Photoshop. Autostudio. Painter. Illustrator.
We all have our favorite software to design with. Each one is a versatile tool that, when used correctly, affects not only the visual communication of a design but the design itself.
Jason Morris, professor at Western Washington University’s ID department, compiled a research study (based on job postings on IDSA’s employment section of their Perspectives newsletter) over the last year & a half or so (March ’07 to Oct ’08) to deduce which pieces of software are most crucial, most used, and most demanded in our little industry. Now, the software used obviously changes depending on what part of the industry you design in, whether it is product, automotive, interface, etc, but the compiled list is a great generalization of the most prominent across all disciplines.
The champ of design software? Adobe Illustrator, by a slim margin over Photoshop. The top 3-D modelling software is Solidworks, which is gaining momentum in the Design industry.
Check out the full details of Morris’ study here.
