GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)

The ease of use and installation make GIMP a no brainer for a small design studio like ours. It is very similar to the Adobe Photoshop Suite, lacking some resources but still very strong for daily tasks.

The lack of resources would be the most negative part, but there are many workarounds combining other free softwares like Krita and Inkscape that make it well worth a try. The investment is time to learn and get comfortable at using it.

What did I like most about Gimp? The cost! We were recommended Gimp by an IT friend as a free alternative to Photoshop. Before I decided to go with the Adobe Cloud, my budget could only allow for Gimp. I appreciated that there was software with some of the capabilities of Photoshop for free. The layout/interface is similar to Photoshop and many of the sidebar tools are similar to Photoshop. I recommend Gimp for anyone who doesn't have the budget for the Adobe Cloud but wants to learn graphic design.

What would take a couple of simple steps in Photoshop takes multiple more steps in Gimp. On the upside, there are quite a bit of video tutorials to walk you through these multiple steps of Gimp on Youtube, but when you compare the process to Photoshop, it's time-consuming and it can be frustrating to a newbie. I'll give you a for instance, a book mockup will take about a minute on Photoshop either by finding a template and working with the layers panel to replace the mockup sample image or by finding a 3-dimensional book and using some of the perspective tools to manipulate the image unto the 3-dimensional pages.

With Gimp, I looked up a tutorial on Youtube and discovered that it would take 10-15 minutes for me to do this process. Not to mention, I also needed to use Pixlr (another free software program) in conjunction with Gimp to accomplish the outcome. At the time before getting the Adobe Suite, I was just happy that I could do a graphic task that would normally take the work of Photoshop!

The fact that it can almost do everything that Photoshop can do and for no charge at all - this helped us a ton. We did not have to pay a monthly subscription that over multiple users, adds up to quite a fee. Adding functionality that isn't otherwise provided is easy thanks to a large collection of assorted extensions.

For all the features it provides, one very important feature is missing. The ability to edit and render CMYK images, without having to run through a few hoops. Since most of our work is for online use, we do not see it as a limitation. But for someone looking at print media work alone, they might have to wait a few months before the official release has this functionality baked in.