Adobe Illustrator CC

Pros

Adobe illustrator is a great software for Graphic Designers to add to their collection. The software is made for creating a vector graphics and it so good at it. Over the years, I have learnt to use Adobe Illustrator to create project like Cartoon and Logo designs. It is a great software and it gets the job done easily.

One of the best option for using the illustrator is the vector-graphic which makes design a perfect still quality, no matter how the design’s size is adjusted, the resolution stay the same.

With Adobe illustrator users can easily draw a design from scratch by mastering the Pen Tool and with tons of other tools like the Pathfinder Tool, the software made it very easy to design almost anything and even beautify it with the color guide.

Cons

Adobe illustrator is great, no doubt one of the best drawing software out there, however the best can be too best.. if that makes sense. For beginners, Illustrator has so many complex features which are not easy to learn at all, even with knowledge of other Adobe softwares.

The software is also heavy while operating, it requires a very strong PC to properly use without slowing down your operations or hang the PC while at it.

Illustrator is just good for drawing, editing image isn’t recommended on the software, it lacks some basic features to edit image and working with layers on this software can be very frustrating.

Pros

The ability and functionality to create media for use across a multitude of platforms. Especially in the case of where we needed a design or event logo for print, the ability to create as vector or to rebuild it for this purpose has been a huge benefit.

Cons

There is a slightly more advanced learning curve and technical ability required to use this. As one who has been using iterations of the adobe suite from a young age into professional career, illustrator took the most learning and for the finer tuning required the most technical eye and care.

Pros

Creativity is almost limitless with Illustrator. There are tools and options to do just about anything you can imagine. The integration with Photoshop, InDesign, and the rest of the Suite is excellent. Newer features that help with shape building and object continuity help to make it easier to design complex designs. Working with images in your Library allows them to be shared back and forth and updated live.

Cons

The monthly subscription pricing model is obnoxious. I started with CS3 many moons ago and it worked well for me for a good many years. When I went to upgrade I was forced into a monthly subscription even though I would be perfectly happy with the software as it was a year ago when I started with the subscription model. This allows Adobe to be slow with feature updates while they milk the users for subscription fees. I'd much rather pay more up-front and deal with the software as-is. I also do not like how items are saved once they are updated in the Library. I have a massive temp folder that changes my artwork links. I'm guessing there's a setting to make it more how I would want it, but I haven't found it.

Pros

Illustrator is the industry standard software for vector based design. They have been around forever and have made great improvements with nearly every upgrade version. Now with the cloud based solution, it is easy to remain up to date and constantly receiving the new features. User interface is customizable, so you can set everything exactly how you prefer to have it laid out. There are many add-on's available that help to grow the power of the software even further.

Cons

My biggest complaint has been and will always be, until they finally fix it, the size limitations on working / artboard space. I work in an industry that is primarily large and grand format printing, so I can rarely design in Illustrator at full scale. Other vector softwares I have used in the past are not as powerful or convenient as Illustrator, but they have a nearly infinite artboard size available. I have worked in Illustrator for many years, and this has always been a pain, but even more so than that, you can run into issues with stroke widths changing size when scaling up to print if they were not outlined before the size increase which can mean costly reprints if not caught in time.

On a side note, the newest version (2020) crashes constantly for me since upgrading. Never had a bad issue with the software before this latest one. But it is a huge headache.

Pros

So, I've been an AI user for now almost 10 years. I've used it at it's worst, at it's best and at it's "ok" moments. It's powerful and the type of work that you can create is really just limitless. There has been a significant effort in onboarding users whenever it gets a design overhaul or new features are added. I've found that a lot of these updates do tend to boost my ability to perform or create work at a faster speed, and same goes when making edits. I'm a heavy pathfinder user and the ability to just tweak my workplace to my needs, adding different windows and condensing them into one section has been a huge time saver. So in terms of granting you the ability to really modify the space to your liking, it's great.

Cons

I think one of the aspects about illustrator that has over time made it a more difficult tool to rely on has been the constant updates. Yes, those updates are sometimes great and very much needed, but there is no onboarding and the existing tour points hold so much information, it's hard to keep up with it.

I think generally speaking, I want to also be able to use the same shortcuts I have been using over time with the software, so when certain aspects of it change - sometimes it does affect my ability to perform at the same speed. I think more efforts need to be done to really create a focused on boarding for users when you introduce new features.