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SmartDraw

I've been asked by various people what I use to create the diagrams and illustrations in my blog here. I am using SmartDraw. It makes it easy for people like me (who know what they want to show but lack graphical talent) to create stunning resonably good looking business graphics. Have a look at some samples, their tutorials or follow their blog. My only grieviance is, that they don't have a Mac or native Linux version (and it doesn't work with Wine either). The other graphical tools I use regularily are Shutter for screenshots and Buzan's iMindMap for mindmaps. While SmartDraw does mindmaps too, iMindMap draws that wonderful organic connectors - and runs on Mac/Linux too. Occasionaly I also use Dia, Inkscape or Gimp.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel on 05 May 2009 | Comments (6) | categories: Software

Comments

posted by Colin Williams on Tuesday 05 May 2009 AD:
Your diagrams are certainly stunning! Thanks for sharing.
posted by sean cull on Tuesday 05 May 2009 AD:
one years subscription = $197

perpetual licence of this version = $397

strap line under the one year subscription says "save $200" - I wonder if it will feel like that in 12 months time ?
posted by Stephan H. Wissel on Tuesday 05 May 2009 AD:
@Sean: That's the same logic as "Buy two save x Dollars" .
It makes sense for a corporate buyer who can expense anything below 200$ as running cost, while a software purchase needs to be added to the asset ledger.
stw
posted by bear on Friday 22 February 2013 AD:
If only there was a smartdraw for mac. The alternative that I've found is LucidChart It is web based and is packed full of features. I highly recommend giving it a try.
posted by Stephan H. Wissel on Monday 25 February 2013 AD:
@Bear: The closest equivalent to SmartDraw on the Mac is OmniGraffle - { Link }

Online charting doesn't work for my use case since I produce a lot of these graphics while out of the reach of any network (think airplanes or prohibitive expensive roaming). Always on is still a fiction.
posted by Shalin on Thursday 19 January 2017 AD:
Another visio alternative for mac that I've found is Creately online diagramming and collaboration software to draw many diagram types including flowcharts, org charts, infographics, mind maps, UML and many more. There are 1000s of templates to be used freely.