Vector Graphics & Illustration

Vector work splits into three habits: drawing, sourcing icons, and cleaning up what the drawing tool leaves behind.

Illustrator is the standard for professional vector work and the reason most job adverts name it. The open-source alternative is Inkscape: full SVG support, no licence, genuinely capable, and an interface that will feel dated if you arrive from Adobe. Affinity is free now and covers vector, raster and layout in one program, which makes it the strongest option for anyone who does not need Illustrator specifically. CorelDRAW is still the perpetual-licence route, common in print and signage.

Icons are a sourcing problem rather than a drawing one. Lucide, Phosphor, Heroicons, Feather, Material Design Icons and Simple Icons are open source and free to use commercially; Iconify puts more than 200,000 of them behind a single interface. Noun Project covers the concepts the tidy sets never will, on a subscription.

SVGO is the unglamorous one that matters. Design tools export SVG with a great deal of bloat, and stripping it is the difference between a 40 KB icon and a 4 KB one.

The AI logo generators listed here are a different job again: fast concepts to react to, not a vector workflow. Check what you actually own before paying.