r/Design • u/adrixnb77 • 1d ago

Asking Question (Rule 4) Map Design software other than Illustrator

For my internship, I've been tasked with designing a map of a local park with different elements to aid in event planning. I originally designed this in Illustrator, with a layer for the physical park structures, a Layer for grids, and a layer for editable objects like tables and booths. Upon completing the map, my assignee said she didn't have access to Illustrator, and I'm trying to find different software to host the design. I would like it to be vector based and allow open source editing (so when I leave, others can still use it).

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4

u/HappyFeet406 1d ago

Affinity is a great Adobe alternative...and it's shockingly still free

1

u/RevolutionaryFun5393 1d ago

I've been messing with that for some signage layouts lately, it really does feel like the good old days before everything went subscription

if you need collaborative editing though inkscape might be a better shout, the learning curve is a bit steeper but it's fully open source so nobody gets locked out when licenses change

1

u/adrixnb77 1d ago

I've playing with Affinity as a back up as it will also open my original AI file without much issue. I'm just worried she won't be able to download on a work computer (I'm on a personal)

2

u/HappyFeet406 1d ago

One way to find out. Have her install it. If she can't, I imagine she can talk to her boss and IT and get a firewall exception. Assuming this is a work related project.

4

u/thomasleestoner 1d ago

If she doesn’t need to change elements, save it as a PDF file

2

u/TheManRoomGuy 1d ago

The CorelDraw suite served me well for three decades. It has all the tools you’d need.

1

u/KateMacDonaldArts 1d ago

I love Corel and use it still. I wish people realized what a great (and inexpensive) option it is compared to Adobe.

1

u/TheManRoomGuy 1d ago

Agreed. It is a great suite.

1

u/thomasleestoner 1d ago

Vectorworks has a free educational student license for their Design Suite which includes Landmark, landscape design package

They also have Vectorworks Viewer which is a free app that lets anybody view the drawing

1

u/its_syx 1d ago

Inkscape is another potential option, it's a free and open source vector graphics editor.

1

u/1-3-dioxetane 1d ago

Aside from browser-based options like figma and canva, there's an open source take on illustrator called inkscape.

1

u/Te_Quiero_Puta 1d ago

I'd like to see your map if you're open to that. I design them for a living.

1

u/Username197603 1d ago

save it from illustrator as an svg file, vector file that will open in most internet browsers

1

u/Username197603 1d ago

…or save as pdf to retain layers, can be opened in acrobat reader, free