I use Xara Designer Pro virtually exclusively for all design work – both for website graphics (with almost no exceptions, every graphic element on every website I have produced in the last 10 years has been produced by the Xara Designer family of programs) and for print.
I swear by the software and use it daily, though few other designers have ever even heard of the software. Designed and developed by a specialist UK developer in Hemel Hempstead just north of London, Xara Designer is powerful and flexible, quick to use and a pleasure to work with.
You’ll need at least Xara Photo & Graphic Designer (standard version), if not Xara Designer Pro to open any original artwork files that I produce, though if you need them I can produce PDF versions of all files too.
Download a trial version
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer: (Retail price: £50)
Xar’s software is simply the best graphics program for all your drawing and day to day photo needs, ideal for both print and the web. Whatever graphics you need and whatever your skill level, Xara’s famously friendly user interface and fast processing will make it an absolute pleasure to be creative. And at a price that won’t break the bank!
Find out more and download a free 30-day trial
Xara Designer Pro: (Retail price: £220)
Xara Designer Pro is the top of the range product graphic and web design package, and includes all the features and templates of Web Designer Premium, Photo & Graphic Designer and Page & Layout Designer in a fully integrated single package solution for all your graphic design needs, for print and the web. Illustration, photo editing, DTP and document creation, web graphics and websites – Designer Pro does it all!
Find out more and download a free 30-day trial
Confused by all the names?!
Xara Designer has previously been released as Xara Studio, CorelXARA, Xara X, Xara X¹ and Xara Xtreme. For a brief history, version numbers, release dates and screenshots of the loading tiles of each version, please see the Xara Designer history page.
Basically there are four programs today (as of 2016):
- Xara Photo & Graphic Designer (‘Standard’)
- Xara Page & Layout Designer
- Xara Web Designer
- Xara Designer Pro (‘Pro’)
The first three are about £50 each, the last one (which does everything that the first three, plus a bit more) is about £200. I use the last one, you probably only need the first one.
Special offer pricing
Xara often have special offer pricing around bank holiday weekends and when they release a new version of a program. Those special offer prices often see the ‘Standard’ software being about £40 instead of £50. The special offers page on the Xara website is worth checking, as is the Xara Ltd eBay Store because very occasionally they sell older versions very cheaply (in early 2016 they sold a one-version-old version of the ‘Standard’ Photo & Graphic Designer for £15!).
