Twitter

January 30, 2012

Found, Making

Escaping the Creative Suite Ecosystem

It’s no secret that I dislike Adobe. I recognize that their software is powerful. I recognize that their software enables the design industry to do good work and to do it quickly. But I hate it. My reasons:

1. Creative Suite is an unnecessarily bloated mass. I’d love to see Adobe sift through the tangle of apps, plugins, updaters, and outdated features, and restructure the whole suite. Instead, every new version is built on top of that mass.
2. New versions of Creative Suite are unjustifiably expensive.  I’m still using CS3. I didn’t see enough new features worth the price of upgrading to CS4, and two releases later, I still don’t. And Adobe’s new plan for annual releases only makes it less likely that they’ll ever give us a real, restructured upgrade.
3. Creative Suite is ugly. Superficial? Maybe. But as a designer, I’d prefer a UI that inspires me to do good work, or at the very least is unintrusive. CS3 was an improvement, but the UI hasn’t really changed since then.

So, half in protest and half in self-preservation, I’ve finally managed to cut my last ties to the entire suite. At the request of a fellow designer, I’m happy to share the Mac alternatives I’ve found.

Photoshop Alternative

This one was an easy switch. A few years ago, I heard about a little app called Pixelmator. It had a gorgeous UI, included nearly every Photoshop feature I needed, was built for OS X, and was unbelievably affordable. Now in 2.0, Pixelmator is even more capable, and even cheaper ($29.99, as opposed to Photoshop’s $699–999 price tag). Since I switched over, I’ve rarely opened Photoshop: only once in recent memory, and that was by mistake.

Pixelmator is available only through the Mac App Store.

Illustrator Alternative

The CS app I had the most difficulty replacing was Illustrator. I use it almost daily, and it’s easily the most crucial to my work. I tried Inkscape but wasn’t a fan, and the other apps I came across were lacking in features and UI. So I was at a loss, until the Pixelmator guys recently recommended Sketch.

I’m still fairly new to the app, but so far it has every feature I need (including boolean operations) and more. It’s also very affordable at $45 (Illustrator: $599), and is available through the developer’s store or the Mac App Store.

Dreamweaver Alternative

This isn’t an alternative as much as it is a replacement. Back story: I learned the basics of HTML and CSS in college, but when I got CS3, I thought it might be better to use Dreamweaver. It wasn’t. I found myself turning more and more to writing and implementing the code myself, until I realized I was really only using Dreamweaver for previewing. It occurred to me that somewhere out there must be a simple app designed for writing code, previewing, and uploading, without all the useless WYSIWYG features.

Around the same time, MacHeist revealed their latest bundle, which included Espresso. I also considered Coda, but Espresso’s price and the MacHeist discount won me over. It’s now one of my favorite apps, ever. I love working in it. (I’ve still never felt the need to try Coda, but I hear it’s great as well.)

Espresso is $79 from the developer’s store (Dreamweaver: $399).

Other Alternatives

InDesign: I’ve only needed InDesign a few times for professional work, and now that I’ve moved away from that sort of client work, I prefer to use Pages. It’s simpler and cleaner, and though it isn’t as powerful, it’s sufficient for personal use. $20 in the App Store (InDesign: $699).

Acrobat Pro: I’ve always hated Acrobat, so when OS X Lion came out, I was happy to finally trash it. Lion’s Preview has the only feature I needed from Acrobat: adding a signature to contracts. Free with OS X Lion (Acrobat Pro: $449).

Flash: No alternative is needed, in my opinion. I’ve never liked or needed Flash, though I don’t have a problem with it as a form of animation. As far as Flash on the web goes, Adobe has already dropped support for mobile Flash, so it’s a good idea for developers to move on as well. Again, Espresso is $79 (Flash: $699).

Premiere & After Effects: I haven’t really used these much, though I’ve heard the latest versions are decent. But I learned to edit in Final Cut Pro, and I’d still choose it over Premiere. Apple also makes Motion, as an alternative to After Effects. Final Cut is $299, Motion is $49 (Premiere: $799, After Effects: $999).

Most of the remaining apps have never been useful to me, so I never bothered installing them on my current computer. I do want to mention that there is one Adobe app worth owning, if you’re a photographer: Lightroom. But it’s fortunately not part of Creative Suite—yet.