There are many options available for graphic designers these days and they pick the application that fits their need the best. However, an overwhelming major stick to using the Adobe Creative Suite. This suite is used by thousands of graphic design professionals for web design, logo design, print production and similar type of works. However, depending on the type of work and budget the designers can also choose some less expensive alternatives to the Adobe products.
The designers who want a pocket friendly design tool that can cater to their needs can buy the Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 7 which retails for less than $ 90. It is also offered on trial for a period of one week. This comprehensive design suite is capable of works like image editing, 3D and 2D graphics, page layout designing and animation. The users need not switch applications for doing the various tasks involved in their work.
The advantage of Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 7 is that it is user friendly and the first time users would not have any problem in mastering its interface and various tools. However, this is not to mean that it is meant only for amateur designers. On the contrary, it is capable of producing media rich web pages and stunning art designs. Those who buy the package also get a content pack consisting of clip arts amounting to 282 MB. They also get templates for various types of projects like greeting cards, scrapbooks, photo albums, CD labels and animated banners etc.
The Adobe suite users may find it somewhat underpowered initially. This is especially appropriate when the designers work on text layouts. However, the majority of features seen in Adobe InDesign are also seen here. There is excellent support for both CMYK and PANTONE color separation. However, the graphic designers working exclusively for print media can consider buying the more feature packed Xara Designer Pro 7.
It is quite evident that the Xara team that made the app focused more on ease of use and practicality from the user's perspective. Tasks like Red eye removal and selective blurring in image are incredibly easy in this app. It does almost all things that one can do with Photoshop, but with fewer steps and time. It supports exporting in the widely used PDF format which is beneficial for using in the design setups where a number of designers work on the same project.
The application also supports a huge number of audio and video file formats which is a boon for the graphic design professionals. The app also offers plenty of importing options. While Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 7 packs in a plethora of sharing options for email, print, Mobile devices, it would be nice to see social networking integration. The export capabilities may not be as robust as its import features but it is decent for the majority of users. The users will also appreciate its decent file organization features which come close to Adobe Bridge.