Adobe FreeHand

Adobe FreeHand: Vector Graphics Editor & Designer

A classic vector graphics editor and designer software for creating illustrations, layouts, and typography, developed by Macromedia and later acquired by Adobe Systems.

What is Adobe FreeHand?

Adobe FreeHand was a vector graphics editor and designer software application for creating illustrations, layouts, typography, logos and complex drawings. It was originally developed by Altsys Corporation in 1988, then acquired by Macromedia in 1995 and later acquired by Adobe Systems in 2005.

FreeHand was a direct competitor to Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW in the drawing and illustration software market. It used both vector and raster graphics technologies and offered professional-quality typography tools, versatile brush options, special effects, precision drawing capabilities and press-ready output.

FreeHand was praised for its user-friendly interface, flexibility, drawing tools and text handling capabilities. At its peak, it was used by graphic designers, artists, illustrators and desktop publishers to create logos, posters, newsletters, signs and multimedia projects.

After Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia and Freehand in 2005, they stopped ongoing development in favor of promoting Adobe Illustrator. Freehand continued to be available for purchase and use for existing users for many years, until support was discontinued in 2015.

Adobe FreeHand Features

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