Logos, cards, book covers, and event programs, all these begin with graphic design, and whether you are a professional or an amateur, designing starts with choosing the right digital design software.

If you are playing around with making holiday or birthday cards, you might want something easy and tailored to your end goal, like Hallmark software. For bigger undertakings, the decision involves whether you need one program (like a digital painting program) or a collection of programs—like a drawing program, a photo-editing program and a visual assembly program (for instance, Adobe Illustrator).

If you are a professional, student or advanced amateur, you will likely use a suite of programs to achieve your projects. When coordinating programs on your computer or tablet, it’s best to stick with one brand. Do some research on the offerings from each major brand when deciding where to invest your money. Also, consider special offers, like discount software pricing for students and teachers.

Choosing the best creative software is just the beginning. You also want the hardware to support your programs with ease. When handling image creation and editing, your laptop needs plenty of storage space, both for the programs and for large project files. You may benefit from storing projects on external drives to free up internal computer storage. Having ample computer memory is essential for visual programs that are handling many graphic layers, and an upgraded graphics card may render better-quality images.

If you are designing images for print, invest in a quality inkjet printer that will allow you to print either finished or test copies at home at the quality that you need.

If you plan to draw digital art by hand, you will want a drawing tablet that mimics the feeling of drawing on paper and provides far more control than a computer mouse. You will also benefit from an IPS monitor, a design that prioritizes color accuracy among other features.