Adobe Illustrator Reviews

Access to colors or selecting an area of an image can take a few more clicks than expected.

The trace tools have come a long way since older versions of Illustrator but still do not reliably transform every image into usable vectors, i.e., you cannot easily transform a photo into line art by merely using a trace tool.

I would like to see more free-hand vector pen tools

The pen tool takes practice, and is not intuitive for some people.

There are MANY features that may be overwhelming for a beginner.

You need to also use Photoshop to create gifs, versus only using Illustrator.

Huge Learning Curve. I've been using Adobe Illustrator for over 10 years and there are still things I don't know how to do and need to look up tutorials for. The information you need is all out there, but you definitely have to take the initiative to learn those intricacies yourself.

Doesn't always give the desired result. Sometimes I'll try to create something, and I implement my plan, but some shape wasn't fully closed, or there was a clipping mask somewhere I wasn't aware of, and suddenly it won't do what I want. It can be frustrating when trying to create something quickly and coming up on a brick wall like that.

Keyboard commands don't line up with other Adobe programs. Since I alternate between InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop quite frequently, I tend to have different keyboard commands memorized. But there are certain commands that InDesign has, that Illustrator uses for a completely different tool. It can be frustrating and I feel like I always have to relearn what I had memorized.

General shortcuts should be the same as other parts of the Adobe Creative Suite.

Pen tool anchor points don't always move into the exact place, even when all "snap options" are off.

Colors don't seem consistent across Adobe Creative Suite even when both files are RGB or CMYK.

Illustrator is a powerful program, and that makes it a memory hog, so it makes a powerful computer necessary.

Recently made available on the IPAD, the tools are nice, but the Illustrator app doesn't have all of the tools the computer-based program has.

Might like to see more integration into photoshop and InDesign, at some level, these could almost all be united into one tool.

It feels as if Adobe products are all created individually, and as if all of the developers work in different parts of the world. Even though there are great advantages to using these applications in tandem. They don't share keyboard shortcuts, and there are other things that work one way in one program, but work differently in Illustrator.

Illustrator is complex and has an incredibly steep learning curve. I've been using it for the last 6 years or so, and I feel I've only scratched the surface. Adobe does an OK job of providing tutorials, but you have to look for them online, and even then, you might find better tutorials on YouTube.

Toolset is sometimes confusing for Photoshop users attempting to migrate

Vector drawing is more similar to 3D modeling than traditional drawing, and awareness of this seems limited/could use more marketing dollars being thrown at it

Boolean operations using the pathfinder tools are absolutely essential to my own workflow but kind of buried as a feature. I think they deserve a higher-level integration into the toolset.

Placing images in it is still very rudimentary

Integration with 3D Models

Adobe reduced the custom scripts capabilities in the latest versions of Illustrator.

Adobe Illustrator CC's interface can be a bit intimidating and overwhelming. A redesign of this interface to have a more inviting user experience is needed.

I would like to see a downloadable version of Adobe Illustrator again. Ever since Adobe decided to switch to a subscription-based model, some customers have decided to use alternatives.

Adobe Illustrator CC does not intergrade with images fluently. It would be nice to see an improvement where vector and raster images can work more efficiently together.

Backward compatibility of file formats.

Save directly to creative cloud.

Simplify panels.

This is a tough one: I feel the system is incredibly powerful and incorporates beautifully with the CC suite.

The system can on occasion seem a bit slow to 'recognize' a new font that's been added through the external font management system, so it sometimes takes a few (or even a restart of the program) for it to 'see' a missing font that's been reactivated, but this may be local to my machine and network.

The pop-out menu for the pen/anchor point tool used to be more robust, including the ability to add and delete points as well as adjust vector paths all from one condensed little menu, I do wish that arrangement would return.

It might be my computer, but it takes a while to load each time I'm opening up the application.

Sometimes certain tools along the side bar don't work, which can be a pain when you have to figure out how to get them to work again in your current work space.

Complicated and dense - Illustrator has so many ways of doing the same thing, it's easy to get lost. Much like Photoshop, you can use it for years and never even notice tons of tools that might make your life easier if you could only tell how they worked.

Hotkeys are sometimes weird (compared to Photoshop).

Pen tool separates the newbs from the pros. If you can't use the pen tool and you want to work with Illustrator every day you will have difficulty. I'm only halfway decent after taking a Masters class and I could definitely improve.

Not suitable for beginners.

Requires training to know how to use it.

No improvement needed.

The drawing tool is not as intuitive as the much older and no longer available tool in Freehand.

Make it easier or more intuitive to add points to a shape.

Make it easier or more intuitive to edit a shape by moving a point or changing it from curve to straight.

Mobile - Adobe lacks a full mobile version of Illustrator, which would be very handy when working on an iPad when you're out of the office. Affinity Designer does this well.

Half pixels - Illustrator can annoyingly play with half pixels, which when designing for web or email, can be extremely frustrating for developers.

Improved handling of complex files - Illustrator tends to get bogged down as soon as you insert complex drawings or large amounts of artboards.

Learning curve can be steep

Faster implementation of updates to match new operating systems

It a massive program that can sometimes slow down other programs on my computer.

More tutorials, there could never be enough.

Tutorials within the program that guide you through your design live.

It is a large program which means it can take up a lot of space.

It can be a little difficult to learn if you haven't ever used it before.

The free distort/transform feature is still difficult to use.

The color libraries function is difficult to navigate.

Some of the tools that ares supposed to be "just like Photoshop" are not just like Photoshop.

Ease of use or get started with it for a new user could use some extra improvement.

It can be intimidating for a new user to begin using the software if they have not had any experience with it prior.

I hate when I hit a button and unknowingly change my workspace setup, or disable a setting, and then need to take hours of searching on forums to figure out why my program isn't doing the things I want it to. I'd love an undo button for times like this!

Gradients aren't the best in Illustrator. They almost always look a little off.

I don't like using Illustrator for large body text. It's not made for that.

The most recent interface redesign is annoying. I can't find things where I expect to find them, especially critical tools like Align.

The way selections get made is harder than it needs to be.

Also, the way text boxes have to be created is kind of weird. It's like Illustrator took text boxes from Quark, but it was just fine without them.