For a long time, I was a die-hard Photoshop user. It was the only imaging program that I would use, and frankly, it severely limited my design skills. I knew a little bit about Fireworks, but I hadn't even touched Illustrator or even tried to do vector graphics.

Being the art person that I am, I did, in fact, overcome my Photoshop-ness and try out Illustrator. The recent real estate agent site that I did was completely planned and created in Illustrator (other than coding, of course; that was done by hand). I had never realized the untapped potential that this program has.

Many people don't research design programs before using one. Great illustration programs like Coral Paint and Paintshop Pro are overlooked by many people because Photoshop is simply the most, and best, marketed resource (word of mouth marketing is, in my opinion, the strongest brand of marketing). Of course, by illustration, I'm more talking about digital painting type illustration (which of course can be incorporated into design itself). In the same light of this, Illustrator is often overlooked when it comes to learning how to design graphics for sites, which is severely limiting - especially when most design jobs in this day and age require some sort of Illustrator or vector knowledge. A recent post about the reasons why Photoshop can be a bad thing for designers outlines how knowledge of only Photoshop can weaken a person's designs skills, and thereby limit them.

Of course, knowing Fireworks can help, as this program incorporates the pros and cons of both Photoshop and Illustrator. Personally, I'd like to say that just knowing as many programs as possible is the way to go when it comes to design. These are your resources, and just like some kind of samurai or knight or whatever you want to compare yourself to, you have to know how to efficiently use them. Maybe you aren't Macgyver and have more than just a paper clip and a spray bottle with which to complete your design, but at the same time, Macgyver knew how to use his stuff to get his job done, same as you should. Just like a samurai wants to know how he can use his sword to save himself in any given situation, you want to know your resources to be as efficient with time and quality as you can.