Is Procreate Good for Graphic Design? An In-Depth Look

Graphic design is a multifaceted discipline that combines visual communication and problem-solving. It requires a keen eye for aesthetics, a grasp of design theory, and proficiency with industry-standard software. While Adobe Creative Cloud programs like Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop have long been the workhorses of the graphic design industry, newer tools like Procreate have shaken up the field in recent years.

Procreate is a powerful raster graphics editor app for iOS devices, developed and published by Savage Interactive. Built from the ground up for the iPad, it takes full advantage of touch and Apple Pencil capabilities to provide a fluid and intuitive digital drawing experience. But despite its popularity with illustrators and concept artists, questions remain about Procreate‘s viability as a professional graphic design tool.

In this article, we‘ll take an unflinching look at the strengths and limitations of Procreate for graphic design. We‘ll explore real-world use cases, workflow considerations, and industry trends to help you assess if this celebrated app is right for your design needs. No hype, no agenda, just an objective look at the capabilities and constraints of Procreate for graphic design.

The Power of Procreate

Make no mistake – Procreate is an immensely capable app for digital art and illustration. Its responsive brushes, intuitive layer management, and thoughtful UI design make it a top choice for professionals and hobbyists alike. But many of these features also translate well to graphic design work.

One of Procreate‘s greatest strengths is its extensive brush library. With hundreds of built-in brushes and the ability to import custom ones, you can create virtually any texture or graphic style. Smudge tools, erasers and blend modes behave in ways that feel familiar to traditional media, allowing for happy accidents and organic textures that are often missing from vector work.

Procreate‘s layering system is also robust, with support for masks, clipping, and layer groups. These allow for non-destructive editing and greater control over individual elements in your composition. Perspective guides and drawing assists make it easy to create precise technical illustrations and consistent line weights.

On the color front, Procreate supports CMYK color profiles, allowing you to work in the same color space as your final printed product. The latest version even includes CMYK brushes for more accurate color blending. For web and digital design, Procreate takes advantage of the P3 wide color gamut and ProMotion technology on modern iPads for smoother gradients and more vivid hues.

Procreate also has some standout features for design workflows. The time-lapse recording functionality lets you capture your entire design process from blank canvas to finished product. This can be incredibly useful for client presentations, social media content, or simply self-reflection and process improvement.

Finally, the portability and ergonomics of the iPad provide a level of flexibility that‘s hard to match with traditional desktop setups. The ability to design on the couch, on the train, or in a coffee shop can be liberating. Procreate‘s gesture controls also reduce repetitive clicking and allow for a more natural drawing experience.

The Limitations of Procreate

Despite its many strengths, Procreate has some significant limitations as a graphic design tool. The most glaring is that it is a raster-based app, not a vector-based one. This means that every Procreate file is made up of pixels rather than scalable paths and shapes.

For many graphic design applications, vector artwork is essential. Logos, brand marks, icons, illustrations and infographics all need to be resizable without loss of quality. With raster graphics, enlarging the image results in pixelation and blurry edges. Vectors can be scaled infinitely, maintaining crisp lines and perfect curves at any size.

This limitation can be worked around by creating Procreate graphics at a very high resolution, but it‘s not an ideal solution. File sizes can quickly become unmanageable, and you lose the flexibility to adapt the design to different sizes and aspects ratios. It also makes it difficult to deliver layered, editable source files to clients who may need to make changes down the line.

Another pain point with Procreate is its lack of adjustment layers. In Photoshop, you can non-destructively tweak color balance, levels, and hue/saturation on a layer-by-layer basis. Procreate has global adjustments, but these permanently alter the pixels on your selected layer. This can make it tedious to try out different color variations or make a change to one element without affecting others.

For print design work, Procreate falls short on a number of fronts. There‘s no built-in way to set up bleeds, margins, and print guides. Procreate can‘t output print-ready CMYK separations, so you‘ll need to convert your file in another app. It also lacks support for PANTONE color matching, a standard in the print industry.

Integrating Procreate into professional workflows can also present challenges. While you can import and export PSD files with layers intact, some blending modes and effects may not translate perfectly. Procreate also doesn‘t support all the same plug-ins, extensions, and smart object functionality as Adobe apps.

Finally, some more advanced typography options are missing from Procreate. While you can control kerning, tracking, and leading, Procreate has no support for paragraph styles, OpenType alternates, or linked text boxes. For layout-heavy designs, Adobe InDesign is a better choice.

When Procreate Works for Graphic Design

So given these limitations, when can Procreate actually be a good choice for graphic design projects? There are several use cases where Procreate‘s organic, raster-based workflow can be a benefit rather than a hindrance.

One clear area where Procreate shines is illustration and lettering. If your graphic design work incorporates a lot of hand-drawn elements, textures, or brushwork, Procreate will be far more intuitive than pushing pixels around in Photoshop. Procreate‘s natural media brushes can bring a signature look to book covers, gig posters, and editorial illustrations.

For web and app projects, Procreate‘s brushes and grain effects make it easy to create subtle textures, masks, and overlays that add depth to flat UI designs. While you wouldn‘t want to create entire wireframes or high-fidelity mockups in Procreate, it can be a great tool for exploring organic textures and patterns in your digital products.

Merchandise and apparel graphics are another area where Procreate‘s handcrafted look can be an asset. T-shirt designs, tote bags and other products often call for eye-catching illustrations with a tactile, printed vibe. By working at high resolutions and carefully managing color, you can create press-ready graphics right in Procreate.

For freelancers and remote workers, the iPad has become an indispensable tool for sketching on the go, client presentations, and working in non-office environments. Procreate‘s portability makes it easy to flesh out ideas and create slick concept art to get buy-in from stakeholders. Paired with an Apple Pencil, it can be a more intuitive way to sketch logos, layouts, and storyboards compared to a graphics tablet.

Procreate in the Design Workflow

In practice, most designers will get the best results by using Procreate in tandem with other industry-standard apps. A common workflow is to sketch initial concepts and variants in Procreate, then switch to Illustrator to build out crisp vector versions. This allows you to capture the hand-drawn magic of your initial ideas while still producing scalable, production-ready assets.

Procreate can also be a powerful finishing tool for vectors created in Illustrator. Pasting vectors into Procreate allows you to add raster textures, shading, and painterly effects without disrupting the underlying shapes. You can then export a high-res TIFF or PSD back to Illustrator, InDesign, or Photoshop to integrate with your layout.

If you do opt to create layouts directly in Procreate, be mindful of your color space. Procreate‘s CMYK mode uses the same primaries as common printing inks, but the RGB preview may not be a fully accurate representation of the final printed product. Flattening your colors and testing your CMYK values on a calibrated printer is always recommended.

For digital-only designs, you can convert your CMYK Procreate file to RGB via PSD export for the widest color gamut and compatibility with web and video standards. If you‘re handing off to a developer, include a note about your color settings and any spot colors or opacity blending in your layers.

Procreate also integrates nicely with Adobe Creative Cloud Libraries. You can access your CC swatches, brushes and assets right inside the Procreate interface. This keeps your colors and styles in sync across apps and team members. Just be aware that some Procreate elements like smudging and wet mixing may not transfer to other apps.

Industry Trends and Procreate Adoption

In recent years, Procreate has become an increasingly common sight in professional design studios and agencies. As remote work becomes normalized and creatives embrace flexible setups, the iPad Pro + Procreate combo has proven to be a powerful mobile design solution.

A 2021 survey by Wetransfer found that Procreate was the 5th most used tool by professional creatives, beating out Sketch, Blender and Figma. As more designers adopt cross-disciplinary skill sets and job roles blend titles like "illustrator" and "visual designer", Procreate‘s ease of use and versatility make it an attractive option.

Major design firms like Pentagram, Hype Type Studio, and COLLINS have featured Procreate work in their portfolios and social media feeds. App design teams at tech giants like Meta and Google have also shared Procreate time-lapses and concept art, lending credibility to the app as a professional design tool.

However, it‘s important not to get swept up in the hype. While Procreate is undoubtedly a powerful tool, it‘s not a magic bullet for every graphic design project. Designers must still be mindful of the technical constraints and carefully scope their deliverables to align with Procreate‘s capabilities.

The Bottom Line

Procreate is a phenomenal app for illustration, lettering, and organic graphics. In the right hands, it can also be a versatile tool for select graphic design projects. However, it is not a complete replacement for vector-based apps like Adobe Illustrator and InDesign.

For professional designers, Procreate is best used as a companion to an existing vector workflow. It excels at sketching concepts, creating lush illustrations, and adding handcrafted flair to digital designs. But for logo design, print production, and complex layouts, you‘ll still want to rely on the precision and scalability of industry-standard software.

Ultimately, the "best" tool for graphic design is the one that helps you effectively solve problems and communicate ideas. Procreate is a great arrow to have in your creative quiver, but it‘s not the only one you‘ll need. By understanding its strengths and limitations, you can deploy it strategically to craft engaging, effective designs – and isn‘t that what great graphic design is all about?