So it’s not professional software and it’s not suitable for design work.
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There are lots of folks which are able to become Graphics Designer with the help of free software programs such as Inkscape and Gimp. Davies Media Design YouTube channel guy is just the one example. These software programs might not hold standard as Adobe Illustrator, but they are sure able to job done. The Inkscape is the best option if someone is looking for free vector software.
I beg to differ. You cannot become a ‘graphics designer’ – the correct term is Graphic Designer by the way – by learning this kind of software – and certainly not a professional one.
The youtube channel you refer to is simply aimed at getting you to sign up to one of their courses.
In my [professional] opinion, it is this sort of attitude that is helping to drive the industry into the ground. It is raising expectations unrealistically. The unsuspecting are led to believe that by learning this stuff, they can call themselves designers. There is an awful lot more to bring a designer than learning free software. I am afraid it will simply not ‘get the job done’. Learning free software and then adding the word design to your company name I’ll never make you a designer.
Don’t get me wrong, I am sure it has its place for amateurs to create intros to their baby shower videos, put together wedding invites, etc, but it is a long, long way from professional design – and it certainly won’t turn you into one.
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I understand your concerned but in today world so-called Graphic Designer term is widely used by the folks which have just learned the basic software such as Adobe Illustrator, or Adobe Affinity, or Corel Draw, or Inkscape etc. Most of the folks used called them self the Graphic Designer without learning anything other than basic tools.
Not gonna argue with that. There are lot of amateur “designers” out there that have no business calling themselves a designer.
The online description for inkscape says it does indeed handle CMYK, but not having used it I don’t know how well it does that or what workarounds you need to do it. It also says it outputs as SVG, which is okay up to a point. But it also mentions it uses transparency but outputs .eps files. The .eps format does not support transparency and can do awful things to files when the transparency is flattened using the .eps file format. I print, and I see these awful things happen even from Adobe Software when designers mistakenly save transparent art to .eps. That format should be done away with. It’s been obsolete for years. It also says it does PDF export but is only as good as its PDF engine. I’ve never seen one and would be curious what profiles and output quality settings it has available. As for what “and more” is in their list of features for other file formats, perhaps they should list them all and I’d be less skeptical.
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I’m not quite sure where to even begin with that one.…
Correct me if I am wrong, but it feels as though you may be a little uncertain about both job-title terminology and also what design is really all about.
Firstly, design is definitely not defined by software, any more than engineering is about which spanner you have in your hand. It is a fairly uncomplicated, though critically important, issue to address; you simply use the right tool for the job.
Incidentally, speaking of tools, I would not be putting the likes of Corel Draw and Inkscape in the same league as Adobe or even Affinity. The former are amateur tools, the latter are built for professionals. Each has their place, but should not be confused with one another.
Fundamentally, design, is about using your brain, acquiring knowledge – the right knowledge – experience, talent, understanding, an ability to listen and interpret, visually. It is about understanding how to manipulate typography, image and space to communicate an intended message to an intended audience – in today’s world (for whatever that actually means) and every other world since design began (think; the caves at Lascaux) and going forward, to whatever, as yet unseen, technological advances are still to come. Design is all about creative, critical thinking and is certainly not a bun-fight over software – a bun-fight easily avoided with the aforementioned acquisition of knowledge.
Finally, the nomenclature of design is, naturally, less important than the understanding of its essence, though, as with the use of tools, it is always wiser to use the correct ones for the job.
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What a wonderful term ‘bun-fight’! Love it.
Let me be clear - there are industry standard tools.
Industry standard tools are tools used by a majority professional graphic designers.
The general consensus amongst professionals is that Adobe is the best on the market, and hence a majority of print companies, designers, design companies, and freelance graphic designers work in this model.
There are exceptions in Sign work (corel draw) and with any rule is there are exceptions.
There are competitors, like Quark, Affintiy and a few others that are worthy of a slight mention.
Quark is still widely used, and Affinity is making a dent in the Adobe monopoly.
At the moment, feeware, donationware, and general free software is not considered the industry standard.
Yes it can be considered a hobbyists tool, or amateur tools, etc.
The reason for this is that thes freeware, Inkscape, Scribus, GIMP etc. are not widely used by the professional industry.
Hence, if you’re working for clients on a professional basis and you are supplying them native files from Inkscape, Scribus, GIMP etc.
When you eventually go bust and not available to work on their project and move the project to the next designer on their list and they get files created in PhotoPea, or Kriva or Canva etc.
They won’t be able to use them - they don’t have them - they have professional tools.
So in the end the customer ends up paying MORE to have the files recreated in the correct software.
But not only about software -but creating the files in the correct colour space fit for purpose.
I see SVG export being boundied about - but if you produce an icon in black and export to SVG - this is not CMYK 100 - so printing on a traditional press produces 4 clour black.
Why? Becasue SVG has no CMYK support - black is converted to RGB then back to CMYK which gives 4 colour black.
4 colours = 4 plates = more cost for the client.
It’s really important we promote the right tools - and put down suggestsions that freeware/donationware and other amature tools are not promoted as being professional tools.
There’s a wealth of knowledge that precedes all technology - and technology was built to take advantage of this knowledge - then cheaper tech was developed which cut corners and forgets about the more important thing - knowledge and the client experience.
The only thing I use .svg for is to get vector art into our lasers for cutting/engraving.
And the occasional screen cap from my TV clients, but they go more for png format nowadays.
I’m sure all of the freewares are great if you are only producing online work. No one cares where the imagery comes from, it’s RGB and low resolution. Try to get some of that crap printed though, and for all the reasons Smurf mentioned, and many more, you will end up paying through the nose for system time to fix the submitted crap so it will even rip. 4-color black is high on my list right now of things I have to check diligently for. Just recently had a 4-color black that was not defined in the palette, not defined in the seps pane, nor caught by the rip. If I ever find out how the designer did it, I will give them the Stumper Prize for the year. (I did all the easy tricks but eventually had to manually select all the items that were black and redefine them. Thankfully it was only 6 files.)
And I too love the term “bun fight”
Reminded me of the song this shot came from and made me smile.
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