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Need a recommendation on software I should use for graphic design and other...

0igo

New Member
Sorry if my question is too vague, but I am new to the digital part of sign business. I need help on software I should use to graphic design, wrap, and window tint, etc. what programs do you guys like and would recommend me using? Thank you.
 

rjssigns

Active Member
Sorry if my question is too vague, but I am new to the digital part of sign business. I need help on software I should use to graphic design, wrap, and window tint, etc. what programs do you guys like and would recommend me using? Thank you.

Illustrator and Photoshop are industry standards. So much so that Adobe products are the de facto software in schools and colleges. I'm not saying they are the only game in town though.

You could use FlexiSign or Corel software. Joe Diaz does absolutely incredible work with Corel. XARA is a slick piece of software also.

Google Illustrator and Photoshop alternatives and a whole raft of options will pop up.

Don't get too wrapped up in what everybody else is using of thinks you should have.
Don't think you have to have the latest version of whatever either.
My wife can bury some so called "designers" with her "ancient" CS2 Illy and Ps.


In closing: It has more to do with your design talent then software. If you can't do clean basic layouts the best software in the world will not help you.
 

OldPaint

New Member
corel draw..........it has its own equivalent of photoshop called photopaint.....and i prefer it over photoshop.
arts & letters..............
 
Hire yourself a GOOD designer and production guy with industry experience. If you don't, based on your posts, you're screwed. That's honest advice.
 

reQ

New Member
You don't need any software for window tint. There are few on the market like DAP from XPEL; TruCut from SunTek & 3M Digital Designs. Most of the average 50-100 dollars per months. We do window tinting & PPF but never use tint patterns, since most of the time they are no good. Freehand it, will get much better results.
 

Andy D

Active Member
Hire yourself a GOOD designer and production guy with industry experience. If you don't, based on your posts, you're screwed. That's honest advice.

Wow dude, that's way too harsh... I have noticed that several people here have been treating 0igo like cr@p for asking honest questions, wtf is up with that?
 
That's not harsh, that's reality. Many of us are fighting competition just like this guy daily. The problem is, that they aren't really "competition", they are just under cutting us because to them, sign making is nothing more than putting letters on a substrate. Customers then think that signs are cheap. They disregard good design, branding, etc. This guy will be selling his equipment off to try to recoup money soon because he has no clue what he's doing, but he came here to ask an industry of trained, qualified pros how to do it.
 

0igo

New Member
That's not harsh, that's reality. Many of us are fighting competition just like this guy daily. The problem is, that they aren't really "competition", they are just under cutting us because to them, sign making is nothing more than putting letters on a substrate. Customers then think that signs are cheap. They disregard good design, branding, etc. This guy will be selling his equipment off to try to recoup money soon because he has no clue what he's doing, but he came here to ask an industry of trained, qualified pros how to do it.

so youre saying you were just born doing this stuff and never had to learn? come on bro i post this on the newbie section (because im new, not because im trying to steal all your clientele), one day ill be helping out someone like me and there will never be any sort of hate on my end.
 

Bly

New Member
so youre saying you were just born doing this stuff and never had to learn? come on bro i post this on the newbie section (because im new, not because im trying to steal all your clientele), one day ill be helping out someone like me and there will never be any sort of hate on my end.

There are always people on here who like to feel better about themselves by bashing new members.
Are they the same ones who criticise others' art attempts while having no skills themselves?
I don't know because I don't pay that much attention to them.
I'd advise you to do the same.

Illustrator and Photoshop are design industry standards and while not as intuitive as other software, time invested in learning them would be well worth your while.
 

reQ

New Member
Oh yeah, talking about "hiring graphic designer" i can't find decent one for 2 years now. I don't expect them to be JoeDiaz kind but i can't find any lol
 
Oh yeah, talking about "hiring graphic designer" i can't find decent one for 2 years now. I don't expect them to be JoeDiaz kind but i can't find any lol

That's because there are very few of us, and most of us aspire to be of Joe's level. To the op, I wasn't born in this, but I was born an artist. Then trained in both college and the real world working my way up through ****ty shops to awesome shops learning my trade and getting better. Excuse me if I get offended when some guy buys a printer then asks for guidance on materials, pricing and software. If you had any design skills at all, you'd already know the software, that was the clue to me you have no idea what you're doing.
 

klmiller611

New Member
While not downing Corel Draw, I've seen amazing stuff done with it, I vote for Illustrator and Photoshop. I grew up on Illustrator, back to having prerelease versions of it in the 1980s, when I got Corel and tried to learn it, it seemed very clunky to me and not as well thought out.

The other reason I go for Illustrator, is out in the world outside of sign production, I honestly believe that you will find a far larger base of Illustrator than Corel, and getting files in from the outside world is part of our business, like you need a logo, I can find far more files in Illustrator on Brands of the World than Corel.

Again, not bashing, just my humble opinion.

Ken Miller
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
They are all tools, it just depends on how good you are with those tools as to how well they will serve you and your business. Ai, Corel Draw, Inkscape, Zara (on Linux) (there are others, those are the ones that I've had direct experience with) are all decent programs that will work for when vector is preferred.

Ps and Gimp, I've had very good results with. I have Photo-Paint, but never have used it, I would imagine though it would also be good as well.

I have to agree with this:

The other reason I go for Illustrator, is out in the world outside of sign production, I honestly believe that you will find a far larger base of Illustrator than Corel, and getting files in from the outside world is part of our business, like you need a logo, I can find far more files in Illustrator on Brands of the World than Corel.

When I do get proprietary source files, more often then not, they are Adobe files. Ai, and Corel Draw don't play well trying to import the other's files (at least not in my experience).
 
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