I have been working on Photoshop since long time but never had any professional training, I am want to be a professional graphic designer and would need some suggestions what tools, applications and software one should have command on. I know creativity is the key, but tool is also important. For logo designing, web graphics, print media etc can any one guide me which software should i learn ? Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel etc Thanks,
Photoshop is great for editing photographic images. For logos and a good deal of layout, you're going to need a Vector Illustration program, which is different than Photoshop (which is a Bitmap Editor) I use and highly recommend both Illustrator and Corel, and also Inkscape. They are all great products. Since you already know Photoshop, most of the tools in Illustrator you have already learned - you'll just have to understand how vectors work and you're off to the races. Think of this one down the road. Before you invest in Illustrator, try out Inkscape. It's free and open-source (like firefox) and available here: inkscape.org . It's wonderful, and does some things even better than illustrator, so if you like it go ahead and buy Illustrator, but don't stop using Inkscape either For web design, you can use illustrator, photoshop, or also Fireworks, also from adobe. It's a great app and they're pouring all sorts of development and love into it so it's really shaping up to be the best web-layout program on the planet. Best of luck to you, Graphic Design is incredibly rewarding work
Thanks for the great info, can you tell me what is fireworks good for ? can you show me some kind of images which are created with fireworks. Thanks
Fw is a bitmap and vector graphics editor aimed at web designers (with features such as: slices, the ability to add hotspots etc.). I personally use Adobe Illustrator(rarely) and Photoshop(most of the time), sometimes Dreamwaver for coding.