When it comes to website success, what you see is what you get. While compelling text, blog, and social media content can help set your brand apart from the competition, the visual appeal of your site is the first thing users see when they follow backlinks or click through search engine results.
Recent research found that it takes just 2.6 seconds for users’ eyes to focus on a specific area of your website. What’s more, it takes just 0.05 seconds for visitors to form a general first impression of your site meaning you’ve got just one opportunity to change their minds or reinforce this impression, and it happens in the first three seconds of arrival.
As a result, creating web pages that are both visually attractive and contextually useful is important. Larger companies may be able to afford to hire specialized graphic designers to create eye-catching designs and deploy them consistently across several websites.
What is the Best Free Graphic Design Software?
If your research turns up a problem your images aren’t compelling, your text is hard to read and your color scheme hurts the eyes you need a simple solution.
Free graphic design software allows you to change the appearance and design of the website without spending lots of money. But, with so many alternatives accessible, how can you know which is the greatest match for your company?
The Best Free Graphic Design Software for Marketers and Beginners
Canva
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS
Whether you’re looking to create an ebook, infographic, business card, or email header, Canva has a template to simplify your process. The free web design tool, developed by non-designers, offers professional, easy-to-customize templates for just about any design need you can think of.
The drawback? You might need to invest in the paid version or try one of the more advanced free graphic design software as you skill up. While Canva’s free version is great for new designers working with templates, you can access more complex tools and features such as team sharing in the paid version.
Gravit
Platforms: PC, Mac, Chrome OS, Linux
Gravit is a vector design application created by the makers of Corel Draw. With a host of tools for creating vector art and a self-adjusting interface, Gravit earns its place among the best free graphic design software for Mac and Windows the tool is also available for ChromeOS and Linux.
Is it remarkable? When you sign up for a free Gravit trial, you automatically gain access to “Pro” features like working offline and seeing the version history. If you don’t want to pay for a membership, you’ll lose these services once your trial period is over.
Adobe Spark
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS
Adobe Spark is a free alternative to the company’s popular, for-pay Adobe Illustrator. While it’s not nearly as full-featured, it does support integration with other Adobe products. It’s easy to use and it comes with a host of free templates. If you’re looking to quickly create posters or videos for ad campaigns, Spark is a great choice.
What could be the disadvantage? Because of its limited feature set, it’s an excellent place to start for beginners, but it’s less effective for more complicated tasks or experienced designers. The good news is that Spark is available on both the web and mobile platforms, allowing you to design from anywhere at any time.
Paint 3D
Platform: Windows
The classic Microsoft design tool is back, free, and updated to deliver more functionality. While it can’t compete with some of the more robust design tools on our list, Paint 3D comes with realistic textures, 2D cutout creation, and a host of 3D tools and effects.
Paint 3D is an extremely useful tool if you’re a starter searching for a simple area to enter for basic graphic creation. There’s almost no learning curve, and because it’s built by Microsoft, it works on all Windows 10 devices out of the package.
Picking the Right Platform for Graphic Design
Most of the tools on this list are available on multiple platforms including PC, Mac, and mobile but is there a distinct advantage to selecting one platform over the other?
The short answer: Not really. These tools offer the same functionality regardless of which platform you choose.
The not-so-short answer? For beginners, opting for PC or mobile is probably your best choice. While Macs remain a powerhouse for graphic design, their user interface (UI) is less intuitive than their PC and mobile counterparts. This presents a learning curve you likely don’t need if you’re just getting started with graphic design.
Mac-based solutions may be ideal for graphic design and marketing professionals due to their concentrate on function over form.