While thinking about what to write this week I was thinking about what sort of things have made my life easier as a designer, and the software that I use came to mind. I have been using Adobe products for over 15 years, and Macromedia as well before Adobe bought them, and the different they make for my final products designed for clients are huge. I don’t think that I could function as a designer without Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver. So when my version from a couple years ago started to get very dated I was not looking forward to having to pay the huge amount for an upgrade – but then Adobe introduced Creative Cloud.
Creative Cloud has been AMAZING! I pay a nominal fee monthly, currently they’re charging $50/month, and I have access to the entire Creative Suite and any and ALL updates, upgrades, etc. I never have to worry about my software getting outdated again! The monthly amount also would likely be cheaper then if I upgraded regularly when they come out with new versions, and makes it fit into the budget much easier. Only negative so far is that I personally had MUCH difficulty downloading and installing the software, had to surrender my computer to our Technical Director for a few days to figure it out, and that affected my productivity understandably! Other than that I’ve been VERY happy.
Aside from the price and staying up-to-date, there are a ton of features that I haven’t even had a chance to take advantage of yet. We can use the Adobe TypeKit for our clients websites to use unique fonts online in web designs, store design files in the cloud online so I can access them anywhere, and way more. There are also more programs available to me than I will likely ever use.
So if you’re a designer looking to stay up-to-date and have all the tools you need for your design projects but working on a limited budget – or even just want to work smarter – check it out, we recommend it highly! And will also say, so far I’m LOVING the CS6 upgrades in comparison to my old CS4!
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