6 Reasons why you need to be using Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator has been my jam for 10 years. In my photography days, I used Photoshop and Lightroom for my edits and any design projects. My husband purchased a new company that desperately needed their graphics standard updated. The graphics they inherited were super outdated and ugly, and frankly, embarrassing. As I began helping him to update and refresh the branding, I quickly found out that Illustrator was a must. I simply could not create the content that his company needed in Photoshop alone. Plus, a lot of the files they inherited from the sellers were .AI (Adobe Illustrator) files. Anything that I wanted to edit or even look at was not happening without that program.
Quickly, Illustrator became my #1 software of choice. I even preferred it over my beloved Photoshop (when not editing photos only of course). I simply cannot imagine how other designers do it without Illustrator.
My love and admiration of Illustrator has compelled me to describe why you need to be using Adobe Illustrator in 6 easy bullet points. If you design in any way shape or form, this software is a definite must. Especially if you want to earn money from being a graphic designer.
#1 Industry Standard
Go to any college or university, large corporations or businesses. I can pretty much guarantee that they are teaching and using Adobe Illustrator for their graphic design needs. It’s how I was taught at my local college. Even my husband was taught Illustrator in his graphics class in high school 15 years ago. Another option wasn’t even put out onto the table.
Whenever I’ve worked with other graphic designers and needed to share files back and forth, it is always an .AI file. Always.
Because it is the industry standard you won’t even bother with any other software. Selling yourself with a prestige of a legit graphic designer, demands this software. Illustrator does have a steep learning curve, but once you get over that (hopefully with my help!), you will love it like I do.
#2 Smaller File Sizes
Back in my photography days, I had multiple full external hard drives for good reason! Photoshop files (.psd) and high quality JPG’s are HUGE. There was never enough available space!10 years of me using mostly Illustrator files, I only have hard drives just for backups and personal photographs. Illustrator files just aren’t as big! They don’t need to be and that’s helpful on your computer system.
#3 Vector Formats
Designing in photoshop can get really frustrating, really quick. Being limited by pixel and raster graphics only is enough to make anyone go crazy. Scalable, small size, and extreme edit-ability of shapes and text are just a few of the lovely pros to vector files. Depending on the specific type of work you do, will depend on if you need Photoshop or Illustrator. It is imperative that you know and understand the difference between vector and raster graphics.
#4 Image Tracing
Oh how I love the genius of image tracing in Illustrator! Often, my customers will request a custom vinyl decal from a logo or image. It is super rare for them to have a vector file that I can use to convert to an SVG file for cutting on my vinyl cutter. Cue image tracing! Adobe Illustrator can take JPG or other raster/pixel file and “trace” it to paths and anchors. Essentially to create vector shapes of the image. As long as the image is some-what high quality, and depending on the intricacy of the design, completing an image trace is super quick and fairly accurate. Image tracing has advanced options to fine tune the trace to get it as perfect as possible.
#5 Integration with other Adobe Products
Adobe has set up their products so seamlessly that it is very convenient to work across all of their softwares. Just quickly and easily drag and drop other elements from one program to another. Perhaps you need a vector shape you’re working on to go on a photoshop document, simply click and drag it over and it retains some vector abilities.
And don’t forget the amazing Creative Cloud storage. With Adobe’s Creative Cloud, you can save any of your work across any Adobe platforms in the cloud for easy access across all of your computer networks. The neat thing is, if you save a project on one device, it automatically saves and updates it on the cloud so you’re never
#6 High quality outputs for print & web applications
Adobe Illustrator was designed for just that. Exporting and printing your amazing and high quality designs. Use your designs in fliers, banners, business cards, websites, social media platforms, mobile apps, and the list goes on and on and on!
Are you convinced of it’s power?! You should be. There are definitely other and less expensive options out there to create designs. In all honesty though, when it really comes down to it, you know it’s Adobe over anything else.
