Top 5 graphic design programs for business
We have all heard the saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Pictures can make understanding difficult concepts easy and make extrapolating data to predict future trends a breeze. In the many areas of life that this can be applied, in business, it is essential. Pictures, graphs, info-graphics, and numerous other graphic design elements can help to break up monotonous presentations and assist in keeping the audience engaged. However, cheap design software can often thwart efforts to produce clear, concise, and meaningful graphics and it’s hard to know which program to choose. In this article, I am going to break down the top 5 graphic design tools for businesses of any size. This list will be rating the top programs for inexperienced graphic designers as this would be the everyday employee and therefore won’t take into consideration programs like Photoshop. I will be rating each program on 4 factors, complexity, function, polish, and price.
Function refers to the ability of the program to do different tasks. Changing elements, colours, shapes and sizes are all part of this category. The amount of detail that the program is capable of is also considered here. 1 means the program only provides basic uses, while 5 is very versatile.
Complexity refers to how complicating the program is. Usually, the more features and greater customization a program has, the higher the complexity rating with 5 being very complicated and 1 being very simple.
Polish refers to the aesthetic appeal of each program. Aesthetics are important to instill trust in potential customers. 5 is a very professional, sleek looking program, and 1 is a cheap, untrustworthy looking program.
Price refers to how expensive each option is. Free options will be mentioned when available, however, the price score will be determined by minimum payable version, or the cost to remove watermarks. It will also cover the pricing strategy.
Vizzlo, best for single graphic elements
Function: 4/5
Complexity: 3/5
Polish: 5/5
Price: 3/5
Vizzlo is a graphic editing software capable of producing dozens upon dozens of different types of graphics. Right from the beginning, Vizzlo has a sleek and professional looking program that is usable directly from a browser. From Gantt charts to circular agendas, feedback loops to road maps, Vizzlo is the program to use if you seek to create simple yet effective graphic elements. Vizzlo is easy to use and can customize almost every option within the given templates.
While Vizzlo is great at creating infographics, I would not recommend it for creating one pagers as it is somewhat limited in the number of elements you can place per page and customization outside of their templates is difficult. Vizzlo is free to use, but is a bit steeper at $130USD/year to remove the watermark. A full review of Vizzlo can be found here: http://www.saasgenius.com/program/project-management-planning/vizzlo
OmniGraffle, the best design software for a mac
Function: 5/5
Complexity: 5/5
Polish: 3/5
Price: 2/5
OmniGraffle is one of the few programs specifically designed for mac and iOS (yes, it’s compatible with Iphone’s). With the abundance of apple products on the market, it is surprising that more programs have not tried to replicate this feature. OmniGraffle is simple and effective, yet the surprising amount of utility makes it slightly more complex than the other programs. OmniGraffle has more customization options than most and it is possible to go into much deeper detail when designing graphic elements. Many similar programs are limited in the form of templates, where as OmniGraffle has an unlimited amount of customization options.
Due to OmniGraffle’s high customization potential, it is much more complex than other graphic design programs and can be hard to recreate the same polished look of templates. I would not recommend this program for producing quick and effective infographics, other programs are more user friendly and better for inexperienced graphic producers. I believe OmniGraffle is more effective at creating graphic designs in the hands of an experienced creator.
OmniGraffle is an average looking program, I would say that many other programs in this price range have a better polish. Furthermore, user reviews have indicated that OmniGraffle does have a few bugs that need to be sorted, which is surprising to hear from something at this price point. A one time $100 USD price tag for the basic license and $200 USD for the pro license is what you will pay for this software. It should be noted that OmniGraffle does offer discounts on business group licenses if multiple copies are sought. Full reviews of OmniGraffle can be found here: https://www.g2crowd.com/products/omnigraffle/reviews
Venngage, best software for one-pagers
Function: 4/5
Complexity: 2/5
Polish: 5/5
Price: 4/5
Venngage is an infographic creation tool that excels in creating polished, yet effective looking one pagers quickly and with very little former experience. Venngage is easy to learn and can create stunning visuals with a wide variety of slick templates and professional looking icons, pictures, and font types. Tools in Venngage are easy to access and understand, and inexperienced graphic producers will thrive with this program.
Venngage is another browser-based program that scored high in polish. The creation tool looks amazing, clean lines, good layout, and easy to understand. The design looks professional, yet very effective and fun to use. Venngage offers a free version to users at the cost of a water mark, the premium version costs $19USD/month and they also offer a business version for $49USD/month that offers a collaboration feature. You can find full reviews on Venngage here: https://www.g2crowd.com/products/venngage/reviews
Canva, best collaboration software for creative graphics
Function: 3/5
Complexity: 2/5
Polish: 5/5
Price: 1/5
Canva is a graphic design software with an emphasis on collaboration. While it allows the user to create all sorts of graphics, it is also one of the only programs on this list that lets you collaborate on projects together for free. In todays team-oriented work environment, this ability to collaborate for free is game changing, and lets people with busy schedules contribute from anywhere. Furthermore, Canva has a mobile app for iOS and android that allows the use of Canva on mobile devices.
Canva excels in creating posters, banners, social media posts, flyers, and so much more with an easy-to-use layout and pronounced features. Furthermore, it allows for almost every inch of the page to be customized to your liking. However, I would not recommend using Canva for creating graphs or charts with actual data, it lacks the ability to input data and is more suited towards making eye catching graphics.
The overall polish of Canva is amazing, using images and words to clarify functions and guide the user through the creation process. Animations in the web-based program are clear and fluid, increasing enjoyment throughout the task. Canva also doesn’t require premium to perform optimally, where as most programs water mark your designs without payment, Canva is completely free unless you require larger teams (10 or greater) or more templates to choose from. A full review to Canva can be found here: https://reviews.financesonline.com/p/canva/
Lucidchart, best collaboration software for flowcharts
Function: 4/5
Complexity: 3/5
Polish: 4/5
Price: 4/5
Lucidchart is a browser-based flowchart program designed for business structure diagramming such as AWS architecture, ERD’s, network diagrams, and more. Although it doesn’t make graphics as aesthetically pleasing as Canva, it can produce more useful graphics and is collaboration friendly. Lucidchart comes with a wide variety of templates and customization options to produce the most effective flow charts for your business and has a simple configuration and is incredibly easy to use.
The extra utility and ability to modify details that Lucidchart possesses makes it marginally harder to use than some other graphic programs, however, it is still beginner friendly. The templates that Lucidcahrt provides makes it easy to produce quality flowcharts with little knowledge on the user’s part. Lucid chart has an overall clean layout, however, other programs such as Vizzlo and Canva can produce graphics more pleasing to the eye.
Lucidchart is one of the more expensive programs on the list. Although cheap for individual users at a price of $5/month, it becomes exponentially more expensive for businesses seeking the collaboration functionality. Ranging from $20/month for 3-person collaboration all the way to $600/month for 100-person collaboration, Lucidchart isn’t the cheapest design software on the market. More reviews on Lucidchart can be found here: https://www.g2crowd.com/products/lucidchart/reviews
When in need of graphic design software, I would recommend one of these five programs. Whether you need Vizzlo for quality info-graphics, Omnigraffle for its mac integration, Venngage for one pagers, Canva for creative collaboration, or Lucidchart for flowcharts, each program has their pros and cons which I will outline below:
