Why Photoshop is necessary for web design

There has been a lot of buzz on quora.com regarding the need to use Photoshop to design websites. A lot of people think that Photoshop is going to be supplanted soon and therefore, Photoshop will no longer be the software of choice for website designers. As the owner of a firm that specialises in web design in Brisbane, obviously this topic took my interest.

We began looking at browser designs, or employing some other options in regard to software, yet at the same time, its 2015 and just about every website designer I know uses Photoshop to create their website designs.

I personally only use Photoshop and have many great reasons as to why I’ll keep using it for my clients looking for web design in Brisbane, for now and in the future. This article offers some of the reasons…

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Everyone asks for PSDs.

The thing is, website designers don’t have too many alternatives as far as selecting design software is concerned. Everything you do largely depends on what your customers as well as developers expect of you.

It’s difficult to use any other software apart from Photoshop for your designs. Even though you really need to put some of those other software to the test, most teams that we have worked with have persistently requested for the use of Photoshop.

Back in the early 2000’s, I found Adobe Fireworks to be just as popular as Photoshop and other developers requested either a layered PNG or PSD file, not just for web design in Brisbane, but across the globe. In spite of this, Adobe discontinued the development of Fireworks prompting every designer to begin using Photoshop.

Another reason why most web developers prefer to work off Photoshop files to any other software is the fact that it has always remained the most secure and simple to use. Developers understand how to use Photoshop and can easily extract graphics from a layered Photoshop file. Actually, there are several tools as well as third party plugins that make the whole experience even easier.

Are you a freelance that offers web design in Brisbane? Do you often work as a team? If this is the case then get prepared to begin using Photoshop since most clients will ask for PSD files.

Adobe wants us to keep using Photoshop.

Just like every other designer, I have been waiting for Adobe to make their PSDs responsive. The demand is still alive to date. Some exciting news is that you now have Adobe Edge Reflow. This software is still very new and fresh and the idea of this app is simply amazing.

Don’t wait for Adobe to tell you that it now has the new app that lets you design websites. The effect would be a complete transition from Photoshop to the new apps. The Edge Reflow application allows you to design your websites from scratch or just import them from Photoshop to make them responsive before you upload them.

This is a perfect solution especially when customers request Photoshop files and need the design to work on the mobile platform. Edge Reflow also lets you drag and drop your Photoshop elements; rearranging and scaling elements to produce alternate screens for your web design projects.

Designing in the browser from scratch

Most web designers that understand coding languages such as HTML/CSS design right from the browser itself and simply avoid the whole design process by using Photoshop or any other relevant software.

I define the process of designing websites in Photoshop a “pre-design” phase. This is because it lets the designer visualise the whole idea. Personally, I skip pixel perfect details and complete that segment in the browser during the coding stage, it is much more time effective.

Conclusion

The title of this blog really sums up everything discussed here. Always aim at equipping oneself with designer skills, not software skills. If you are a web designer reading this post, focus on design skills. Master your website design techniques as well as styles. If you develop your skills, you can easily design awesome websites regardless of the software you choose to work with.

At Ignition Media, we only use Photoshop for our website designs. In spite of this, no one knows what the future holds for web designers. If you need our professional help to create a PSD mockup of your website design then get in touch or view our portfolio to see what we’re capable of.

Regardless of the web design project, the truth remains that Photoshop is one of the most effective software to use to date. Its usefulness cannot be stresses further. Despite the entire buzz that had been going round and about, Photoshop still remain a favorite of many web designer. As for me and my web design in Brisbane projects, I will keep using my Photoshop.

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