Discover the best mobile apps for graphic design in 2021 with our comprehensive guide, featuring the top 10 apps that every designer needs to have in their toolkit.
Top 10 Mobile Apps for Graphic Designers
Creating stunning designs on the go has never been easier with the top mobile apps for graphic designers. Whether you’re a professional designer or just starting out, these apps offer a range of features to bring your creative vision to life.
1. Adobe Illustrator Draw
Adobe Illustrator Draw is a versatile app that allows you to create vector illustrations with ease. It comes with a variety of drawing tools, layers, and customizable brushes, making it a go-to choice for many graphic designers.
2. Procreate
Procreate is a powerful app for digital painting and illustration, offering a wide range of brushes, layers, and advanced editing tools. It’s popular among artists and designers for its intuitive interface and professional-grade features.
3. Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer brings professional vector graphic design to your iPad, with a comprehensive set of tools for creating stunning artwork. Its seamless integration with Affinity Designer on desktop makes it a great choice for designers on the go.
4. Canva
Canva is a user-friendly app that offers a wide range of design templates, stock photos, and easy-to-use tools for creating social media graphics, posters, and more. It’s perfect for designers looking to create eye-catching designs quickly.
5. Adobe Photoshop Express
Adobe Photoshop Express is a mobile version of the popular desktop software, offering essential photo editing tools and filters for enhancing your images on the go. It’s a handy app for quick touch-ups and creative edits.
6. Graphic
Graphic is a full-featured graphic design app for iPad, offering powerful vector drawing tools, layers, and customizable brushes. It’s ideal for creating illustrations, logos, and other graphic design projects.
7. Tayasui Sketches
Tayasui Sketches is a versatile drawing app that offers a range of realistic brushes, layers, and blending modes for creating digital artwork. It’s a favorite among artists and designers for its natural drawing experience.
8. Vectornator
Vectornator is a professional vector graphic design app for iPad and iPhone, offering a wide range of tools for creating scalable vector artwork. It’s perfect for designers who need precision and flexibility in their designs.
9. Assembly
Assembly is a fun and easy-to-use app for creating vector illustrations and graphic designs using a library of shapes, icons, and stickers. It’s great for designers who want to create playful and colorful designs.
10. Concepts
Concepts is a flexible sketching and design app that offers infinite canvas, customizable brushes, and a variety of drawing tools. It’s perfect for brainstorming ideas and creating rough sketches on the go.
Tools and Features Comparison
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a comprehensive image editing software that offers a wide range of tools for professionals to enhance digital images, create graphics, and design compositions. Its extensive toolset includes features for precision editing, layer management, and AI-powered effects.
Serif Affinity Designer 2
Serif Affinity Designer 2 is a vector-based graphic design software for Mac and Windows, with powerful raster-type tools as well. It offers features such as Shape Builder, Warp tools, variable fonts, and QR code creation, making it a potential Adobe Illustrator alternative.
Canva
Canva is an easy-to-use graphic design app that allows designers and non-designers to create professional-looking graphics using drag-and-drop and resizing vector graphics. It offers templates for fast creation and tools for branding assets, making it a popular choice for marketing departments.
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a stable vector graphics editor and design program with features for graphic design work at all levels. It offers tools for font identification, 3D mockups, and online collaboration, making it a versatile option for illustrators.
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite includes CorelDRAW, Photo-Paint, AfterShot, PowerTRACE, and FontManager, offering a range of tools for vector drawing, photo manipulation, RAW file handling, and text style organization. It also includes desktop publishing features for multi-page layouts.
Corel Vector
Corel Vector is an online vector illustration software that runs from any browser and offers automatic saving to both online and local storage. It provides a cloud-based option for creating vector designs, with a 15-day free trial available for testing.
Inkscape
Inkscape is a vector design tool with broad file support, extensive text manipulation, and Bezier and Spiro curve types. It offers an extension model for new features and is available for Windows, Linux, and Apple Mac, making it a viable Adobe Illustrator alternative.
Sketch
Sketch is a UI-focused design tool for creating icons and interface elements for websites and applications, with a minimalist user experience, intuitive keyboard shortcuts, and a vast library of plugins. It is exclusively available for the Apple Mac and is suitable for designing user interfaces.
Xara Designer Pro X
Xara Designer Pro X is a comprehensive design tool for both bitmaps and vectors, capable of handling desktop publishing, graphic design, illustration, and photo manipulation tasks. It offers access to a million archive photos and illustrations, template layouts, and design elements for rapid mockups.
Tips for Using Mobile Apps in Graphic Design
When using mobile apps for graphic design, it’s important to keep a few tips in mind to ensure the best results. First, make sure to familiarize yourself with the specific features and tools available in the app you’re using. Each app may have different capabilities and limitations, so understanding how to work within those parameters is crucial.
Utilize Layers
One important tip is to make use of layers when working with mobile graphic design apps. Layers allow you to separate different elements of your design, making it easier to edit and manipulate individual parts without affecting the rest of the project.
Optimize for Mobile Viewing
Since you’re creating designs on a mobile device, it’s important to keep in mind that your audience will likely be viewing the final product on a mobile screen as well. Be mindful of font sizes, image resolutions, and overall layout to ensure that your designs look great on smaller screens.
Experiment with Templates
Many mobile graphic design apps offer pre-made templates that you can use as a starting point for your projects. Don’t be afraid to experiment with these templates and customize them to fit your needs. They can be a great way to jumpstart your design process.
Take Advantage of Touch Gestures
Mobile devices offer touch-based interactions that can be used to your advantage in graphic design. Explore how touch gestures like pinching, swiping, and tapping can be used to manipulate and edit elements of your design more intuitively.
By keeping these tips in mind, you can make the most of mobile graphic design apps and create stunning visuals right from your smartphone or tablet.
In conclusion, the best mobile apps for graphic design offer powerful features and intuitive interfaces, allowing users to create stunning designs on the go. With a variety of tools and options available, these apps provide a convenient and efficient way for designers to unleash their creativity anytime, anywhere.