What is Adobe Illustrator and what does it do?

What is Adobe Illustrator and what does Illustrator do?

Illustrator is vector graphics software which uses Bézier curves to edit or create illustrations, graphics and artwork for print documents or web sites, e.g. logo designs, diagrams, illustrations, infographics, graphs.

Illustrator can design small documents such as posters, leaflets, greetings cards, book cover designs, technical information sheets, etc.

What does Illustrator do that Photoshop doesn’t do?

What is the main difference between Illustrator and Photoshop?

Illustrator works with vector graphics (images created from lines or paths), creating graphics and illustrations. These images can be easily scaled (made larger or smaller) without losing detail.

Photoshop works with non-scalable, pixel-based images, such as photographs. These images cannot be scaled significantly without affecting image quality (at high magnification, individual pixels become apparent).

What is Illustrator normally used for?

Illustrator creates vector art, where shapes and lines are created with paths (rather than pixels, as in photographs). Here are a few examples of the type of work for which Adobe Illustrator can be used:

• Graphic design
• Logo and artwork design
• Illustrations and diagrams
• Infographics

Who uses Illustrator?

Users of Illustrator include:

• Graphic designers
• Desktop publishers
• Artists and illustrators
• Web designers

A brief history of Adobe Illustrator

The first version of Adobe Illustrator arrived for Apple Mac in 1987. Version 2 was released for Windows two years later.

The early versions were not easy to use and looked quite primitive, compared to the later versions of Illustrator. However the software worked in a way which was new and exciting and it was obvious that it had the potential for something amazing.

Prior to the release of Illustrator 7 in 1997, there were different releases for Mac and Windows (versions 1, 88, 3, 5 and 6 for Mac, and 2, 4 and 5.1 for Windows). Illustrator 7 was the first cross platform version which offered compatibility between Mac and Windows versions of the software.

Illustrator gradually developed over the next few years. By the late 90s, with Illustrator 8 and 9, there were many more features and Illustrator had become much easier to use.

In the October 2003 the first version Adobe Creative Suite was released, with Illustrator CS. After six versions of the Creative Suite, Adobe Illustrator CC was released in June 2013, as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.