- Most design software these days
has moved to being available on a subscription model,
meaning that you pay monthly or yearly
and you get upgrades as the software is improved,
rather than just purchasing outright, one specific
version of the software and owning that for life.
This model has its pros and cons.
On the plus side,
it's good to be able to keep up with
the latest releases easily without
having to fork out for a whole new
version of the software.
But then also paying every single month,
these costs can really add up.
You're paying for access,
rather than paying to own the software.
Really though, we don't have a choice,
because, like I said, most design software
is moving towards that subscription model these days.
So, for this video I've decided to do a
bit of a stock take of the apps & software
that I'm subscribed to
and tell you a bit about them.
The most expensive software I use
is Adobe Creative Cloud
and it's kind of fair enough that
it's the most expensive,
because it's also probably
the one that I use the most.
I actually got a free year's subscription to this
at VidCon, which is pretty exciting,
but when that runs out,
I'm going to be having to pay 45 pounds 73 a month,
which is obviously quite steep.
I also have a subscription to this through work,
but obviously work pays for the one that I use there.
Adobe does offer a much cheaper subscription
if you only want to use one or two apps.
I think you can pay like 15 pounds or something
per app to access them.
But, I end up using Photoshop, Illustrator,
InDesign, Adobe Premier, After Effects,
maybe Lightroom every now and then as well.
So, it's worth it for me to have the full package.
I know some people have stuck with the older versions
before they moved to the subscription model,
but I do think that the updates that they've done
in Creative Cloud are worth it.
Things run much smoother and much better
and there's much better features now.
So, I think it's worth it if you do design professionally.
And if you're still studying,
they do have a student price as well,
I'm not quite sure what it is,
but I know it's a lot cheaper than 45 pounds a month.
Up until a few years ago,
Adobe was actually the only design software
that I really used, but then Sketch came along.
And I've done a video all about Sketch.
Like a 101 tutorial, that I'lllink to
on a card up there for you to go watch.
This is what I use for web design.
Sketch fairly recently moved to a more
subscription type model.
But it's kind of different to how Adobe does it.
Instead of paying for access,
you're paying for upgrades in a way.
You pay $99 and that gives you a year's worth
of upgrades.
At the end of that year,
you can just keep using the software as much as you want,
you just don't get the upgrades from then on
if you don't wanna keep paying for them.
I really like this model they've chosen.
Because it means that it's much easier
for people to access the software without
having to basically commit themselves to
a lifetime of paying for it.
But then, professionals are obviously
going to keep upgrading,
and keep paying per year,
because they want to use the latest updates
and the latest features.
I love Sketch.
It's a huge help to my web design process
and I'm going to be making more videos about it for sure,
with some more tips and tricks and things.
So, let me know what you'd like to know about it,
I suppose, and I'll make sure that's included
in the video.
Next up, something else I use at work is InVision.
And this is a web app service,
I guess you'd call it,
for prototyping and gathering feedback on designs.
You upload your web designs into the software,
you can make links clickable to jump around
between pages.
You can make little notes so that when you send
it to someone they've got some context behind
what you were doing in specific parts
and people that you share it with can also leave comments,
which is really useful.
I use this for gathering all feedback on my designs,
so that everything is in one place.
At work, we're on the $25 plan which gives
us unlimited prototypes,
but they do have cheaper ones as well.
And you can actually use it for free if you
just have one project that you need to put in there.
Another one at work is the Noun Project.
Noun Project is a site where people upload
vector icons for different things
and you can just search for whatever object
that you need an icon for
and there'll be many different options to choose from.
They're mostly available
under the creative commons license if you want
to just use them for free,
but if you'd like to just use them in your
project without having to put the little line
of credit anywhere, then you can subscribe
to Noun Pro.
You pay a fee of $9.99 I think it is per month,
and you get access to all of the icons you want.
I prefer to create my own icons,
but I often use this as a starting point,
as a reference or for quick things to go on
social media for example that don't need me
to spend a lot of time on them
if there's already something that's perfectly suitable
waiting in the Noun Project.
Next up is TeuxDeux,
which just like it sounds, is a to do list app.
I first started using this when you just paid
a fee to download the iphone app
and then you could access it.
They moved to a subscription model though,
to be able to keep funding it
and keep developing it.
And it's only $2 a month which is pretty cheap.
It does sound strange, I know, that I pay
to use a to do list app,
because I know that there are many,
many free ones out there,
but honestly, this is the one I love.
This is the one that keeps me organized,
so I'm perfectly happy to pay that $2 a month
to be able to use it.
The last app I'm subscribed to isn't design software,
but I guess it's kind of about productivity,
and that is Spotify.
I find that having music on in the background
is vital to my design process.
It can help block out the rest of the office noise.
It can help me focus.
You know, I've got certain play lists
that if I need to get inspired
or if I need to concentrate,
and that's why I'm including it in this video.
And that is nine pounds 99 a month.
So that is the software that I'm subscribed to,
I'd love to hear if your list is similar.
If there's other things that you pay for monthly
or yearly that perhaps I didn't mention,
leave them down below in the comments,
that'd be interesting to hear about.
I am going to be doing another video in the series
all about the free apps that I use
as part of my process,
so stay tuned for that.
Give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it.
And if you're new to my channel,
please make sure you subscribe because
I make new videos about design every single week.
And I guess I will see you in the next one.
Bye.