Design is irreplaceable as a vital component throughout a product development cycle. Whether for product creation or for marketing strategies, design is essential.

Each of these aspects will need different types of software for the most efficient work approach. However, the sheer volume of software options might overwhelm you even before you start any of the work planning.

Fortunately, certain factors make it easy to distinguish the top contenders from each pile of software design tools. You just have to rank these factors according to your individual priority to make the final software choice.                                            

Top 4 Tools for all designers 

A single software will not be able to handle all your design needs. you will need different tools to handle visual design, interactive design, illustrations and 3D animations.

Depending on your budget, volume of work and the complication level of your design requirements, you will need the tool that best suffices your project needs.

Here we have curated the top 4 design tools that have a wide scale adaptability for various design needs. They fit a variety of different criteria making them almost a confirmed option for every designer’s arsenal.

We have elaborated on their most preferred features and budget specifications to make the choice more transparent and easier for you.

So, let’s dive right in!

1. Ntopology for generative design

 

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The software giant nTopology might have hit the market in 2015 but it has dominated the industry ever since. Today, the software has evolved as one of the key design tools that is essential for every engineer and designers’ toolkit. The product empowers designers to create the requisite geometry for their designs.

Advanced manufacturing and engineering companies now depend on Ntopology as one of the most reliable generative design tools in the market.

Regardless of the complexity of the design, nTopology has succeeded in proving its merit of backing high performance product design at all levels.

The software is a favorite among the majorly technical design-oriented industries including aerospace, medical, automotive and consumer products.

The software allows exclusive high performance design. Moreover, it also makes it possible for the designers to share, repurpose and restructure the design workflows with their teams in real time. 

This helps to eliminate bottlenecks, increase efficiency and reduce time expense in the design or development cycles for the product creation.

Advantages

Here is a list of benefits for which nTopology is leading the list of generative design tools in the world.

1. The software comes powered by advanced GPU acceleration which helps speed up the design rendering, previewing and editing process even for complex designs.
2. It removes common design bottlenecks by enabling you to repurpose existing design workflows.
3. It is powered by the nTopology implicit modeling engine which uniquely supercharges the platform to handle advanced geometry and transform design data.
4. It provides exclusive control to the designers at all points of the design process from simulation to data testing for advanced engineering formulas. 

Pricing

The pricing plan for nTopology is customizable according to individual business requirements. the system does not have a quotable general price for the public. However, you can contact the company directly for a demo and a plan customization for your project. 

2. Bonsai for graphic design contract

 

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You need a steady tool to handle negotiations and contracts after the product creation phases of your design is completed. 

Not every platform understands the nuances of design, sales, and marketing. However, Bonsai is built exclusively for the sale of graphic design products.

It is a cloud-based platform developed as a one stop solution suite for freelance designers. 

Bonsai’s graphic design contract allows you to negotiate project details directly with your client without having to involve any third-party services in the process. It also helps to track projects, client support and project invoices all through a single interface.

The platform is a great fit for freelance designers working independently with multiple client-based projects.

You will be able to consolidate all your project management details within the same platform and build your freelance business to scale.

The platform frees designers from the need to maintain multiple teams and an omnichannel management structure to run their core design business. 

Benefits

Here is a list of benefits specific to the Bonsai platform.

1. It helps to automate your freelance graphic design business and integrates to all aspects of your business to streamline the process.
2. It allows you to create structured proposals and projected estimates for faster negotiations.
3. It has an easy to use interface with a logical workflow.
4. It requires minimal training time and can be integrated into the business process almost immediately.
5. It is built for independent contractors and freelancers to work more independently. 

Pricing

Bonsai offers two major pricing plans. The Workflow plan is available at 19 USD per month and allows unlimited clients and projects support. You can create proposals and contracts for your clients. It also has a task and time tracker to monitor the project. 

The Workflow Plus plan is available at 29 USD per month. It offers all of the features of Workflow plan and allows more features like client-mode subcontracting and Calendly integrations to further increase productivity. 

3. PhotoADKing for template design

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PhotoAdKing is a godsend for freelance graphic designers. The software can help you in your business in design creation as well as to develop marketing collateral to promote your business. You can also use their wide range of pre-made templates for client presentations, advertising design and social media graphic design.

The tool has an incredibly simple interface with a drag and drop editor to simplify the customization. All of the templates have a professional layout and are characterized by stunning graphics.

The tool is specifically important for businesses depending on visual design to market their products. You can also create social media assets on the platform even if you have no prior designing skills.

The multi-level customization of this tech-led design platform allows you to have complete freedom of transforming the pre-made templates according to your sector. 

Advantages

Here are some major advantages of the PhotoADKing tool.

1. It has more than 10000+ templates for graphic design, videos and images.
2. It comes with an integrated collection of graphics and videos to enhance your design content.
3. It allows users to remove the background for images or complete customization freedom.
4. It has a 3D editor to create design objects to be added to an existing composition.
5. The interface has an easy to use drag and drop editor.
6. It offers a wide range of options through its creative font library.
7. The platform comes with SVG support.  

Pricing

PhotADKing has three pricing plans available at the moment. There is a free plan that allows the use of basic features on the platform. The Starter plan is available at 4 USD per month and allows the use of limited premium templates. The Pro plan is available at 5.75 USD per month and it allows the use of unlimited premium templates. You can avail discounts if you pay annually for any of the paid packages.

4. ELEMENTOR for website design  

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Regardless of the business niche, in order to make any kind of digital impact, your company will need a website. However, you might not have time from the actual business to handle the design and development of the website. This is where ELEMENTOR comes in handy. 

This incredible integrated tool allows you to create comprehensive and interactive websites on WordPress.

ELEMENTOR empowers startups and small business owners to create their websites and take charge of their digital presence. You do not need any code experience or even design training to get started on ELEMENTOR. 

The platform has a wide range of responsive templates that are fully customizable for your business. You can also add custom forms and popup features to further add to the audience interaction on the website.

Pro tip: 

Whether you are designing a home or a website, the idea is to keep the design minimal and not overflood the design with graphics and text. 

Advantages

Here are a few advantages of using the ELEMENTOR tool.

1. It allows all business owners to turn their own creative visions into designer websites.
2. The platform offers workflow optimization for website development.
3. The platform offers over 90+ widgets to further add the interactive value of your websites.
4. It offers advanced website creation for designers and developers with technical expertise.
5. It offers an easy to use drag and drop editor for effortless customization of multi-page websites. 

Pricing

ELEMENTOR offers a Download and Install ELEMENTOR pro plugin available at 49 USD per year. It has 300+ basic and professional website templates and 60+ professional website kits for your website customization. The Platform also offers a package to build and publish a website and directly host it with ELEMENTOR. The plan is priced at 89 USD per year. 

Conclusion

All of these tools have a part to play in simplifying the complex business process for designers and freelance artists. 

The tools work at project management, product creation, marketing collateral development and even design contract development to automate your entire business workflow. 

You can work on them at your pace and learn about their features instead of being dragged down by the administrative and sales details of your business.