Which is the ideal graphics design software 1

[f2b]

I've been doing some web site design & advertising work (banners, flyers, biz cards etc) over the past 6 months.
I currently use PSP v8 and Corel Draw V11 but I find both are anything but user friendly, although PSP does have a good product tour and I'm getting there with it. Corel, on the other hand seems to keep things to itself!
Trying to see light at the end of the tunnel with Corel is so frustrating. Is there something better and easier than Corel? I used to use MS PhotoDraw, but since upgrading to the latest MS Office, it's does not work anynmore or supported.

I use corel (try to) for design work and PSP for anims and merging images etc.
Is there an ideal package or combination for this type of work? Any good advice would be received with thanks.

Andre

 

[Brushman]

I use Draw V10 exclusively for cards/leaflets/letterheads/booklets and even some 4 colour stuff on same and folders, have tried Quark/Illustrator/Indesign and always come back to Draw. If I were doing larger documents ie magazines/papers definately not Draw.Use Corel Photo Paint for bitmap stuff and put that file into Draw for the layout. Web stuff I use Namo Web Editor 5.5 (

http://www.namo.com)

Which bits are you struggling with - I'm sure people here can assist.
Regards
Alan

 

[f2b]

Thank you for the Corel Photo Paint tip. I use PSP and import from Corel Draw. Will try that instead.

Some of the problems I have with Corel is :
Feathering or fading objects (outside edges),3D text and thickening text. Tried using outline but it't not contorllable.

Regards
Andre

 

[Brushman]

If the fading of edges is on bitmaps then PP will do this easily. If a Bitmap is in Draw, double clicking should launch PP, edit there and close, edited image should then be back in Draw. For images which need alot of work start in PP save as cpt and import into draw. If you want to put images in other programmes use tiff, because of the compacting method I use jpg only for web stuff or at the very last stage of editing.
Alan

 

[bradleybb]

I'm a designer and work on a little of just about all programs and types of work. I design everything using CorelDraw 11 and then recreate the production files on which ever program is best suited. I do this because Corel is the most user friendly, intuative program I've ever used. The time I save with the creative freedom gives me enough time to recreate on the more technically oriented programs.