6 Best Trending Design Tools

I have compiled 6 prominent design tools for you, from printed products to graphic design.

Algo Last Updated: July 7, 2024

0 11 5 minutes read

In order to design and find fonts and templates suitable for the message you want to convey in your design, there are now design tools that you can integrate more easily, instead of old and complex software such as Photoshop. Here 6 trending design tools:

Table of Contents

CANVA

Competing with well-known companies like Adobe and Figma, Canva is one of the most well-known tools on this list. Canva is a graphic design platform focused on helping anyone, whether they know design or not, easily create beautiful designs.

Artificial intelligence takes Canva’s ease-of-use mission even further. Since the launch of Background Remover in 2019, Canva has focused on building more AI tools to power the design process. Canva is the choice of many people with its new artificial intelligence features released this year. Within the scope of the features published in Canva, you can benefit from many innovations on the platform, from creating blog posts to autofill. The initiative focuses on corporate companies and supports teams to work more efficiently with a series of features that facilitate teamwork.

Let us remind you that Canva introduced two innovations specifically for developers in previous years. The first of these innovations was the $50 million “Canva Developers Innovation Fund” and the other was a new developer platform. Canva has also acquired the graphic design software platform Affinity in recent months, strengthening its hand against Adobe. In addition to its comprehensive free plan, Canva also has annual plans ranging from $120 (Canva Pro) to $100 (Canva Teams).

ADOBE EXPRESS

It’s hard to talk about graphic design without mentioning Adobe. In fact, the biggest reason why Canva is so popular is that it is a more accessible alternative to industry-standard Adobe applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. If you are really ambitious about photo editing and graphic design, you should probably take a look at Adobe’s products we mentioned.

Although Adobe Express has fewer templates compared to Canva, it still offers you hundreds of thousands of templates. Easier to use and more powerful in its editor, Express also integrates with other Adobe products, including major applications such as generative AI Firefly, Adobe Fonts, Adobe Stock and, of course, Photoshop. In addition to tasks like creating creative text effects and incorporating your professional brand fonts, you can also have your edits in Photoshop automatically sync with Express, saving you time.

The free plan includes more than 100 thousand templates, 25 monthly Firefly AI credits, more than a thousand custom fonts and 5 GB cloud storage. Paid plans range from $6.49 to $9.99 per month. These plans include 250 AI credits and 100GB and 1TB of cloud storage, along with more business-focused features like branded templates and logo uploads.

BEFUNKY

If you’re looking for an alternative where you can edit photos and turn them into collages, whether for sharing on social media or printing, it’s worth taking a look at BeFunky. In addition to the free plan, with paid plans ranging from $6.99 to $14.99, when we look at the cost, it can be considered a good alternative, although not as much as Pixlr, which I will talk about shortly.

Like Pixlr on our list, BeFunky splits its tools into a series of apps including Photo Editor, Collage Maker, and Graphic Designer. Images you edit in Photo Editor can be used in Collage Maker and Graphic Designer. Similarly, when you create a collage and save it to BeFunky, you can use it as part of a piece of content in Graphic Designer.

Graphic Designer has a small selection of the templates available on Canva. But where BeFunky stands out and is strong is in the Photo Editor and Collage Maker.

Photo Editor has a mix of traditional photo editing tools and AI-powered options. This way, you can use it to make almost any change you want to your images. There are tools not only for simple edits, but also for changing one color to another, restoring old photos, and deleting objects.

The Collage Wizard in Collage Maker takes a group of photos for you and automatically organizes them without the need for cropping. Let me add that you can choose from dozens of preset layouts on the platform.

PIXLR

Pixlr has both a good free plan and affordable paid plans when it comes to cost. Paid plans are available ranging from $1.99 to $12.99.

Pixlr actually consists of five applications:

Photo editor: Pixlr Editor
Artificial intelligence-supported photo editor: Pixlr Express
Template-supported graphic design application: Pixlr Designer
Artificial intelligence supported background remover: Remove bg
Batch photo editor: Batch Editor

It can be said that the application definitions in question have changed over the years and are included in a single subscription (Teams).

Although it can be annoying to split different features into separate applications, this makes Pixlr user-friendly. Pixlr Designer, which allows you to choose a template on the platform and customize it to suit your needs, draws attention with its similarity to Canva. But you can also open anything you design in Pixlr Editor or Pixlr Express. This way, you get access to productive AI features like background changer and image creator, along with more powerful image editing tools.

SNAPPA

Generally, when you look for a template or graphic design element, you will encounter dozens of options that you cannot use. One of the biggest advantages of Snappa is that you get access to every template, graphic, and feature even on the free plan. However, you can only save three designs per month. If you’re creating a lot of designs, it may be more appropriate to switch to paid plans ranging from $15 to $30 per month, as you’ll hit that limit very quickly.

Of course, Snappa also has its disadvantages. It has fewer templates than Canva, for example, and they’re all more generic. When viewed this way, the user needs to create a foundation at the beginning and add to it. Additionally, the product unfortunately does not implement any of the AI features that are the key value proposition of many design tools in this category.

VISTACREATE

Let me remind you that VistaPrint, which changed its name to Vista in 2021, changed Crello’s name to VistaCreate as a result of its acquisition of Crello and Depositphotos. While it’s a solid alternative that includes templates for social media posts, podcast covers, and other digital designs, its integration with VistaPrint’s web printing service really sets it apart. There are thousands of print-ready templates for posters, certificates, thank you cards, business cards, brochures, and just about anything else you can think of.

The free plan includes 10 GB of cloud space, more than 100 thousand free design templates, and more than 1 million photos, videos and vectors. We should also point out that within the scope of the free plan, you can schedule and upload your design to Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. When you upgrade to the $13 per month paid plan, you get unlimited cloud space, HD downloads, thousands of premium design templates, and over 70 million photos, videos, and vectors.

Of course, you can always use tools like Canva and Adobe Express to design things and print them with VistaPrint. But if you want the smoothest possible workflow for creating professional posters and other print marketing materials, VistaCreate is hard to ignore.