Updated June 14, 2026
The biggest complaint I get from clients who switch to my services after working with another designer is “can you get the file sizes smaller?” The problem usually lies in someone using the wrong tools. In this case, the tools refer to software choices and how they are used. It seems a lot of people — experienced and educated people — get this wrong. They may have the tools of the master, but they don’t know how to use them.
Anybody can make the wrong tools work once in a while, but long-term success requires choosing the right tools and using them correctly. More and more, when I’m picking up another designer’s files, I find they’ve chosen the wrong software for the project. Makes me wonder what they’re teaching in design school these days.
Adobe has long been the leader in the design industry for print and brand work — they have set the standard, and that hasn’t changed. For UI and web design, Figma has become equally standard and is used by serious professionals across the industry. And for illustration work, Procreate has become an essential part of my toolkit — powerful, intuitive, and purpose-built for the kind of detailed digital illustration that used to require a much more complicated workflow. The right tool depends on the job. Here’s how I think about it.
Yes, tools matter
Adobe Illustrator
Illustrator is for vector-based drawing — logos, illustrations, infographics, and anything that requires sharp edges and scales cleanly from a business card to a billboard. If it needs to be infinitely scalable without losing quality, it starts in Illustrator.
Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop is for pixel-based graphics and photos. Any image that incorporates modulated tone, soft fades, shadows, or photo manipulation lives here. It’s also where I finish and export illustration work that originated in Procreate.
Adobe InDesign
InDesign is made for page layout — combining text and images into single or multipage documents. Complex brochures, magazines, books, and catalogs absolutely, but I’d argue even simpler pieces like print ads, postcards, and trifold brochures are most appropriately built here too. The type editing and formatting tools alone make it the right choice over Illustrator for any layout work.
Procreate
For illustration work, Procreate on the iPad has become indispensable. The range of brushes, the natural feel of drawing on the surface, and the quality of the output have made it a professional-grade tool — not just a sketching app. I use it for client illustration projects and export the finished work into the Adobe workflow for final production.
Figma
For web and UI design, Figma is where the industry has landed and for good reason. It’s built for collaboration, handles responsive design thinking natively, and makes handoff to developers straightforward. If you’re designing screens rather than print, this is the right tool.
Where things go wrong
The most common mistake is choosing one application and using it for everything. That’s when you find a logo designed in Photoshop (it won’t scale), or a multipage brochure built in Illustrator (the file will be enormous and the type tools are cumbersome), or illustration work done entirely in InDesign (please, no). Each tool exists for a reason. Using them interchangeably is like using a chef’s knife to open a paint can — technically possible, not recommended.
The print design workflow, as Adobe intended it
- Create any vector-based graphics — logos, charts, illustrations — in Illustrator
- Create or edit photographic images in Photoshop
- Import those graphics and photos into InDesign to be combined with text
- Export the finished product from InDesign — this is the file you send to the printer
Follow this workflow and you’ll save considerable time and storage space, and your printer will thank you. There’s a saying in the industry: give me the tools of the master, and I will create masterful things. I’d add one line to that: the tools of the master are wasted on the one who chooses poorly.
Whether you’re starting a new brand, need print collateral, or have an illustration project in mind, the right tools are already on my end of the table. Let’s talk about what we can make together.
