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Can I Learn Graphic Design On An iPad?
It is fine for drawing because it is small and compact, and you can buy a stylus for it, but there are so many other pen-computing solutions available, and there are so many other facets of graphic design those apps available for the iPad severely underperforms.
Photoshop on an iPad is not the same as Photoshop on a laptop
There were a lot of buzzes a few years ago about Adobe taking the real Adobe Photoshop to the iPad. When it was first published, every storey about it had the title “Adobe takes real Photoshop to iPad,” and then clarified in the first paragraph that it was not the actual Photoshop and just had a small subset of features similar to the Photoshop edition that one would usually use on macOS and Windows. There are so many things that are absent! It also does not have the same menus. Forget specialised features like channel operations and personalised plug-ins.
There is no InDesign, nor is there any good Typography style.
It is not simple to move your font range to an iPad. I have fonts from the 1980s that run on macOS and Windows, but bringing them onto an iPad is difficult. Around the turn of the century, many artists moved from QuarkExpress to InDesign, and InDesign has been indispensable in the Graphic Design industry for just about all print-related. They constantly construct data merge templates that work with database tables to generate automatic print layouts.
Editing and culling of photographs is a problem
As graphic designers, we even do a lot of photography. Still, life photographs of food items in a shooting tent, or some sort of box object, or photography incidents, or building interiors/exteriors for signage mockups, or people talking with each other, or people headshots may be needed. Websites and printed items rely on imaging, which the iPad lacks. Adobe Lightroom on the iPad is actually very fine, but it does have certain limitations. The most vexing is that you must first “import” the whole library before you can begin working.
The second most vexing aspect of Lightroom on iOS is that you can only deal on one picture at a time, while on macOS or Windows, we can make modifications to large groups of RAW images at once.
Alternate tools to use
MacBook Pro 16-inch (2019)
Apple’s most powerful laptop to date is a compact workhorse. The 16-inch MacBook Pro, Apple’s largest laptop to date, is perfect for graphic artists working on the go or at home.
Apple’s stated aim for the new MacBook Pro was to provide consumers with “more of what they enjoy,” which they have achieved. The most obvious difference is the larger screen, which is ideal for design work.
The battery life is exceptional, which is particularly impressive considering the laptop’s powerful components. It features up to 64GB of RAM (a first for a MacBook) and up to 8TB of storage, which eliminates the need for an external hard drive.
Naturally, none of this is cheap, and the highest specifications come at a premium, but if you want a laptop that will work flawlessly for years and never let you down, this is an excellent investment.
Apple iMac 27-inch (2020)
The 2020 iMac Pro is a professional-grade notebook. It is the de-facto industry norm for graphic designers. It features a true 5K display with a one billion-colour depth and can be configured with up to 256GB of RAM, an 18-core Intel Xeon W CPU, and Radeon Pro Vega 64X graphics with 16GB of HBM2 memory.
As is the case with the MacBook Pro, this level of success comes at a cost, but for resource-intensive tasks like rendering 3D models, video editing, and animation, the cost is well worth the time saved.
Tablet computer with a stylus
If you go for the 11- or 12.9-inch iPad Pro, the 2020 model, borrows the almost bezel-free architecture of recent iPhones, offering a wide expanse of smooth glass on which to work. Apple’s Smart Keyboard elevates it to the level of a premium tablet, and the new Apple Pencil significantly increases its versatility.
Additionally, Apple eliminated the Lightning connector in favour of a magnetic attachment, which allows the Pencil to easily snap onto the top of the new iPad Pro for attaching, charging, and storing. Additionally, touch support has been added, allowing for rapid switching between user tools with a double-tap.
Naturally, some programmers and artists appreciate the specific pressure sensitivity and power available only from a dedicated graphics tablet. If you are one of them, we suggest the Wacom Cintiq 22 tablet, which offers an outstanding balance of screen size, ergonomics, and price. If your budget requires, the Wacom Intuos Pro is a far more flexible option that is available in a variety of sizes (with prices to match).
Adobe Creative Cloud CC
Adobe Creative Cloud is the industry standard for design professionals – no other software suite comes close in terms of depth and variety. It does, though, come at a cost, and even with a great Adobe Creative Cloud discount, an all-apps licence represents a sizable investment.
You also have Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects, and a slew of other apps at your disposal. If you really want to be multi-disciplined and work every day with other designers, go for it. This is not, however, the only choice if the job is solely based on vector modelling and photo editing/manipulation. Check out Blue Sky Graphics to learn graphic design.
Both Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo are excellent pieces of software from Serif – they outperform Photoshop and Illustrator in several respects – and cost about £50 with free updates. You can also collaborate with Photoshop and Illustrator users due to the excellent file usability. Additionally, you can check out these six fantastic free Adobe Creative Cloud alternatives.
Google Docs
Google Docs is more than a web-based imitation of standard management suites such as Microsoft Office, and it has come a long way from its introduction as a free service.
Apart from making your notes, spreadsheets, and presentations accessible from every browser (and facilitating communication with other users), the online suite features a sleek interface that, where required, integrates Google’s robust search capability.
There are several high-quality versions and third-party add-ins available that provide features commonly found in Microsoft Office, such as mail merge and a more advanced equation editor. Additionally, you can translate one of your documents with Google Translate.
