Adobe Illustrator CC vs. Mapp Digital vs. VistaCreate

It is the only tool that I use to create logos. It gives me the flexibility to create sharp text and marks and they can then be resized at will, color changes in a second and perfect way to export. I know that some people use Illustrator for document layout, it is not ideal. While I can easily create documents here, it really is InDesign that is the perfect tool.

During our use of MAPP Digital, it is deserving to say that the product helped us to overcome the main challenges we faced in our business at the time. As a preliminary user I have struggled much with hosting manual campaigns on remarketing etc. But with the Mapp digital software hosting marketing campaigns became a complete automated process with supervision. This feature offered by Mapp made a huge decrease in my daily workload and I'm more than grateful for it.

Incentivized

VistaCreate is well suited for creating engaging content for users of all age groups. There are beautiful, modern templates and a variety of shapes and animations to choose from. Most importantly, the cost is inexpensive, and you get that bang for your buck. An attractive feature is the ability to upload music, or choose from the library, to add to your content piece. It's quite clever, as this allows the reader to engage in more than one sense e.g., animated content versus static text. The reader hears music, and the content is animated and visually appealing. This allows keywords to be highlighted. The probability of communicating your message in this manner is increased.

Incentivized

• Vector graphics for scaling to large sizes
• Filling an object with a texture
• Easily adjusting and expanding an artboard to fit the size of the content (especially for infographics)
• Compatibility with other Adobe CC programs, but also exporting for PPT graphics

Incentivized

• BlueHornet's WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface for creating emails is easier to use than many platforms. Users appreciate this. BlueHornet makes it super simple to create a version specific for mobile devices.
• I am a big fan of the custom data segmentation tools built into BlueHornet. They are powerful and easy to use. Many other ESPs, including a number of the top rated ones, do not have such powerful, easy to use segmentation tools. This matters. It helps a user send more relevant emails.
• BlueHornet makes sharing to social networks simple. In this day and age, forwarding to a friend is dead. Sharing to social networks is essential. Having this be easy to do is very important.

• Certificate design
• Social media communications
• Conversion of designs into various file formats e.g. mp4, jpg, pdf
• PowerPoint designs

Incentivized

• It's tough to master. If you haven't used Adobe products like Photoshop or Illustrator before, there is a lot to take in.
• It would be great to have some better options to preview the final product if you're creating a multiple page document.
• Better integration and pricing points with Adobe Stock for the useful stock images to complete your projects.

Incentivized

• It would be nice to see the API's functionality introduced into the web client.
• The reporting tools for transactional messages is different than the rest of the system. This promotes difficulty with getting accurate reporting in the web client, outside of an API call.
• The custom fields are different for transactional messages, which introduces times when human error may flub the fields because they aren't contiguous throughout the product.

• Difficult to design content on mobile phone
• Mobile designs do not sync with desktop app

Incentivized

While Adobe Illustrator CC is one of the only true design software out there, it really stands heads above the other products. It's clean UI and menu structure is easy to navigate.

Incentivized

Although BlueHornet offers helpful testing capabilities, the ESP is a bit outdated. There is a lot of room for aesthetics improvement as they are not appealing. The reporting tool is usually broken, and reporting either no, or wrong metrics. If this ESP were to update their design, as well as fix the reporting tool, I think this platform would be much better.

There's a bit of a learning curve to this software vs other similar tools that can take some time to learn and get familiar with but the amount of functionality that Adobe Illustrator CC offers is quite large compared to simpler tools.

Incentivized

There were three tabs used to navigate throughout the system called, "publish," "engage," and, "measure." These three tabs made the site very user friendly and all features easy to find

They rolled out new feature requests quite frequently and always kept our team up to speed on what they were changing/adding to the system

I normally already know how to do whatever I'm trying out, but the documentation (as well as a simple Google search) makes any question quick to resolve. The Adobe boards themselves are a fantastic resource, especially for resolving questions between new programs and iterative releases.

Incentivized

Sometimes it was hard to get an initial response but after we started CCing more people, it became a lot better!

They made sure to go through anything and everything that we wanted

It was very easy to purchase and download.

Incentivized

I wasn't there when they first got it, but when I got there there were only a few people that knew a little bit about it. There was A LOT that we didn't know. Then BlueHornet came and had some workshops and we learned a lot that we didn't even know existed. They were doing a lot of things wrong before BlueHornet came and showed up more about the tool

I chose Rhinoceros 3D because it is accurate to make drawings in it and it is better to make drawings in Rhinoceros 3D and then put them in Adobe Illustrator. But while printing or scaling it is much easier to put it in Adobe Illustrator. This makes the whole printing aspect of it much easier.

We were able to thoroughly evaluate the program for Mapp Digital thanks to the free trial's availability. Comparing the two products' graphical user interfaces, it's evident that Mapp Digital comes out on top. Mapp Digital's excellent customer service was another reason for our decision to work with the company.

Incentivized

In my view, VistaCreate is easier to navigate and design content. The templates are fun and appealing. The availability of Shutterstock photos is endless. The version history is saved so that work is not lost. There is a brand feature that automatically selects color themes to support branding. It is easy to export content to your desired file type.

Incentivized

• Helps us quickly and easily create and manage numerous logos
• Cloud libraries allow us to access commonly used colors, fonts, logos and other design elements quickly
• We are able to provide high-quality, scalable college logos for print and digital which give us a more professional, credible look.

Incentivized

• BlueHornet has been a good entry-level platform. We have successfully launched scores of clients with limited email marketing experience onto this platform. Because it is easy to use, we have spent minimal effort needing to help these clients with problems.
• It is easy to migrate clients on or off BlueHornet, depending upon their needs. This is helpful because it allows our clients to be on exactly the right platform. Some platforms make it difficult to migrate off, essentially trapping clients on a platform that no longer meets their needs or business objectives.
• I wish BlueHornet were keeping pace with technology advancements in the industry. The gap between the biggest ESPs and competitors like BlueHornet seems to be growing.

• Improved communication with staff
• Improved brand presence on social media
• Ability to appeal to all age groups
• Improved staff morale

Incentivized