What software

Depends on the type of logo you are looking to create. Check out the following to see which works best for you:
1) Blender
2) Sketch
3) Pixelmator
4) GIMP
5) Affinity Photo ( currently in Beta )

Easily run on your computer. I will add a couple more programs to look at as well. Not free but still good programs that are reasonable in cost.

Affinity Designer.
Photoshop Elements 13.

Inkscape is a free, professional, vector/illustration application. It is exactly what you are looking for to design logos or any illustrations for that matter. No need to look any further.

https://inkscape.org/en/

What software

Another vote for the gimp, I've been using it for many years. The gimp is open-source, free, and quite powerful.

http://gimp.org

scribble79 said:

I am looking to do some custom logos and headers for a newsletter and the fire department I belong to.

Click to expand...

There are two main types of graphics package.

* Image/photo editors are mainly about manipulating photos and scanned images composed of pixels. Examples: Photoshop, Pixelmator, Affinity Photo, the GIMP...

* Vector illustration packages are mainly about building images up from geometric shapes, curves, text etc. that can be freely edited, enlarged, reduced. Examples: Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Inkscape, iDraw, EazyDraw...

There is a huge overlap between the functionality of these two types - most photo editors include vector tools and most vector packages can manipulate photos, and if you're really familiar with one package you might find it practical to use it for everything, but its usually best to have the right type for the job.

For logos/banners etc. I'd say you want a vector package.

Inkscape is the free option and technically very powerful but let down by the usual open-source, clunky, cross-platform user interface. Affinity Designer is a fairly new, and much slicker looking paid-for option designed for Mac, and would be good for logos. EazyDraw isn't as shiny, but has nice features for plans, diagrams, graphs (probably not relevant to you). iDraw, I haven't used (but has good reviews).

My real recommendation is Xara Designer, but since that's Windows only, not very helpful I've been running it under Parallels. However, I think I'll switch to Affinity Designer just as soon as they've added proper arrowheads - which has been promised. Dashed lines appeared a week or so back. That wouldn't be a dealbreaker for designing logos.

Hi,

I'd certainly be looking for vector design apps if I was you. If you end up wanting your logos printed by a professional printer (you may not now, but in the future, who knows!) then that's the way to go.

The pros use Adobe Illustrator but it's expensive and has a steep learning curve. You can get a trial version for free from Adobe though - see how you get on.

https://creative.adobe.com/products/download/illustrator

I've heard good things about Inkscape and Affinity Designer which have similar functionality and are much better value for money.

https://inkscape.org/en/
https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/

Let us know how you get on!

Good luck.

No more votes for Sketch? Am I the only one using this?

I second sketch.

I've been using Adobe CS for the past 10 years but sketch is just so much more functional. Great work flow and at 99 bucks, will pay for itself in no time.