Best Graphic Design Apps for Beginners: Getting started with graphic design can seem intimidating at first. Which tools and software should you use?
Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! We have curated the best graphic design apps for beginners looking to learn the basics and start creating.
With these apps, you’ll be well on your way to creating beautiful designs, even if you’ve never dabbled in graphic design before.
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10 Best Graphic Design Apps for Beginners
The following are the ten best graphic design apps suitable for beginners:
1. Canva
For new designers who want beautiful graphics without needing extensive skills, Canva is a perfect choice.
This web-based app has an intuitive drag-and-drop interface and a huge library of templates and assets.
With Canva, you can design social media posts, presentations, posters, logos, videos, and much more.
The premade layouts make it super simple to create graphics quickly. You can customize colors, and fonts, and add your own images.
Useful editing features like photo enhancement, and shape and text tools give you plenty of options too.
Canva is very user-friendly while still having the power to design polished visual content. The free plan has enough features to get started.
And if you need extras later, premium options with more assets, photo editing tools, and branding templates are affordable.
Overall, Canva is the easiest way for newbies to dip their toes into graphic design.
2. Adobe Creative Cloud Express
For those seeking pro-level tools with beginner accessibility, check out Adobe Creative Cloud Express. This pared down web app provides the core Adobe design experience without the complexity.
Creative Cloud Express gives you access to Adobe’s professional fonts, themes, templates and more.
Creating social posts, logos, flyers, and presentations is intuitive yet powerful. With quick actions like cutouts, effects, and automated cropping, you can polish images easily.
More advanced features like removing backgrounds and choosing custom color schemes help designs stand out.
Since it’s Adobe, you know the output quality will be excellent. Creative Cloud Express seamlessly connects mobile and desktop too.
For new designers seeking a simplified but mighty graphic app, Creative Cloud Express hits the sweet spot.
3. Vectornator
If you want to elevate beyond simple graphic design and start illustrating, Vectornator is a fantastic vector graphics editor for beginners.
Available across macOS, Windows, iOS and the web, Vectornator utilizes the power of vectors to let you draw infinitely scalable graphics.
The app is very intuitive thanks to the user-friendly interface. Tools like Pen, Line, Shape and Brush make it simple to draw any idea.
You can apply colors, gradients, shadows and use layout features like grids and snap-to-pixel to compose clean designs. Vectors means you can resize graphics infinitely without losing quality too.
Vectornator works great for logos, illustrations, diagrams, charts and more. Even complex techniques like combining shapes and path operations are made easy.
For budding illustrators and designers alike, Vectornator lets you create detailed vector art with ease.
4. GIMP
Want desktop-class photo and image editing without the Adobe price tag? Say hello to GIMP! This open source graphics app is packed with professional tools for free.
GIMP has an immense amount of capabilities like layers, masks, filters, color correction, selections, and powerful brush engines.
You can edit and compose photos, create digital paintings, design interface mockups, and craft any 2D graphics you imagine. Support for Photoshop plugins and file formats makes GIMP very versatile.
The interface can be somewhat complex for beginners. But with ample documentation and tutorials available, new users can get accustomed to GIMP’s immense toolbox fairly quickly.
For serious graphics editing on desktop, GIMP is an incredible value that can rival paid applications.
5. Inkscape
Inkscape is the open source counterpart to Illustrator, providing professional vector design tools at no cost.
It’s cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux) and gives you immense control over SVG vector graphics.
You can illustration logos, icons, diagrams, charts and complex artwork efficiently in Inkscape.
Handy features like object manipulation, path operations, text tools, boolean operations and flexible fills let you tweak vector components with precision.
Plus, support for Illustrator files means your existing work can be edited in Inkscape.
Inkscape is extremely capable, but not as beginner friendly compared to apps like Vectornator. Some ramp up time is needed to grasp all the tools.
Still, Inkscape is a top notch free vector editor if you’re willing to climb the learning curve. The quality rivals premium software.
6. Krita
Digital artists who want to paint and render with ease need to know about Krita. This open source art app is designed for concept artists, illustrators, and anyone who wants to make beautiful digital paintings.
Krita excels thanks to its brush engine, which is highly customizable and responds wonderfully to stylus pressure sensitivity.
Mix that with smooth OpenGL canvas rendering, and each brush stroke flows naturally. You can sketch, texture, blend, and sculpt amazing artwork in Krita.
While not strictly for graphic design, any beginner illustrator will find Krita helpful for painting game concept art, characters, environments, textures and more.
The toolset streamlines background creation and detail work. Krita will bring your imagination to life and make digital illustration fun.
7. Gravit Designer
Gravit Designer serves as a midpoint between full vector editors like Illustrator and simpler tools like Canva.
It provides a complete vector workflow but with an interface that beginners can pick up more easily.
The app lets you create all kinds of 2D vector illustrations, logos, icons, typography and design elements.
Smooth vector tools, smart alignment guides and automatic shape combining speed up the process.
Useful options like multi-page documents, dynamic symbols and built-in image tracing round out the experience.
Gravit allows quick prototyping but also has the power for detailed vector work. Best part is the completely free web-based version has all the essential tools you need.
Advanced capabilities like Custom SVG export are available in paid plans. Overall, Gravit finds a nice balance between power and simplicity.
8. Vectr
For another superb free vector tool in your browser, don’t miss Vectr. It provides a slick minimal interface focused purely on vector graphics creation.
Vectr lets you quickly design 2D logos, illustrations, diagrams, presentations and more right from your browser.
Handy features like duplicating, aligning, distributing, and transforming objects makes it simple to create complex designs.
Intuitive pen and shape tools plus smart grids and snapping provide precision. And the responsive interface works great across desktop and mobile.
Since Vectr is browser-based, you can create vectors from anywhere without needing to install software.
Performance and convenience make Vectr an awesome free option for new vector enthusiasts.
9. Figma
Switching gears to apps tailored for user interface and experience design, Figma is a must-try tool for UI/UX beginners.
With its real-time collaboration and intuitive prototyping, Figma speeds up designing interfaces and websites immensely.
Figma eliminates the need to constantly export files and email mockups back and forth. Multiplayer functionality lets designers see edits in real-time like Google Docs.
Everything from layouts to colors to fonts stays synced instantly across the team. Prototyping lets you link designs together to create interactive clickable demos to test workflows and concepts.
The learning curve is very gradual thanks to thoughtful tutorials and guides. Figma does so much to enhance a UI designer’s workflow.
Be sure to give Figma Community (free) or Figma Professional (paid plans) a look for your next web or app project!
10. Adobe Photoshop
Last but certainly not least, we have the grandfather of all graphic design software. While the full suite may seem intimidating, Photoshop by itself provides a friendly entry point for new designers.
Core tools like selections, masking, retouching, compositing, and typography will get your creative juices flowing.
Start with user-friendly modes like Photoshop Express on mobile or Quick Actions on desktop to pick up must-know skills effortlessly.
Then dive into countless tutorials to keep expanding your abilities at your own pace.
With responsive non-destructive editing tools and cloud collaboration, even absolute beginners can begin crafting dazzling designs and photos in Photoshop.
Just be sure to sign up for the Photography plan rather than the entire Creative Cloud to get Photoshop access for an affordable price.
Ease yourself in the app, and you’ll unlock the limitless creative potential of Photoshop in due time!
To Sum Up
And there you have it – 10 of the very best graphic design apps to get novice designers up and running immediately.
Each excels at providing accessible tools wrapped up in an intuitive interface. Before you know it, you’ll gain skills and make amazing visual content with ease.
Don’t be afraid to try multiple apps to discover which gels with your creative style the most. Some like Canva or Creative Cloud Express make design effortless.
Vector apps like Vectornator and Gravit unlock illustration potential. While GIMP, Krita and of course Photoshop present more advanced (yet learnable) toolsets to create anything imaginable.
The only limit is your imagination. Import creative inspiration from amazing artists and graphic designers across every platform.
Then grab one of these terrific apps to start bringing your own design dreams to life. Have fun and let your unique creative voice shine!