My Three Favorite Alternatives to Photoshop and InDesign
Need to quickly edit pictures and design posters? These work great
Every so often I need to do a bit of lightweight photo editing and design. Sometimes it’s for journalism; I’ll do a blog post and want to create some text cards for it. Other times it’s for the bands I play in — I’ll be creating shareable cards for upcoming gigs.
For years, I used Adobe products. Way back in the late-90s I went to a conference where the swag bag contained a free copy of Photoshop Elements — woo! I rode that train until the wheels came off. (Eventually it stopped working on Windows Vista or something, dammit.)
In the years since, I’ve often contemplated subscribing to Adobe products like Photoshop or InDesign, but blanched at the price tag, which can add up to hundreds and hundreds a year. I don’t need them that often, so it feels like I’d be paying for far more capability than I need. Plus, I’m doing really simple editing and design; both products feel wildly overpowered light-sabers, when all I need is a butter knife.
So, over the years, I’ve settled on a handful of tools that are much cheaper, or entirely free. Last weekend a friend asked me to tell him which ones I used, so I figured I’d share that here on Medium in case it’s useful for others.
