Adobe Illustrator for Mac

Create and design stunning vector graphics on your Mac

Adobe Illustrator CC is the industry-leading vector graphics and digital art software. Developed by Adobe and part of the Creative Cloud suite, Illustrator is the favorite tool for designers, illustrators, and artists all over the world. From logos and icons to graphics and vectors, Adobe Illustrator’s wide range of professional tools and functions has revolutionized the way we create digital art. Evolving to fulfill the ever-changing needs of this competitive market, Illustrator is considered a cornerstone in the world of graphic design. Would you like to know why?

What is Adobe Illustrator CC and what is it used for?

Adobe Illustrator CC is the standard for designing and creating vector graphics and digital illustrations. Integrated into the Creative Cloud suite, Illustrator is an essential tool for both professional illustrators and designers, as well as for anyone with a creative mind looking for a powerful tool to bring any idea to life. Versatile and powerful like no other, Adobe's editor is currently the leading program in the graphic design industry, becoming a must-have to bring to life any creative project, whether in print or digital media.

Among the main functions of Adobe Illustrator, we find:

• Creation of Digital Illustrations- Illustrator includes professional drawing and painting tools to create vibrant and colorful illustrations.
• Logo Design- Thanks to its wide array of tools, Illustrator is widely used by graphic designers to create stunning logos.
• Infographics Creation -Adobe Illustrator is commonly used for creating infographics due to its vector graphics, customization, text handling, and artboard management tools.
• Print Design- Illustrator lets you create posters, brochures, labels, and all kinds of printed materials.
• Publication Design- Create books, newspapers, and magazines in the blink of an eye with professional results.
• Web Element Design- Illustrator is widely used to create graphics aimed at web page design (headers, banners, buttons, etc.).
• User Interface (UI) Design- Web designers use Illustrator to design user interfaces and navigation elements.

What about the interface?

Compared to PaintTool SAI, AutoCAD, and other similar programs, Adobe Illustrator comes with an intuitive interface. The easy-to-navigate tool ensures maximum productivity and lets you move the cursor fluidly in multiple workspaces. Additionally, it lets you easily manage layout changes or reset crucial parameters.

Whether you download Adobe Illustrator as a standalone app or install it as part of Creative Cloud, you’ll get access to various tools and functionalities. Combined, all these work to ensure precise sketches and drawings with vector graphics. 

Adobe Illustrator works with a powerful image-tracing engine. It keeps your creations clean and accurate, giving you more time to polish your design skills. For instance, while working with gradients on objects or strokes, you get more control over opacity and placement. 

All the tools you’ll ever need to bring your idea to life

Illustrator is a versatile and powerful program that provides all the necessary tools for creating, editing, and publishing any graphic design or digital illustration. You'll find everything from its most basic tools, such as the pen tool, to much more robust ones, such as the ability to adjust the shape of a vector image or change its colors and stroke type with just a few clicks. Additionally, Illustrator incorporates a layer system very similar to that of Photoshop, making it much easier to edit and manipulate objects within your creation.

One very interesting aspect of Illustrator is that, in addition to its drawing tools, it also includes a complete library of filters and elements that you can incorporate into all your objects and strokes. This way, you can add all sorts of visual effects and transform your illustration, giving rise to truly unique creative projects. If you need to add text, Illustrator CC also boasts a wide variety of fonts and styles especially aimed at graphic design.

Is Adobe Illustrator easy to use?

Compared to Corel Painter and other programs in this category, Adobe Illustrator is easier to navigate. Unfortunately, it can sometimes be overwhelming for beginners. Having said that, there’s a dedicated ‘Help’ section, which answers common doubts and queries. Once you start using this design software, you’ll be able to get the hang of the different features and functionalities rather quickly.

The program focuses on step-by-step tutorials, which let you cover basic and advanced techniques to work with vector graphics. Like most Creative Cloud apps, even this one has large-sized icons, organized properly in top and side window panes. Right from the beginning, you can use the program’s intuitive and straightforward interface.

Work simultaneously with the rest of the Adobe suite

By being part of the Creative Cloud suite, Adobe Illustrator allows you to work on the same project using other Adobe applications such as Photoshop or InDesign. This means that you can load any image you're creating or working on in other Adobe apps directly from Illustrator. All of this is done seamlessly, without the need to constantly switch between programs.

But that’s not all, thanks to Cloud storage, Adobe Illustrator lets you easily collaborate with colleagues and clients. The program gives you more freedom to foster creativity and imagination. In the last few years, the developers have made several improvements in critical areas, including workspaces, painting tools, drawing features, and color correction, among others.

Once you’ve worked on a specific design, you can choose from various exporting options. You can either save the creations on the Cloud or upload files to third-party services. Since Illustrator integrates well with other Cloud apps, you can open vector images in other Adobe products, such as Lightroom and Photoshop.

Without a doubt, Adobe Illustrator has been a great choice for artists, designers, and content creators looking for accuracy, precision, and high-end quality in vector graphics. Every tool in the program encourages creativity, speed, and imagination. The result leads to stunning visuals right on your Mac computer. Most importantly, installing Illustrator doesn’t affect system resources.

How much does Adobe Illustrator cost?

Adobe Illustrator can be purchased as a standalone program or as part of the Creative Cloud suite. In both cases, you will need to pay a monthly or annual subscription fee, which will vary depending on the option you choose. There are also different plans and prices available for teachers, students, educational institutions, and businesses. To find out more about these plans and prices, we recommend visiting their official website.

Some enhancements

The latest stable release of Adobe Illustrator, Version 28.4.1, boasts some targeted improvements. The AI-powered Text to Vector Graphic feature gets an upgrade, giving you more control over the generated vector’s style. When generating a Subject, Scene, or Icon, you can now choose either the style of the reference artwork or its surrounding area. What’s more, it filters out irrelevant output variations cluttering your workspace. In other words, you can only see options relevant to your selection, helping you focus on the task at hand. 

On the performance side, the update promises a 10 times boost on pan and zoom speed. With this improvement, designers working on minute details can zoom in on the canvas without waiting for graphics to load. At the same time, you can expect smoother navigation within and between projects, especially during reviews or post-production. If you regularly work on large files, you can breathe a sigh of relief because you can now quickly view, rotate, and configure your designs, provided you use suitable hardware.

The benchmark tool for amazing design work

Adobe Illustrator CC is one of the leading platforms for vector graphics. With an intuitive interface, customization options, multiple features, and Adobe’s high-end technologies, the program has a definitive edge over competitors. Integrated with the rest of Adobe's applications through Creative Cloud and with the help of Adobe Sensei (Adobe’s AI), Illustrator is the go-to choice for any designer or illustrator looking for the perfect software to bring all their ideas to life.