Adobe Photoshop & Adobe Illustrator is a power couple has its own strengths and weaknesses and serves a different purpose in a graphic designer’s workflow. Sometimes, you might even need to use both depending on your type of design or project and can be considered a necessity to know both software as a graphic designer.
This article is to explain the main differences between Photoshop and Illustrator so you can better choose which software to use for the particular type of design you are looking to create.
Generally, Adobe Photoshop is mainly to edit photos & Adobe Illustrator is for digital graphic creation such as Logos, name card, flyers and such.
What is the difference?
Due to the wide range of abilities of both softwares, the differences are almost endless, but here are 3 basic differences of Photoshop & Illustrator.
| Adobe Photoshop | Adobe Illustrator | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Uses pixel or raster based editing. All photographs & images (example: jpeg, png or gif images) are made up of pixels. There is a specific amount of information (pixels) in an image. If the image is scaled up or zoomed in, you will see the image looking pixelated and blur. | Uses vector type graphics. When creating shapes and text in vector means it can be scaled up and scaled down to any size without having to worry about the graphic becoming blur. |
| 2. | Workspace – Single Artboard Only allowed to work in page (artboard) at a time. If there are 2 sided designs, you will need 2 photoshop files. All design elements needs to be created inside the artboard as anything outside of the artboard as it will not be visible. | Workspace – Multiple Artboard You can create multiple artboards, this able to create multiple page designs such as brochures or double sided designs such as name cards. Design elements can also be left outside of the artboard for later use, you are not limited to only the space inside your artboard. |
| 3. | Area Selection Same like Illustrator, you will be able to select objects such as text, shapes, images as a whole in Photoshop. However, in a photo of a fruit basket, you will be able to select an apple out of the whole photo, allowing you to edit part of the photo. | Object Selection You will only be able to select the whole object. Meaning if its an photo, you can select the whole photo as it is a single object but you will not be able to select a certain area in the photo. |
Which to use?
This is probably the main question as the software you choose will determine what you can and cannot do in your design
| Adobe Photoshop | Adobe Illustrator |
|---|---|
| Primarily used for photo-editing You can open up an image and easily brighten a photo, get rid of a product image’s background. | Usually used for design creation Great for creating layouts, test type designs and logos. It is also printer friendly, allowing you to send an illustrator file directly to the shop for print. |
Requirement
Though the usage of both software are different, thus making the skills you need to learn to use both software differ, whether it comes to skill or budget, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator is quite similar.
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