websites, icons, and other graphical elements. Sketch is known for its intuitive interface and streamlined workflow, which makes it a popular choice among designers for creating high-fidelity mockups and prototypes.

Sketch offers a range of features specifically tailored for UI/UX designers, including artboards, vector editing tools, and reusable symbols. It also has a built-in prototyping feature, which allows designers to create interactive prototypes to simulate user flow and test out design ideas.

One of Sketch’s most significant advantages is its plugin ecosystem, which allows users to extend its functionality to meet their specific needs. There are hundreds of plugins available in the Sketch community, offering additional tools, templates, and integrations with other software.

Sketch is a Mac-only application and requires a subscription fee to access its full range of features. Despite this, it has become a widely adopted tool among designers and is often used in conjunction with other design software such as Figma, Adobe XD, and InVision Studio.

Learn more about Sketch here.

InVision Studio

InVision Studio is a powerful design tool that is specifically tailored for UI/UX designers. It is used for creating interactive and high-fidelity designs, animations, and prototypes for web and mobile apps.

InVision Studio provides a comprehensive set of features that allow designers to create dynamic and visually engaging designs, including vector editing tools, layout tools, and animation tools. It also offers a range of advanced features, such as responsive design, design systems, and design versioning.

One of InVision Studio’s most significant advantages is its collaboration features, which allow designers to work together in real-time, share feedback and comments, and create design assets and libraries for team use. Additionally, InVision Studio offers integrations with other design tools such as Sketch and Photoshop, making it easy to incorporate existing design assets into projects.

InVision Studio is available as part of the InVision platform, which also includes tools for design collaboration, user testing, and design handoff. It offers a free version with limited features, as well as paid subscriptions that provide access to additional features and collaboration tools. Its focus on interactive design and collaboration has made it a popular choice among UI/UX designers and design teams.

Learn more about InVision Studio here.

Corel Vector (formerly Gravit Designer)

Corel Vector is a vector-based graphic design tool that allows users to create illustrations, logos, UI/UX designs, and other types of digital graphics. It is available as a desktop app for Mac, Windows, and Linux, as well as a web-based app that can be accessed through any modern web browser.

Corel Vector offers a range of features for creating and editing vector graphics, including shape tools, text tools, image editing tools, and more. It also provides a comprehensive set of design and layout tools, such as grids, guides, and snapping, to ensure that designs are precise and aligned.

Corel Vector offers a free version with limited features, as well as paid subscriptions that provide access to additional features and collaboration tools. It also offers a range of integrations with other tools and services, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Sketch, making it easy to incorporate Corel Vector designs into existing workflows.

One of Corel Vector’s key advantages is its ease of use and affordability, making it a popular choice among individual designers and small businesses. Its focus on vector graphics and design tools has made it a solid competitor to other popular graphic design software such as Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW.

Learn more about Corel Vector here.

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is a popular graphic design software that is used for creating vector graphics, illustrations, logos, and other types of digital designs. It is developed by Corel Corporation, a Canadian software company.

The CorelDRAW Graphics Suite includes a range of applications that work together seamlessly to provide a comprehensive set of design tools. These applications include CorelDRAW, a vector-based design program; Corel PHOTO-PAINT, a bitmap image editing program; Corel Font Manager, a font management tool; and other tools such as Corel CONNECT for content discovery, and Corel CAPTURE for screen capture and recording.

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite offers a range of features that allow designers to create high-quality designs quickly and efficiently, including a variety of drawing and shaping tools, layout tools, and text tools. It also provides advanced features such as color management, multi-page document support, and the ability to work with multiple files at once.

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is available for Windows and Mac, and offers a perpetual license model, meaning users can buy the software outright rather than paying a monthly or annual subscription fee. Its affordability and comprehensive set of features have made it a popular choice among graphic designers, small businesses, and hobbyists.

Learn more about CorelDRAW here.

Affinity Designer

Affinity Designer is a vector graphics editor developed by Serif, a British software company. It is used for creating vector-based illustrations, logos, UI/UX designs, and other types of digital graphics.

Affinity Designer offers a range of features that allow designers to create precise, high-quality designs efficiently. These features include a variety of vector drawing and shaping tools, layout tools, and advanced features such as non-destructive editing, symbols, and constraints. It also provides a range of tools for working with raster graphics, such as image masks, adjustment layers, and filters.

One of the key advantages of Affinity Designer is its focus on performance and efficiency. It uses advanced hardware acceleration to ensure smooth and fast performance, even with large and complex designs. Additionally, Affinity Designer offers a range of collaboration tools, such as cloud-based storage and sharing, to help designers work together on projects more easily.

Affinity Designer is available as a one-time purchase, rather than a subscription-based model, making it a more affordable choice for individual designers and small businesses. It is available for Mac, Windows, and iPad, and also offers seamless integration with other Affinity products, such as Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher, to provide a complete design workflow solution. Its balance of features, performance, and affordability has made it a popular choice among designers and creatives.

Learn more about Affinity Designer here.

Marq (formerly Lucidpress)

Marq (formerly Lucidpress) is a web-based graphic design and layout application that allows users to create high-quality print and digital designs, such as brochures, flyers, newsletters, and social media graphics.

Marq provides a range of intuitive and easy-to-use design tools, templates, and layouts that can be customized to fit the needs of a specific project. It also offers a drag-and-drop interface, which makes it easy to add images, text, and other design elements to a project. In addition, it includes a variety of collaboration tools that allow multiple users to work on the same project simultaneously.

One of the key advantages of Marq is its integration with other popular software applications, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Salesforce, which makes it easy to share files and collaborate with team members. It also includes a range of publishing options, such as print, PDF, and online publishing, which makes it easy to share designs with others.

Marq is available in both a free and paid version, with the paid version offering additional features such as advanced design and collaboration tools, as well as access to a library of premium design assets. Its focus on ease of use, collaboration, and versatility has made it a popular choice among businesses, marketers, and individuals looking to create high-quality designs quickly and efficiently.

Learn more about Marq here.

Piktochart

Piktochart is a web-based infographic and presentation tool that allows users to create professional-looking visual content without the need for extensive design experience.

With Piktochart, users can create a variety of visual content types, including infographics, presentations, posters, reports, and social media graphics. The platform offers a wide range of templates and design elements, such as icons, charts, and images, that can be customized to fit the user’s needs.

Piktochart’s drag-and-drop interface makes it easy for users to add text, images, and other design elements to their projects. It also includes a library of free and premium images and graphics that users can use to enhance their designs. Piktochart’s collaboration features enable multiple users to work on the same project, making it ideal for teams or for those who want to collaborate with others.

Piktochart is available in both a free and paid version, with the paid version offering additional features such as more templates, custom branding options, and the ability to download projects in high-resolution formats. Its ease of use, versatility, and affordable pricing has made it a popular choice among businesses, educators, and individuals who want to create visual content quickly and easily.

Learn more about Piktochart here.