Software for designing signs and posters

[Billct2]

I still use Gerber for sign design. It's tools were designed for the sign industry. If I have a project that will be printed I use Corel to finish.

 

[Bobby H]

As a independent designer for 15 years, I've used both Corel and Adobe, and I actually enjoyed Corel's programs a lot more. Intuitive and just nicer programs and nicer tools/brushes etc in general.

However, when I started moving away from freelancing and into typical workplaces a few years ago, Adobe is the only thing that mattered on my resume. My employers already had Adobe subscriptions because their previous designers used it. And once the students in the design programs learn that GIMP or whatever raster program they drew with in high school doesn't translate in the large-format industry, they snag an Adobe subscription. Paying for Illustrator monthly...sucks long term. But $1,199 for CS2 was a really large sum to ask when I started out. So, it sucks, but it also opens up the market to small biz/independent freelancers to get their start, and kids to get some experience.

Employers in various fields of the graphics/advertising industry have always been pretty snobby over what they expect to see on a candidate's resume. This goes back 30 years. Adobe's applications have often been included in the must-have apps on the list, specifically Photoshop. In the 1990's Illustrator and Freehand were rivals and both worked equally well with Photoshop. Freehand was a Postscript-based drawing app, just like Illustrator. Quark Xpress experience was mandatory. Finally, employers expected all that experience had to be developed on a Mac. If you were a PC guy using CorelDRAW and listed that on you resume you probably wouldn't get called for an interview. Not very much has changed with that situation, other than apps like Quark Xpress being replaced on the list with InDesign. The Mac platform is still preferred in most creative work places, with a few exceptions.

The sign design field has been one of the exceptions, all due to its predominately PC/Windows-based roots.

I've been using both CorelDRAW and Adobe Illustrator since the early 1990's. I think it's ridiculous to say one is better than the other. Each app has its own strengths and weaknesses. HOWEVER, these applications do not exist in a vacuum. They have their past history and then there is the future going forward. I personally don't think the situation looks very good for CorelDRAW. That's based on how it currently stacks up against Adobe and how CorelDRAW is threatened by low cost upstarts.

This morning Adobe released yet another update for Illustrator: 24.3. The 24.2 update introduced the large canvas feature (art boards up to 2275" X 2275" -bigger than the 1800" max in CorelDRAW). The 24.3 update adds some type related features I had requested for years. You can now size letters based on four options: Em Box, Cap Height, x-height and ICF box. There are some new options for aligning point text and body text. Overall, these two recent point release updates make it a lot easier to create full size sign designs and other large scale designs within Illustrator.

In addition to the point release updates to Illustrator Adobe has released multiple smaller updates to the 24.1 and 24.2 releases. They'll likely do the same with 24.3. The Adobe MAX conference is scheduled for October. Illustrator 25/CC 2021 will be introduced then.

Meanwhile, there isn't much activity with CorelDRAW. There has been one point release update and one "hot fix" update to address access to Corel Cloud features. That's it.

 

[Pewter0000]

This morning Adobe released yet another update for Illustrator: 24.3. The 24.2 update introduced the large canvas feature (art boards up to 2275" X 2275" -bigger than the 1800" max in CorelDRAW). The 24.3 update adds some type related features I had requested for years. You can now size letters based on four options: Em Box, Cap Height, x-height and ICF box. There are some new options for aligning point text and body text. Overall, these two recent point release updates make it a lot easier to create full size sign designs and other large scale designs within Illustrator.

In addition to the point release updates to Illustrator Adobe has released multiple smaller updates to the 24.1 and 24.2 releases. They'll likely do the same with 24.3. The Adobe MAX conference is scheduled for October. Illustrator 25/CC 2021 will be introduced then.

That's something else I can appreciate about the subscription trade-off - always the newest version of a program.

SUPER excited to hear about those changes, I was waiting for the larger artboards to be properly released.

 

[Pauly]

I think this lady is looking for one of those template editing software you could probably find online to create quick posters and what not.
from the post, i highly doubt shes in the sign market.

probably something like this
https://signmakeronline.com.au/#general

 

[Jun Lanon]

You can't go wrong with illustrator. That's what most people use.

 

[Bobby H]

Tomorrow Corel isn't doing anything. It's just the sound of crickets over there. They still can't clean up all the bugs introduced in CDR 2019 and there are new bugs in CDR 2020 that are going unnoticed by their development team. Or maybe they know about them but the bosses at KKR have the developers spinning their wheels on some other fluff. The bugs in CDR 2020 are bad enough that I have to keep an older version running on my computer just to get projects completed in CorelDRAW.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I was in college 30 years ago; computer-based design was still in its infancy then. Many of the analog methods of illustration and graphic design were still very much in use.

Mainstream college has changed a lot since then. Hell, I haven't been out nearly that long and what I'm seeing now, it has radically changed since then.

And once the students in the design programs learn that GIMP or whatever raster program they drew with in high school doesn't translate in the large-format industry

Going from graphic program to something like Scribus would help with that (if wanting to stick with open source).

I personally can't stand GIMP from a UI perspective (more of a Qt UI fan myself, despise GTK but I digress), but it is very powerful if one is willing/able to script extra functionality. It's not all that hard and it goes into people not wanting to learn how to use their tools to the best of their ability.

Tomorrow Corel isn't doing anything. It's just the sound of crickets over there. They still can't clean up all the bugs introduced in CDR 2019 and there are new bugs in CDR 2020 that are going unnoticed by their development team.

It's too much on the devs I'm willing to bet you. Adding a Mac version is a huge mistake, especially if they didn't hire on Mac centric devs and they are trying to write native apps. The means that they have to maintain more code.

If they had used a framework like Qt (it's what I use for my C++ programs) that would allow you to write once and apply to all major platforms (including Linux), but also to ARM (including iOS and Android) and even to the web (again, thanks to WASM). Autodesk uses this for Maya. Adobe uses this for Ps Elements and Ps Album. Qt, it does have an open source and a commercial version, is very powerful and they should have done it that way versus trying to do native for both.

Having to have an app look native was the mainstream thinking decades ago, not so much now. With web apps (and Electron apps) being more mainstream, having to go with totally native apps doesn't hold as much water as it once did. Those that hold out on thinking that are probably hold outs typically on a lot of other things and how they were done in yesteryear.

 

[Bobby H]

Mainstream college has changed a lot since then. Hell, I haven't been out nearly that long and what I'm seeing now, it has radically changed since then.

As I stated earlier I've kept up with things at my alma mater. I've not had my head stuck in the sand since the early 1990's. I'm on the graphics dept advisory panel for one of our local institutions. I'm up to speed on current events. Any school teaching course work in computer-based graphic design that dedicates course time to repeating application users manual garbage that can be found for free online is wasting the student's time and money.

It's too much on the devs I'm willing to bet you. Adding a Mac version is a huge mistake, especially if they didn't hire on Mac centric devs and they are trying to write native apps. The means that they have to maintain more code.

I think it's all about optics and how CorelDRAW stacks up against rivals. Adobe has versions of all their applications running on both Windows and OSX. Some executives at Corel or more likely Vector Capital figured Corel needed to deliver the same thing with CorelDRAW. Maybe they were under more pressure to do so given the fact some other upstart rivals to CorelDRAW are also available Windows and OSX (and even iPadOS).

Apple was supposedly involved with helping Corel build its truly native version of CorelDRAW. But I can't help but wonder if the folks at Apple sand-bagged their side of the effort to some degree. It's all in the past now. Corel now faces a grim Catch-22 situation. They can either try the very daunting task of developing ARM and Intel based variants of CorelDRAW for OSX. Or they can take the easy way out and pull the plug (again) on the Mac version of CorelDRAW. If they were concerned about the optics on not having a Mac version of CorelDRAW they'll have to be far more concerned about looking incompetent for not being able to maintain a Mac version after releasing it.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

wasting the student's time and money.

Yep and it's not just in the graphics world either and you have to understand something, my family has been big supporters of high education, so it took a lot to come down off that particularly high horse. Is that all of them, no, but don't think it doesn't exist.

They can either try the very daunting task of developing ARM and Intel based variants of CorelDRAW for OSX.

Depending on how you do it, it's not that daunting. If I can do it with my programs (one code base, I've gotten it compiled on Windows, Linux, Pi, Android, and web (via WASM), it will compile under Mac and iOS, but since I don't have those products (and it will a very cold day before I do), I don't build on those devices, but they can be) there should be no excuse that even a small company like Corel couldn't do it. Autodesk uses the same frameworks that I do. Adobe for some of their programs. There are better ways to implement this then how they did it and it would give it a far more future proofing then how they did it. Yes, Qt could from a commercial variant go away, but the open source variant will still be out there in some form. Don't even have to use Qt, that's just my favorite out there.

 

[Johnny Best]

Higher education is smoking a joint before class.
I still use the CS6 for Photoshop and Illustrator, I refuse to get involved with cloud payments. Have been learning Affinity Designer and Photo.
When I went to art school computers were not around, worked a Letterpress at my grandfathers's shop so knew all about layout, leading and colors. Life drawing with nudes was my favorite.
When computers came out that was just a major upgrade from a press and with a Apple LaserWriter I was a happy guy. Learning Illustrator was a breeze because it was developed by artists so it was an easier way to draw curves and type techniques. Do not need a big artboard to design. So do not need to upgrade for that and all the other crap they (Adobe) have added do not interest me.
I think people need to learn how to draw before learning how to do some small thing to with a font.

 

[Z SIGNS]

Does not matter what program you use.They all do the same thing.
It's not the software that makes a design.
It's the brain behind the mouse that makes it.

 

[Bobby H]

Life drawing with nudes was my favorite.

We had all shapes, sizes, colors of people (and of all adult ages) posing nude in my life drawing and painting classes. I arrived at one class about 20 minutes late thanks to the subway being stuck in the tunnel for awhile due to a track fire ahead. The model was already posed on the stand when I walked in the door. She looked like she weighed well over 300 pounds. It's a good thing her back was turned to me, so she didn't see the shocked look on my face.

Sometimes the models were physically fit, attractive, etc. The funny thing is the more "average" or unusual people were easier to draw; the sketches were more accurate and observational. The people with gym rat physiques tempted the brain to go into auto-pilot mode. Students ended up drawing super hero figures rather than the person posing on the stand.

 

[Pewter0000]

Sometimes the models were physically fit, attractive, etc. The funny thing is the more "average" or unusual people were easier to draw; the sketches were more accurate and observational. The people with gym rat physiques tempted the brain to go into auto-pilot mode. Students ended up drawing super hero figures rather than the person posing on the stand.

Yeah I did a ton of life drawing during my BFA, I really miss it. Pretty students would come in and think that pouting their lips and flashing their hair and staying very still was "modeling", but we really wanted models that moved and stretched and were all different sizes. We're trying to learn, not just draw pretty people.