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. Illustration programs often double as page layout applications as well.
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator CS5 Box shot © Adobe, Inc.
Widely-accepted industry standard for illustration, it integrates well with other Adobe products. On the downside, it does have a steep learning curve. It's acceptance by service bureaus and printers keeps it as a top choice for professional designers. Illustrator can also be used for some page layout tasks including business cards and ads. It is available as part of some of the Adobe Creative Suites or as a standalone application.
Available as of 2010: Illustrator CS5 for Windows and Mac
It is part of the Design Premium, Web Premium, Production Premium, and Master Collection editions of Adobe Creative Suite 5.
- Illustrator CS5 Win (Buy Direct)
- Illustrator Full/Upgrade/All Versions (Compare Prices)
Inkscape (inkscape.org)
Inkscape screenshot from Inkscape.org
A popular free, open source vector drawing program, Inkscape uses the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Use Inkscape for creating text and graphics compositions including business cards, book covers, fliers, and ads. Inkscape is similar in capabilities to Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW. Inkscape is also being used to create fonts.
Available as of 2011: Inkscape 0.48 for Linux, Windows, Mac, and will run on FreeBSD, Unix-like systems
Bohemian Coding: DrawIt
DrawIt Screenshot provided by Bohemian Coding
This is a Mac only program for vector drawing with bitmap filter support. It's offers non-destructive editing even after bitmap filters are applied. Features: vector editing, layers, groups, & masks, CoreImage filters, stacking effects. And it's under $40 too.
Available as of 2010: DrawIt version 3.10.3 for Mac (OS X 10.6 required)
- DrawIt (Company Store)
TweakerSoft: VectorDesigner
TweakerSoft VectorDesigner Web site screen snip
Some of the specs for this vector drawing program include: smart shapes, text on a path, text in a shape, Boolean operations, iSight integration, layers, and raster to vector conversions. Apply non-destructive filters and effects, create logos and Web graphics, and compose brochures, brochures, and other documents. Download a trial version.
Available as of 2010: VectorDesigner 1.5.2 for Mac (OS X 14 or higher)
- VectorDesigner (Company Store)
Purgatory Design: Intaglio
Intaglio Screenshot; © Purgatory Design
Also available as iPhone and iPad apps, Intaglio is a Mac OS X drawing program. If you have a bunch of old ClarisDraw and MacDraw II/Pro drawings, you can import them right into Intaglio and bring them up-to-date. It can export as SVG, includes pre-defined patterns, does full-screen slideshows, and has a drag-and-drop library for reusing graphic elements. Download a free demo.
Available as of 2010: Intaglio 3.1.2 for Mac OS X
- Intaglio (Company Store)
Dekorra Optics: EazyDraw
EazyDraw screenshot provided by Dekorra Optics
This vector-based drawing program is for technical illustration and diagrams, creating logos, and doing simple page layout tasks including brochures, CD labels, and fliers. You can download a demo that will save and print up to 30 graphics.
Available as of 2010: EazyDraw version 3.2 for Mac OS X
- EazyDraw (Company Store)
