What is your favorite graphic design program?

For making business cards and such, I'd recommend Adobe Illustrator.

InDesign is the best for page layout.

I agree. I voted InDesign, but I agree that Illustrator would be your best bet by far. I like InDesign for bigger projects, layouts and things. For smaller projects such as you mentioned, Illustrator is the way to go.

MacBook-Gal said:

I have thought about getting Illustrator, because it looks like a really cool program. How easy is it to get the text centered and sized right for a business card with it?

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You can center stuff easily in any good program, so I wouldn't worry about it.

InDesign is good also, though I find Illustrator to cover more areas of design. InDesign does what it should very well...it just depends on everything you plan to design. Illustrator probably will cover more for you, though.

adobe illustrator allows for more manipulation of your type than indesign or quark, plus with illustrator you can create graphic elements and, of course, digital illustrations for your note cards and business cards.

quark and indesign and more fit for publication layout (magazines, newsletters, calendars...) - it is where you will see the most benefit from the functionality of the programs. for what you have mentioned, you will be far better off illustrator like most here have said. vector illustration can be tricky, but if you are doing mainly type layout you will find illustrator pretty straight forward. goodluck!

I'm a sucker for FreeHand

But use a combination of FreeHand, Illustrator, Photoshop & Indesign, each have their own uses....

InDesign is the best... But it is even better if you use it together with Photoshop and Illustrator...

Illustrator. I only use Indesign for multi-page layouts.

I voted for Quark because I consider it the true design program. Illustrator and PhotoShop are both used for creating artwork and images, but what I consider "graphic design" is the incorporating a group of those images into a layout along with text and other design elements and arranging them into a complete "design". Of course you can use the other programs to layout a piece, but that's what Quark was built for. Illustrator and PhotoShop were not built for intended use as a layout program. InDesign is ok, but Quark is my personal preference.

for business cards, I would use illustrator to design/prep/adjust whatever logo and images; and then place that in InDesign to add and adjust the text etc. i much prefer InDesign's text tools.

Another tale of people using the wrong package for the wrong jobs.

Photoshop - All Photographic manipulation.
Illustrator/FreeHand - Graphic Design
InDesign/Quark - DTP

If you use these packages for anything else you are using the wrong package. I don't know how many time I have come across people using PhotoShop to design complete posters. Drives me mad. I think anyone who does things like that does not belong in the design business.

Illustrator is the best, by far, in my opinion.

InDesign isn't really "graphic design" software at all, but is fantastic for layout. I don't generally create anything in ID, but instead use Illustrator and Photoshop and then place those in InDesign.

IgnatiusTheKing said:

InDesign isn't really "graphic design" software at all, but is fantastic for layout.

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This graphic designer would strongly disagree with this sentiment.

tobefirst said:

This graphic designer would strongly disagree with this sentiment.

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Care to expound on that?

I use InDesign every day but rarely use anything but frames and text. I design everything in Illustrator (or occasionally Photoshop) and then place it. Do you use the Pen tool to draw in ID? I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have.

EDIT: let me also note that I love ID and am not disparaging it, just pointing out how I like to use it and am curious how others do.

Just because it's text doesn't mean it isn't graphic design. Graphic design is all about the visual layout of both graphics, (be it photos, illustrations, or whatever) and text. I'd almost say the more successful graphic designer knows how to work the text into their design more than how to make a picture pretty.

EDIT: And here is the definition from the beloved dictionary built into OS X:

graph•ic de•sign
noun
the art or skill of combining text and pictures in advertisements, magazines, or books.

G4DP said:

If you use these packages for anything else you are using the wrong package. I don't know how many time I have come across people using PhotoShop to design complete posters. Drives me mad. I think anyone who does things like that does not belong in the design business.

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That is just foolish thinking. It is the end product that matters, not how it was achieved.

G4DP said:

Another tale of people using the wrong package for the wrong jobs.

Photoshop - All Photographic manipulation.
Illustrator/FreeHand - Graphic Design
InDesign/Quark - DTP

If you use these packages for anything else you are using the wrong package. I don't know how many time I have come across people using PhotoShop to design complete posters. Drives me mad. I think anyone who does things like that does not belong in the design business.

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A multi-application approach to design works best for me (and obviously to you), but people are going to develop individual approaches that work for them. What drives me mad are snobby GD know-it-alls who think that their methods outshine everyone else's.

IgnatiusTheKing said:

Care to expound on that?

I use InDesign every day but rarely use anything but frames and text. I design everything in Illustrator (or occasionally Photoshop) and then place it. Do you use the Pen tool to draw in ID? I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have.

EDIT: let me also note that I love ID and am not disparaging it, just pointing out how I like to use it and am curious how others do.

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Sure. No problem. I probably should have clarified initially, anyway.

I largely take issue with the separation created by your initial statement. What, in design, is more important than "layout?" Whether that be the layout of a logo, paragraph, illustration, page, or book. If the layout software isn't "graphic design" software, then layout itself isn't "graphic design." That is what I take exception to.

Cromulent said:

That is just foolish thinking. It is the end product that matters, not how it was achieved.

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I thought the same thing...until I had to edit/update a document another designer had done. There is beauty in having a document technically correct in much the same way a web designer will tell you that "code is poetry." Just because the majority of the public won't notice doesn't mean it isn't worth doing.

My preference is a mixture of Illustrator, Photoshop and Quark Xpress.

Corel DRAW! 6

Before switching, I used Corel DRAW! 6 for the PC since its release - one of the first non-Microsoft Native Windows 95 programs to be released. Once you'd applied all the patches and disabled 'multitasking', it was actually very stable - contrary to popular opinion.

I used it right up until I switched, as a hobby, and to make money on the side doing adverts for Yellow Pages and local papers.

I've still not found anything for the Mac that comes close in terms of usability and functionality (tried Linedraw, Eazydraw, Inkscape, Intaglio). I suppose Adobe CS3 is the way forwards, but I refuse to pay for something in the UK that is cheaper in the US even after you've taken taxes and air tickets into consideration.

I remain gutted about this. Go on, post a picture of a crying baby. I don't care.

SL

G4DP said:

Photoshop - All Photographic manipulation.
Illustrator/FreeHand - Graphic Design
InDesign/Quark - DTP

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Agreed. You can open a can of beans with a hammer OR a can opener. Both will work, although one is designed specifically for the purpose and the other is a little less practical.