The most important characteristic for a professional graphic designer is now adaptability.
Design technology is evolving at an historic rate.
Whether collaborating with new teams or getting acclimated to different work environments, increasing output quality and efficiency all depend on keeping up with the newest design software, as well as staying familiar with tried-and-true mainstays that are constantly updating, adding features and advancements.
Photoshop, the most versatile program in design. Nearly every task I undertake begins by launching Photoshop.
I use After Effects for almost anything that needs to move, but I also find it useful for adding specific effects to static images.
Along with Photoshop, Illustrator is an essential tool for creating new content or creating the assets needed to complete projects in other programs.
If you've researched my bio you know I've used many non-linear editors over the past 25 years. Premiere has become the most accessible and ubiquitous.
As I have ventured more and more into the world of content creation. Audition has become my go-to app for all my audio recording and editing needs.
For customizing 3D titles, objects or environments C4D is the program I learned on and am most familiar with.
Blender is the obvious budget friendly substitute for C4D. Because it is open source it is essentially a cost free program to use.
I have recently become very familiar with Figma and its collaborative advantages. Especially when working with team members without design experience who might need to edit language and other simple changes in a project layout.
AI generation has a tricky reputation in the graphic design community. The fear of it "replacing" us has ignored the many advantages it provides. Saving us time acquiring assets we need to complete larger projects. If you ever want to have a very long winded conversation about this call me.
In addition to AI generation Runway provides many tools to expedite video effects and compositing projects.
VLC, its not very exciting but if you are working with video sources from various places then video conversion is important. Clients and collaborators rarely deliver video assets the exact format you need and being able to convert them yourself is a lot more convenient then waiting for them to do it.
Whether you're converting files or ripping them from Youtube or some other video source, I've found 4k Video Downloader to be a very useful tool.
Its Youtube. If you want to take advantage of the most watched website in the world you better know the ins and outs of how to publish on it.
I am not an active streamer but I have an appreciation for the accessibility and versatility streaming platforms like Twitch provide. So I have poked my head in to see how it all works. Just don't expect to catch me streaming my gaming sessions on a Friday night.
Wether setting up a stream or recording a session I like Streamlabs easy to use interface.
I am not an active social media user but I have done a lot of work for clients who are. So having an understanding of how platforms like Instagram accept media is important.
See Instagram...
Mocha is a great tool for video compositing with a very advanced tracking system to composite assets into video that is moving in ways that would otherwise severely hinder the process
Maxon's Red Giant Suite is a dependable collection of AE plug-ins to help improve motion graphics output.
Boris FX's Sapphire Plug-Ins for AE provide a wide variety of useful tools to improve a motion graphics project's polish and professional sheen.