As church communicators, we mostly live and breathe graphics. We need them for our social media posts, church newsletters, sermon presentations, and a whole lot more! Thankfully, there are lots of graphics software available at our disposal. The versatility of these applications continues to grow as designers’ needs are continuously evolving. In this post, we’re going to show you a list of our fellow church communicators’ most loved graphics software. Whether you want to do some basic photo editing, design your church’s newsletter, or more, these great tools will definitely help you!
Canva
Canva is an online graphic design tool that is available online for free. It allows its users to create quick and visually stunning graphics, which is why it is one of the most favorite tools of church communicators on the go. Canva offers a wide range of libraries full of templates from presentation slides, online ads, to infographics and more. All are customizable, with features that provide other graphic elements and stock photos.
Though some contents are only available for premium accounts, you’ll never run out of designs with the hundreds of layouts and element designs that you’ll get there for free! What’s better is that Canva has recently started providing their premium plan to non-profit organizations for free, so it’s a good time to try it out for your church.
“Canva has been my go-to right now..” – Katie Rose
“I don’t make sermon slides but I help with lots of announcement images and social media. Canva is awesome. We, just this week, upgraded to Pro. We use it so much it just made sense.” – Lindsay Huggins
Adobe Photoshop
This software may appeal to most as a tool for professional designers, photographers, artists, and more, but that’s where we’re wrong! Beginners and intermediates can also use Photoshop once they get the hang of it! With its rich features for graphics, website design, illustrations, and more, it’s no doubt that Photoshop is considered as one of the most loved software for church communicators. With its wide collection of tools that allows people to create meticulous designs, sketches, and more, your church’s graphic designs will surely look professional.
“…Photoshop is just the way to go. Especially since you can download the templates from places like CMG and Sunday Social.” – Justin Quinn
Adobe Indesign
You need something more detailed and comprehensive when it comes to materials that need more detailed designs, such as posters, brochures, books, etc. Here’s where InDesign is best. It is used to create documents whether for print or digital media—like interactive PDFs, eBooks, magazines, and more. With this software, you have the tools you need at the tip of your fingertips to make any publication materials you want.
What’s great about it is that the layouts you create in InDesign can easily be edited within other Adobe CC apps. So if you need to edit an element from InDesign to Photoshop, you can see the changes you make in real-time. This is great for designs that are much more complex and that needs to be done rigorously.
Gimp
GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program, is a tool that could be considered as an alternative to Photoshop. It can be used to design social media posts, website graphics, posters, printed materials, and more. GIMP works on many operating systems, and is available for free! There is a learning curve using this, just as with other programs, but you can catch on in no time through various tutorial videos available online!
Affinity (Designer/Publisher)
Affinity is a great solution if you’re looking for a reliable but affordable option. It’s fast and stable, has a great interface, adjustable workspaces, and also has many features that are similar to Adobe Products. It also has options for operating on Mac, Windows, and even iPad.
The Affinity Designer app is specifically designed to create illustrations and art, create colorful vectors, and more with its powerful tools and great optimizations. Affinity Publisher on the other hand is a publishing software where users can quickly create books, flyers, handouts, and more with its publisher’s tools. You could install both to maximize your workflow and flexibility.
“I love Affinity Publisher! The best part about Affinity is that it’s a one-time purchase, not a subscription.” – Tami Montgomery
InkScape
InkScape, which is similar to Affinity Designer, is a free and powerful vector tool, which uses Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) as its native format. So whether you’re creating websites, logos, illustrations, or just designing in general, InkScape can help you with any vector imagery.
Using InkScape may be a little confusing at first but it gets easier as you learn. Besides, there are many resources for learning available to help you become more proficient. InkScape lets you take control of advanced and flexible drawing tools, color profiles, gradients, and element tools for your designing needs. It also has text support which allows you to use any fonts installed in your system. Another great thing about InkScape is it’s free! It is a good alternative for those paid programs like Adobe Illustrator and Affinity Designer.
Conclusion:
As an effective church communicator, we must convey our messages well. With the help of these most loved graphics software, hopefully, your design and graphics problems will be eased. Taking on and learning a new software seems to be daunting tasks at first, but there are hundreds of tutorials and learning resources out there—from tutors, books, and the internet. Hope this will help you become a more efficient communicator! Keep safe!
