60
votes
Accepted
Is it frowned upon as a designer if you don't use "top" software?
Originally written in 2014. Non-Adobe apps have since taken a larger foothold on the industry. Still no comparison in terms of overall usage, but the smaller apps are far more prolific in 2021 than ...
- 197k
32
votes
Accepted
Why would a designer want to purchase a typeface instead of using free ones?
To scoop up all suggestions in the comments and add my own reasons, here goes:
Quality
Paid fonts are higher in quality, on average than free ones. Remember that saying: 'Pay peanuts, and you get ...
- 24.3k
29
votes
Why would a designer want to purchase a typeface instead of using free ones?
Why should someone pay for your designs? Because you have talent, knowledge, invested time and you can create something unique that someone else can't. The same is true for type designers and their ...
- 1,775
20
votes
Accepted
Making backgrounds of animated GIF files transparent
You can do this with GIFsicle, using the following options:
gifsicle -U --disposal=previous --transparent="#ffffff" -O2 anim.gif > anim_trans.gif
where anim.gif and anim_trans.gif are the source ...
- 15.8k
17
votes
Why would a designer want to purchase a typeface instead of using free ones?
Short answer:
you should use the typeface that is right for the job.
Maybe that's a free font. Maybe it's not.
Longer answer:
Disadvantages of (many, not all) free fonts:
limited character set
...
- 49.8k
13
votes
Inexpensive or free software to just use to draw chemical equations and structures
I know there's an open-source extension to LATEX specifically for chemical formulae - I think it's called chemfig - here's what I just found on quick lookup:
Overleaf - Chemfig
Also, for simple ...
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12
votes
Is it frowned upon as a designer if you don't use "top" software?
I firmly believe that, in this area at least, as long as your final work has a solid base in planification and reasoning, there is no right or wrong when it comes to software.
To be honest, it doesn'...
- 514
8
votes
License that allows me completely free commercial usage of images
but I know nothing about those licenses
You have to read them. :)
But yes, those are but two examples of licenses that often allow you to freely use them. GPL is an open source license. Creative ...
- 49.8k
8
votes
What's a good replacement font for ITC Avant Garde Std?
I know this post is a bit old, but I faced this issue today and finally found a GoogleFont alternative : Poppins
Beside some letter width and the letter Q (which is completely different), the font is ...
- 289
8
votes
Accepted
How to remove part of an image in the shape of a font without affecting the background?
You can do this with other raster image editing software, such as GIMP which is free. It can be done by using layers and layer masks. In fact almost any raster image editor which has layer support ...
- 73.2k
7
votes
Is it frowned upon as a designer if you don't use "top" software?
The quality of your work is judged by your work...not the tool you used to make it. So if your output is good, that's all that matters.
As such, no, what software you use isn't what other designers ...
- 49.8k
7
votes
Inexpensive or free software to just use to draw chemical equations and structures
Chemsketch is free for academic use:
https://www.acdlabs.com/resources/freeware/chemsketch/
- 171
6
votes
How to create an EAN-13 barcode with a font?
The free Inkscape vector graphics editor contains a vector barcode generator: Extensions → Render → Barcode. It will also generate / verify the checksum for you. You can then save it to SVG, ...
6
votes
Accepted
Should I ask an illustrator to (temporarily) work for free? If so, where to look?
Is this an arrangement someone would ever possibly agree to?
Only entry level designers who don't know what they're doing.
What you're asking for is a lot of work and for only name mention. You're ...
- 12.9k
6
votes
Inexpensive or free software to just use to draw chemical equations and structures
If you only want to draw them by hand, as you were on a blackboard you can use any simple paint program, there are several free ones.
*MyPaint https://github.com/mypaint/mypaint/releases
FireAlpaca ...
- 33.5k
5
votes
Free software to format an illustrated children fairy tale on Mac
Your best bet is to look at open source software.
For fonts, take a look at the excellent selection at fontsquirrel
For editing the illustrations, you can take a look at Krita or GIMP
For laying out ...
- 7,134
5
votes
Accepted
Pixel art software for Windows 10
What you are looking for is MagicaVoxel
It's an 8-bit voxel modeling and animating program that's free and open-source.
The software is still in its infancy but there are a small amount of tutorials ...
- 5,128
5
votes
How to remove part of an image in the shape of a font without affecting the background?
Billy beat me to a good answer, but I thought I'd post examples I'd already finished - once you have your mask you can quickly flip it to show either style…
colour clash below bothered me, so I spent ...
- 3,945
4
votes
Is it frowned upon as a designer if you don't use "top" software?
Some of this will depend on the eventual purposing for your produced work. From the standpoint of print production, using mainstream products like the Adobe suite is beneficial in that we (prepress ...
- 141
4
votes
What are good sources for Open-Source fonts?
In addition to Google Fonts, there is also Font Squirrel.
If you are a developer or designing a web application, take a look at NPM typeface packages. This allow you to download and self-host fonts ...
4
votes
What free/open source image design programs can you recommend?
Krita is another open-source raster graphics editor. It is mostly aimed at digital painting. Among other things, it has features like powerful brush engine, symmetrical drawing mode and warping tools.
- 141
4
votes
Free plugin to create/display Photoshop measurement annotations
Ink is a free plugin that will provide spec documentation for your Photoshop document. It provides layer measurements, text formatting, and layer style information with the option of turning any or ...
- 93
4
votes
Accepted
Free plugin to create/display Photoshop measurement annotations
There's this Photoshop script that is free, called Pixelmeasure. It's not as complete as SpecKing, you will need to first make a selection and then run the script to get the measurements.
If you ...
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4
votes
Free plotter software?
The only free vinyl cutting software that I know of right now is Inkcut for Inkskcape.
Other than that one there isn't a free solution out there. Your best bet for the price could be VinylMaster ...
- 18.2k
4
votes
Triangle Pattern Background in Freeware
You do not actually need a fancy editor for this a text editor and a browser will do quite well. Just Delunlay triangulate a bunch of points and draw the triangles. So something like:
// you need SVG....
- 55.3k
4
votes
Inexpensive or free software to just use to draw chemical equations and structures
Word and Powerpoint or their free rivals such as LibreOffice or OpenOffice have editors for quite rich formulas. They are very easy, but typographic control in LaTeX style is zero.
Structure diagrams ...
- 50.9k
3
votes
Why would a designer want to purchase a typeface instead of using free ones?
Because fonts are actually tools. And who doesn't want to use good tools instead of bad ones?
The decision of tool will determine your level of design. If you train your eye constantly to "see" fonts ...
- 1,608
3
votes
Accepted
Can this licence be applied to non code (art)?
When you want to make your work "free and available" to anyone online you should mention how it is free. It is not a term of use nor a copyright. It is simply "access to knowledge".
You have 6 ...
- 5,339
3
votes
Does anyone know of a free font with angled, tapered serifs similar to Golden Type Bold?
Coelacanth, a free Venetian based on Centaur, comes in many weights and optical sizes; it’s a work in progress, and the developer’s site is benwhitmore.altervista.org.
Here’s a sample for comparison:
...
- 240
3
votes
Accepted
I'm Looking For Free Graphic Design Software Like Adobe Photoshop
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) would be the best alternative to Photoshop that is free.
GIMP is a cross-platform image editor available for GNU/Linux, OS X,
Windows and more operating ...
- 12.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible