• Essential Mac Apps For Designers List
• Essential Mac Apps 2020
• Macbook Essential Apps

May 17, 2017  Besides, The simplicity and ease of use in exporting and managing assets in Sketch make it an excellent fit for young/up-and-coming designers. Price: One-time licensing fees of US$99 which makes it much cheaper than any of its competitors. Works only on Mac OSX.

BestAccessories for iMaciMore2020

If you're planning on picking up a brand new iMac, you're going to want some accessories to go with it. There are hundreds of ways to add productivity and functionality to your computer if you know what to look for. Whether it's a robust backup drives, some great headphones, or even an external GPU, this collection has something that every Mac owner needs.

Wireless simplicity: Apple AirPods

Today, with the right apps, you can do all of that from your phone. For today's designer, apps not only help with gathering design inspiration, but they can also handle the day-to-day minutia of your business, aid in client communication, assist in the actual design work, and even give you a mini-marketing department. Nov 25, 2018  Get this arsenal of Mac apps at Black Friday prices. App mSecure Pro and the essential Netshade VPN. Run Windows software cleanly and easily on your Mac. And there's a ton for designers. Top 15 Free Mac Apps for Graphic Designers About the author: This guest article was written by Emma Best from Laptopical - a guide to the latest laptop reviews and laptop related news. You can also follow her on Twitter. I've been using my MacBook Pro since a while now and I must say: I really love it. The most vibrant platform you can apply your creativity on is Photoshop if you happened to be a designer. Your opportunities of displaying your imagination through your design is at it’s highest when you are on Photoshop. Design is the first thing people notice about a website or anything you make. Sometimes having a great sense.

No matter which Apple product you own, you should probably have a pair of AirPods. They're great. The pairing process is simple, and once paired with one device, they're automatically paired with all of your devices that are signed in to your iCloud account. The sound is pretty good, too, and the built-in microphones make placing calls or issuing Siri commands crystal clear.

Portable and speedy: Samsung T5 SSD

This solid-state drive from Samsung is speedy, tiny, and portable. It also connects using USB-C, making it a perfect companion for your new Mac. It's a great, fast drive that's perfect for holding a photo library, or other important files.

Back it all up: Western Digital My Book

Western Digital's external hard drives are a great way to back up your iMac. The company's included software will automatically back everything up, though it's perfectly compatible with Apple's Time Machine software. Sizes range from 3TB to 10TB, for the single drive models, while there are dual drive models that range from 4TB to 20TB.

Official solution: Apple Magic Keyboard

Apple's official Bluetooth keyboard is a great basic option that provides a consistently solid typing experience and pairs easily with your Mac. It is small, lightweight, and pairs automatically with iMac.

The mechanical option: Das Keyboard 4 Professional

If you're more into mechanical keyboards, the Das Keyboard 4 should be exactly what you're looking for, with options available for Cherry MX Blue or Brown switches, and even an option for RGB backlighting, as well as media keys with a built-in volume knob.

Every port you could want: OWC 14-port Thunderbolt 3 Dock

Your iMac will come with a lot of ports already, including a headphone jack, four USB-A ports, and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. But OWC's dock, while a little pricey, will give your iMac more I/O than most would know what to do with, including four USB-A ports, two Thunderbolt 3 port, a USB-C port, audio jack, optical audio jack, and SD card and microSD card slots.

Wireless sound upgrade: Beats Studio3 Wireless Headphones

These over-ear headphones provide a big sound alternative to AirPods while being just about as easy to use. Like the AirPods, connect easily to your Apple devices thanks to the built-in W1 chip, which allows the pairing to sync across devices logged into iCloud.

Sleek and stylish: Bose Companion 20

These beautiful speakers offer a balanced sound in a stylish package. With no knobs on the front, the volume is controlled through a small pod attached to the right speaker, which also holds the ports for your headphones or other audio devices.

The mouse to get: Apple Magic Mouse 2

Just connect the Magic Mouse 2 to your Mac by a USB-to-Lightning cable once, and it'll be paired. This rechargeable mouse has a multitouch surface that lets you customize exactly how it works, from what one-and two-finger swipes do to which side works as 'left' and 'right' click. Available in Silver or Space Gray to match your Mac.

More versatile: Apple Magic Trackpad 2

This has long been my personal desktop navigation device, offering more options for how I work than the mouse. Adding the Magic Trackpad to your Mac setup gives you a lot of options for gestures, while still offering pinpoint cursor navigation. It's available in Silver and Space Gray so you can match it to your Mac.

Enhance the experience

These accessories all offer excellent enhancements for your iMac experience, whether you need great storage options, a more customized typing experience, or the massive power provided by an external GPU. But of all of these accessories, I'd recommend getting the Apple AirPods first. AirPods might be Apple's single best product in the last three years, they pair like magic and even sound pretty good, something you might not expect if you've ever used the wired EarPods.

Of course, a computer is not much good without a keyboard, so if you haven't purchased one yet, we recommend the Apple Magic Keyboard as a simple option or the Das Keyboard if you prefer a mechanical keyboard. Any product on this list will improve the productivity of your iMac.

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Every Joy-Con controller color plus some customization options!

They probably weren't available at first, but nowadays you can find Joy-Cons in every color under the rainbow.

About the author:This guest article was written by Emma Best from Laptopical - a guide to the latest laptop reviews and laptop related news. You can also follow her on Twitter.

I've been using my MacBook Pro since a while now and I must say: I really love it. The most common app(s) that designers use has to be Adobe Photoshop (Or the full suite). The app(s) are great, but there is a downside: The price tag. Photoshop CS4 costs $699, CS4 extended is $999 and the full Creative Suite starts at an stunning $1799. For many people this is just a little bit too much to 'play around with'.

Luckily, there are also many free applications out there that can do the same kind of job that Photoshop could do for you. This article rounds up the best 15 free Mac Programs for Graphic Designers. Some of these applications can even do stuff that can't be achieved using Photoshop, or are much more simple to use.

Keep your wallet in your pocket, since all these programs will cost you nothing.

GIMP

The most popular of all free photo editing software, GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program, and is highly-supported and frequently updated. Comparative to Photoshop, users can perform basic tasks such as photo retouching, color correction, and image size, or more complicated tasks like image composition and creation. GIMP has a scripting interface for advance users, as well as plugins, extensions, and filters.

Seashore

If you want GIMP, but don't have X11, then Seashore is the appropriate software for you. Based on GIMP, it has nearly all the settings and functions of the more advanced program without the higher requirements.

Radio station software for mac free. Inkspace

An excellent alternative to Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw, Inkscape is a free vector graphics program supporting standard SVG format, as well as XML and CSS standards. This program can do everything you'll need in a vector graphics program - tracing, path operations, direct XML editing, etc. Import and export formats include all the common image types, including JPEG, PNG, and TIFF.

Front End Digital Media Workshop

Don't waste time manually resizing individual photos for your various projects. Front End Digital Media is a batch conversion app for images (as well as video and audio), and allows you to mass resize, resample, split, join, and up/down sample JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, PSD, and PICT image files.

Image Tricks

The biggest appeal for the Image Tricks app is the ability to apply dozens of different filters to over 20 different image formats. The finished photos can then be exported as either TIFF, JPEG, or PNG.

Comipro Plus

If you create cartoons of any type, Comipro Plus is an excellent app. Designed in Japanese but usable to English speakers, this program helps create modern-looking comics, including editing and adding word bubbles.

Google SketchUp

Different from a normal vector graphics program, Google's SketchUp allows you to not only create a design, but view it in 3D. It is easier to use than more complicated 3D software, such as AutoCAD, and is free.

Essential Mac Apps For Designers List

Colorate

Colorate is used to change and manipulate the colors in a photo. The Library generates a color swatch based on the photo, then allow you to add a new color pallete, either blending the current one, creating a custom one, or randomizing a completely new pallete.

Goldberg

This program is best used for those times when you're viewing your photos, and notice that a color is slightly off, or a side needs cropped a bit more. Instead of firing up a full photo editing application, you can simply make minor adjustments, including color correction, blurs, noise, and embossing.

NIH Image

If you need to animate one of your photos or designs, this program is for you. It's compatible with a wide array of programs, and in addition to animating images, it can also perform minor tweaks to contrast, sharpening, smoothing, filters, and more. It also analyzes particles, angles, and paths.

Scratch

This program is so simple, it can be used also immediately with no prior instruction. It is used for creating small games, interactive art, and animated stories, and is primarily marketed to children. Despite it's juvenile market, it is an excellent tool for putting together quick interactive banners and images without the learning curve.

DAZ Studio

If you're in need of realistic 3D models, DAZ Studio is an easy-to-learn 3D program for creating 3D objects, including people, animals, and objects (buildings, cars, etc). DAZ Studio is easier to use than other 3D animation tools, and is perfect for creating surrealistic and 3D art.

Bryce

Built to run with the aforementioned DAZ Studio software, Bryce is used to create real-looking landscapes using photos of real landscapes. Take a picture of your yard, a forest, some mountains, or other landscapes, import it into Bryce, and then add all the elements needed to turn it into a new world.

Essential Mac Apps 2020

ArchiCAD

If you need a 3D design tool with more power and features than Google SketchUp, ArchiCAD is the right program to you. Similar to AutoCAD in both function and name, this program allows users to design their sketches and ideas into a realistic 3D render.

JAlbum

Every graphic designer requires an efficient way to keep all their photos and images organized. JAlbum is the ultimate photo organizer, as it not only allows you to organize your photos and folders using simple drag-and-drop functionality, but it also creates thumbnails and HTML pages of your photos for easy online publishing. The HTML pages to publish can be made to either export a gallery or a slide show. In addition, there's support for IPTC and EXIF data, lossless editing, image filters, style sheets, and an integrated FTP client.

Bonus: Pixelmator

I've added Pixelmator myself to this list, as Emma didn't include this app to her top 15 list. I really love to use Pixelmator myself and I don't think it should be missing from this amazing list.

Pixelmator, the beautifully designed, easy-to-use, fast and powerful image editor for Mac OS X has everything you need to create, edit and enhance your images.

Greeting card apps for windows. If asked, enter your Apple ID and password.Now, wait for a few minutes until your projects have been uploaded to Apple’s servers. Then, click Place Order.Step #4. Once it’s done, you will get a notification and an email.That’s done!Wrapping up:So, what’s your experience with creating a card?

Bonus: Blender

Macbook Essential Apps

Just like Pixelmator, I've added Blender myself to this list, as Emma didn't include this app to her top 15 list. Blender is a great open source app for 3d content.

Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License.

Are there more Mac Apps that you, as a graphic designer, love to use that is missing from the list above? Please share!

This guest article was provided to you by Emma Best from Laptopical.

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