Illustration or drawing programs produce scalable vector artwork making them ideal as the all-around graphics creation and logo design tool. For commercial printing, scalable EPS graphics are the format of choice and import easily into most major page layout programs for creating letterhead, business cards, and other documents.
1) Adobe Illustrator 10
Widely-accepted industry standard for illustration, it integrates well with other Adobe products and is available for both Mac and Windows platforms. On the Mac it is the overwelmingly most used drawing application at this time. A trial version is available for download from Adobe.
2) Macromedia Freehand 10
Available for both the Mac and Windows platforms, it includes PDF, HTML, Flash animation features for multi-publishing solutions, as well as vector illustration tools making it a good choice for those doing both Web and print design. Freehand is priced comparable to Illustrator and a tryout version can be downloaded.
3) CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 10
Popular among both experienced and novice Windows designers, it now comes in Mac versions. The Windows version may be just as good, if not better, than Illustrator. The Mac version is relatively new and unproven but for new Mac-based designers the bundling of vector, bitmap, and other utilities makes it an attractive, bargain-priced alternative to other professional choices.
