One of the most eye-opening software that I’ve used would be Adobe Illustrator.

Before ever staring to use this software, I had zero understanding or even know what vectors are and where they are used in our daily lives. With a few lines, one can make accurate work that can scale from a small sticker to a giant billboard in great quality. The friendly interface of Illustrator makes it very easy for anyone that ever used a paint program to pick it up and start drawing shapes without needing lectures explaining the functionality.

My exploration in Illustrator then transitioned to CAD software within my engineering classes. While CAD software such as Autodesk and SolidWorks are much more versatile than Illustrator in what they can do, they did not give the same effect that Illustrator did when I first used it. The time I spent in Illustrator solidified my understanding of computer vector graphics and how to transform these graphics into the real world. The vinyl stickers on the CTA, the billboards advertising anti-balding medicine, and the logo on my mug were all most likely done in Illustrator (or some of it was done in it). Vector graphics are all around us, and Illustrator was the software that opened my eyes to that.

Chris Grams