Adobe vs Alternatives

[MyCoalescen]

Im graduating with my BFA in graphic design in july. Ive become dissatisfied with adobe move to stop making perpetual license software. I own no creative software and am a blank slate so upgrading does not matter to me. Ive used adobe products mostly illstrator, photoshop and indesign for 10 years since high school. Ive done research on many companies and programs and my top picks are adobe, corel and xara. Suggest anything you think is a good replacement to adobe.

How does xara compare to adobe and its products? Im looking for a company that provides at least a few good alternatives to adobe. I know xara and corel can both import/export AI/PSD which only a few programs can do. I also like both companies web sites and the look of their products.

Im starting the xara trial version very soon. Can xara compete with illustrator, photoshop and indesign?

Corel looks like the next best to adobe but who knows maybe its Xara or some one else. Its harder to find information on xara than corel. Im asking around the forums of different companies to have customers give me honest feedback on their software. Tell me the good and bad about xara and other companies. Im not decided on who I will go with but it will not be adobe CC (cash cow). I have till july to make up my mind and want to see what companies do in next few months. New editions, offers, reacting to the market/customers and giving me a reason to look at them. Unless Corel and Xara have some epic fails i will probably switch to them but may still get a student edition (which is allowed for commercial use) of adobe design standard for 450$ as a back up or expensive file converter and get the best of both worlds but would prefer not to. Many have sworn to use CS6 till it dies so probably the next 1-3 years.

[Cloud]

If you are going it alone and setting up your own company than I would recommend Corel, the only thing that let corel down in the past was the colour output, with the latest version it's colour output is as good as the adobe lot. If you are thinking of working for someone then they will be using adobe (all our designers use adobe products) , I have used both corel and adobe since I was a teenager (24 years or so) and I personaly prefer coreldraw to illustrator but photoshop is a whole different level to anything else out there.

If you supply files to a printer then corel is the best option after adobe. 99% of the designer who supply artwork to us for printing are sending pdf files created adobe products, the remaining 1% is mostly coreldraw. I have not used xara for print work but I think you will find that it is certainly not in the same league as indesign.

For us as a company which takes on work from designers, having the latest version of adobe products is a must, we have always had to purchase the latest version and the new system is fine by us but I know many, many designers who have nothing but negative things to say about creative cloud, having said that they are all paying up as there is no credible alternative out there; yet..

[gwpriester]

I graduated from Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles (many many years ago).

I worked in advertising for 15 years and had my own graphic design company in San Francisco for 12 years.

I currently work on my own, and have written graphics software reviews for over a decade for Communication Arts Magazine.

I started using CorelDRAW in 1990. But in 1996 I switched to Xara and NetObjects Fusion.

Today I use Xara Designer Pro X9. I use it for everything, from website design, to logos, to print advertising, to collateral. It does everything I need. And I have never had any issues with printers or publications with my PDF/X files.

[pauland]

MyCoalescen, what are your career plans?

Are you working alone or with others?

Are you looking to join an established design firm or start your own?

If you are starting your own, who will your customers be and what services do you intend to offer?

You've had good advice, but really the best solution depends on how you intend to work and your plans.

[MyCoalescen]

MyCoalescen, what are your career plans? Be a full time graphic designer, eventually after years work from home most of the time or freelance

Are you working alone or with others? Im a student currently. I would plan to work with others as maybe a design/advertising agency.

Are you looking to join an established design firm or start your own? Im looking to join a design firm and maybe in the future start my own small business.

If you are starting your own, who will your customers be and what services do you intend to offer? Not 100% sure but hoping I will find my place after a few years of work. I like branding a lot.

You've had good advice, but really the best solution depends on how you intend to work and your plans. I would like to work for maybe a small team/company. I worked for ups in warehousing for 6 years. Hated doing the same thing everyday and the bureaucracy of the huge company. Think I would like something smaller where Im a valued employee not just a number.

I plan to move to a medium size near my wife's home when i graduate. Get work for a design firm. Work there a few years and get some experience and connections. Move to my wife's close but tiny home town, work from home and/or freelance work and go to town a few times a week if needed to meet with clients or printers ect.

Thank you all for the advise it does help. I will be taking a good look at corel and xaras trials. I dont want to be chained at least not at this point to a subscription like adobe cc. I also dont want cs6 which will be 2 years old when i graduate and be more than broken in when I get it. cs6 has no future moving forward so I wants what has a future but also allows a past. CC has a future but does not allow a past when you leave as in no perpetual license. Im sure by 2020 most software including operating systems will be by subscription only. Luckily several things have to happen with hardware and internet connections to allow for such a huge undertaking. I would like to put that off as long as reasonably as possible.

I see adobe as a Greek tragedy. The hero eventually after long hard struggles achieves their goal and all cheer them on. In time they start to become arrogant and vane. In time they turn on those who cheered them on and fall and take them selves down and all their loved ones with them. That is a possible turning point I see adobe at. If it does not make some big changes sooner rather than later it could do what quark did and alienate its customers and they flee to their enemies. As I already am looking to do... Adobe rise was epic and its fall would have to be equally epic.

[zaphodeist]

Like the last paragraph! Very good analogy. Also like the way you're thinking ahead, things change so rapidly in your line of career and you're aware of that. As an outsider I would suggest that if you are going to be solo then find the program you work best with but if you will be part of a team I suspect that Adobe will stay as the default, though there will be more latitude hopefully.

[Albacore]

I have been around the fringes of graphic design for the last 12 years and still do bits and pieces even after I retired for a health service in the UK. In that time I have tried to use Xara as my main programme but it is difficult because if you want to work for a company they are going to determine what software you use and that is a fact. They are going to supply the software for your work and anything you do for them they own even what is done in your house on your computer. Some don't mind what software you used for your work so long that it is compatible with their work flow but most will dictate the finale file format what they want. In this work situation and because they will supply the software I would stick with Adobe, you've learned to use it, you know the strengths & weaknesses and you must be by this time comfortable using.

If you still want to work in a Adobe free zone here's some more suggestions of software to use:- Yes I would go with CD Suite and use CD a long with Photo-Paint. For larger docs. and alternative to ID then Serif's Page Plus is a must for your hard disc. All of these have good CMYK support which I think is a must.

Can I make a request here, look for a job first dont say you wont use this or that, stay flexible, stay open not closed mind, make some money, have some fun. With that behind you and if you start your own company then you can decide what software people should use. Yes maybe Adobe has made a mistake but they will still make money as firms will pay the monthly sub, it's easy to cost, but small self employed people will find it hard to justify the expense.

[pauland]

All I can say is that I am a software developer and I work freelance and my clients are usually design houses that lack software skills or lack capacity at some stage and turn to me to take their graphical assets and make them work as web pages, games or presentations.

I have been doing it for several years. Sometimes I work in-house with them, mostly I never meet the client and work at home.

If a client asks me to make original graphics ( or I have to anyway ) they don't really care how I do it, so I could use Adobe software or (say) Xara software - no problem at all. Xara is very capable.

If I go and work in-house with them, or they supply assets to me, it will always be expected that I work with Adobe software.

I am ALWAYS supplied with files for Adobe PS, AI, IN or a PDF. Sometimes I get given the odd asset in a general format such as a jpg or png.

I have yet to meet anyone at a design agency not using Adobe software. I have never been offered any files by a design agency, or any client whatsoever, in Corel or Xara format. Ever.

If I go in-house to a design agency they have an absolute expectation that I have used Adobe software.

Adobe is unpopular with independent designers right now because of the change to their licencing to a subscription format. I can say definitively that since they introduced the new form of licencing that I have never had a conversation with a client where that has been brought up and I have seen absolutely no signs that the Adobe influence is waning in professional design houses employing several staff.

TG is full of talented people who make great things using Xara software - the vast majority work alone or in small companies and interoperability with design clients may not be an issue - especially when creating original artwork. Xara is perfect for them.

My design agency clients can pay me quite a bit of money. Their clients are often household names - I've just finished a project for a website promoting a car manufacturer. I effectively had to satisfy four stakeholders.

In situations like this the cost of the monthly subscription for Adobe is really low in comparison with the client budget and I and they couldn't possibly take on this project without using Adobe software. Adobe gives us interoperability between the companies. We can all work with the same assets.

In this sense, I am an unusual TG member. The majority of my work comes from design houses where Adobe rules.

If you have an intention of working with design houses or working at a design house, you walk away from Adobe at your absolute peril. The house of Adobe may fall at some stage, but that is not now, or even on the horizon.

If it helps, I have yet to be given any Adobe files in any format higher than CS6. I sometimes get files in CS5.5. I can't remember when I had anything lower than CS5.5.

Save money now and at some stage in the future you may go to a design agency looking to be an intern or junior and they will expect you to have Adobe skills, not Corel or Xara.

I am not knocking Xara or Corel at all. It's not about how capable they are it's about what your future employer will expect.

Besides the software, of course, you will need some skill!

Good luck.

Paul

[iamtheblues]

One of those posts that make me want to press a "recommend" type button that we used to have on TG back in the day.
Great advice Paul.
Bob.

[pauland]

Kind words Bob - thank you.