10 Of The Best SVG Editors That A UX/UI Designer Must Have
If you are a designer, you must be familiar with Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) and many other design handoff tools. Every designer has his own set of tools for designing and SVG editors are one of them. Fortunately, you can choose your favourite editor from numerous SVG editors available on the internet.
To help you out in your quest for the best SVG editor we have compiled the top 10 editors that must be in your toolkit.
But before we dive into the technical details of this topic, let’s define the purpose of SVG and explain their importance for beginners.
A Brief Overview Of SVG
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is a vector image format based on XML, which is not restricted to any specific resolution. It is normally for two-dimensional graphics in order to support animations and is made up of vector shapes.
Since vector graphics are not composed of pixels therefore, they can be resized to an infinite scale. You will always get smooth edges and fine resolution. Vector graphics are most commonly used for logo designing and various other graphical elements.
If you are working with SVG files, then you need some user-friendly and credible vector graphics editors.
This is the reason that SVG editors are greatly used in web design services and are a critical component of a designer’s toolkit.
What Are The Benefits Of SVG?
As the requirement of responsive webpages is increasing day by day, the importance of clear image representation is also increasing.
SVG enables you to attain natural scaling without damaging the quality of the image. This is the reason that most of the web designers prefer working with vectors.
Mentioned below are some detailed advantages of SVG:
1. Zero Pixelation
No matter what the size is, an SVG graphic will never get pixelated.
SVG possess infinite details and specific dimensions.
The main reason for zero pixelation is that the layers inside the SVG are vector shapes.
Therefore, no matter what size you are displaying SVG at, whether that be 100% scaling or 400% scaling, you will obtain the same clear image with no pixelation.
2. Considerably Minute File Size
As compared to bitmap image formats, like PNG or JPEG the SVG format acquires considerably less space.
The size of the bitmap images file increases when the size of the image increases.
However, in SVG format the size of the file increases with the visual complexity.
In addition, you can compress the SVG files easily.
The best part is that the graphic’s dimensions cause no impact on the size of the file. Therefore, SVG is a winner in terms of size.
3. Animations
One of the biggest advantages of the SVG format is that you can easily animate these graphics and bring little icons to life.
Moreover, you can place the code for animation within the SVG file.
Anybody who understands web development knows the importance of SVG for dynamic graphics.
SVG is very responsive and can be adjusted easily depending upon the screen size and density of the pixels.
4. Other Benefits
Some other benefits include accessibility by various readers like Notepad and search engines.
SVG images have the ability to interact with DOM, CSS and JavaScript.
In addition to this, you can easily copy the text in the SVG file.
10 Best SVG Editors For Designers In 2019
We hope now you understand the importance of SVG in UX/UI design.
However, you are going to need the right editors to use the SVG file and make some necessary adjustments.
Here, we have enlisted some the most useful and effective SVG editors for Windows, Mac, Linux and web.
1. Inkscape
Inkscape is one of the most popular SVG editors that is free to use and easily available for Windows, Linux and macOS. It is the best-suited editor for all the illustrators, designers and web designers. Some of the best specifications of Inkspace are:
· It has amazing tools for object creation and its manipulation.
· It enables you to work freehand with various shapes and text.
· It also supports a range of formats like PNG, PDF, EPS and sk1 etc.
2. Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is undoubtedly the most renowned SVG editor in the world. It possesses a huge market share in the vector editing software industry worldwide. Some of the best specifications of Adobe Illustrator are:
· It has a user-friendly interface with exciting features.
· Almost 37% of the designers use adobe illustrator.
· It is available for Windows/Mac.
· It is predominantly used for printing, publishing and poster book layout.
· You can also use adobe illustrator for illustrations, processing of multimedia images and internet page production.
· With the help of Adobe Illustrator, you can achieve high precision for line drafts no matter what the size of the project is.
3. Boxy SVG
Even though Boxy SVG is not free, it is a nicely designed SVG editor. It is available for Windows, Chrome OS, macOS and web app. Some of the best specifications of Boxy SVG are:
· It is designed for all the professional web designers, developers and non-technical users who are beginners.
· Since it utilises the chromium-based rendering system, therefore it adopts the same way of rendering SVG documents as used by chromes browser for any device.
· Furthermore, it has many additional features, which include the integration of Google Fonts and the open clip art library.
4. Gravit Designer
Corel’s Gravit designer is comparatively a powerful SVG Editor and has numerous additional features. Some of the best specifications of Gravit Designer are:
· It is free to use but it’s pro version costs £99 per annum.
· It is designed purely for designers to create illustrations and screen design, different animations and best quality icons.
· You can also use it for the creation of 3D animations.
· It is easily available for Windows, Linux, macOS, Chrome OS and a web app.
5. Vector
Vector is another SVG editor that helps the designers to play with vector graphics. Some of the best specifications of Vector are:
· It is free to use.
· It can help the designers to make vector graphics easily.
· It has a simple and user-friendly interface with powerful features.
· Beginners can easily learn how to use its features like the addition of layers, using borders or shadows and adding text to make vector icons and images.
6. Sketsa SVG Editor
Sketsa is a cross-platform vector graphic drawing application. Some of the best specifications of Sketsa are:
· It is free to use.
· It is available for Windows, macOS and Linux.
· It contains multiple tools for drawing and content creation.
· It enables you to draw, edit and manipulate various objects.
· Moreover, it also possesses a source editor that has a feature of syntax highlighting.
· With the help of syntax highlighting, you can easily edit and view the SVG XML source code for increased control.
7. Sketch
Even though Sketch is only available for Mac, still it is a very popular tool among all the UI designers. Some of the best specifications of Sketch are:
· It is considered to be an ideal tool for interface design.
· It provides precision at the pixel level and is light in weight.
· You can easily design icons for mobile applications through sketch.
· However, it is not free. It can cost you up to £76.68 per year which is expensive, but it is worth it.
· It has this amazing plugin called Mockplus which allows you to easily convert visual drafts to high-fidelity prototypes.
· Furthermore, Mockplus has this in-built SVG component, which enables you to upload all the SVG images and icons.
· It also makes sure that the prototype images and icons are not affected at any cost.
· It can also help the designers to create their own fonts.
8. Trianglify
Trianglify is a free SVG editor for the web. However, it is restricted to geometric shapes only. It means if you want to design a polygonal background then Trianglify will help you in making geometric patterns. Some of the best specifications of Trianglify are:
· It enables you to make beautiful geometric patterns and backgrounds.
· You can set the colours, size and colour pallets according to your choice.
· Moreover, it is also possible to download the SVG pattern through Trianglify.
9. Method Draw
Method Draw is a completely free online SVG editor that is available for the web. Some of the best specifications of Method Draw are:
· It helps you in creating and editing the vector graphics file with its unlimited tools.
· With its help, you can quickly create something extraordinary.
· It is designed with a minimalistic approach and is an ideal tool for web designers.
10. Flaticon
Flaticon is the most commonly used vector icons provider.
It is free to use and user-friendly tool.
You can get thousands of free icons by using it in Mockplus along with its SVG component.
These are some of the best free and paid SVG editors that are commonly used in web designing. No matter which web design agency Nottingham you hire, most of these SVG editors will be seen in their designer’s toolkit. It is because they make your work easier and smoother. If you are an aspiring UX/UI designer, then you must learn more about these tools.
