As a graphic designer, you’ve probably heard of Adobe Illustrator. It’s immensely popular because it’s the best-in-class vector design software for professionals and greenhorns of animation art and graphic design.

Download Adobe Illustrator CS, and join millions of experts who’ve relied on it to reshape the industry with brilliant logos, branded artwork, and vector art.

Adobe Illustrator CS Download

Adobe Illustrator CS brought dozens of convenience features, most notably saving files to Microsoft Office, the Template format, and a series of new character and paragraph styles. Download Illustrator CS now to reap the advantages of its new, exciting functions and tools.

As a graphic designer, if you value simplicity over horsepower and transparent features over thousands of functionalities you may not even touch, you will find Adobe’s Illustrator CS to your liking. Grab Adobe Illustrator CS if you want a robust vector editing program packed with the latest, most advanced technologies.

Adobe Illustrator CS Features

Adobe Illustrator CS introduced 3D effects, the very features that the latest Illustrator had recently upgraded and re-introduced in the 2022 version. The core features of the CS version are optical kerning and optical margins, WYSIWYG font support, Microsoft Office save compatibility, and OpenType support.

Optical kerning is a remarkably useful typography tool, allowing you to tweak the kerning parameters automatically. It improves the manual kerning function, which can be accessed by pressing Alt and using arrow keys.

This version also introduced the Scribble effect. It essentially mimics hand-drawn ‘scribbling’. You can adjust the parameters to make your scribbles realistic with a bit of practice.

Another exciting feature of Adobe Illustrator CS is the redesigned font menu. Popularly called WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get), the straightforward design of this font makes it very approachable and easy to use, regardless of your experience with Illustrator or other graphic design editors.

The majority of features from previous versions remained, including pixel preview, drop shadows, feathering, live brushes, bitmap eyedropper, smart guides, bounding-box handles, the pencil tool, and a plethora of other effects.

Adobe Illustrator Versions

Download Illustrator 2022 - The most up-to-date version of Adobe's Illustrator is 26.0.2, launched for Mac and Windows in Oct 2021. With this update, Mac users received the Apple M1 Native support. Rotate View is the program's newest feature, along with the ability to delete hidden layers.

Download Illustrator 2021 - In February 2021, Adobe released the 25.2 update – a major patch that brought a multitude of performance improvements and the much-needed system compatibility report upon application launch. Additionally, Cloud files could be shared and edited online.

Download Illustrator 2020 - Illustrator 24.3 was last updated in August 2020. Snap-to-glyph was introduced for the first time, and objects placed on the canvas could be unlocked. Minor improvements were made to several text alignment features.

Download Illustrator 2019 – 23.0 - On the 15th of October 2019, Adobe launched the Illustrator Creative Cloud 23.0, bringing freeform gradients, trim view, content-aware cropping, global edit, and scalable user interface to the fold. This is the first Illustrator version that supported external graphics cards.

Download Illustrator CC 2018 - CC 2018 came in 2017 and introduced a thousand artboard presets and Properties panels for even more versatility. This was also the first time Illustrator supported MacBook touch bar devices.

Download Illustrator CC 2017 - Although the initial CC 2017 came off of a bumpy ride in 2016, it was patched twice in January 2017, allowing users to locate fonts faster, operate glyphs more intuitively, and access Adobe Stock presets more quickly. Typekit Marketplace was also introduced for the first time.

Download Illustrator CC 2015 - Introduced Adobe Stock preset integration and an array of performance upgrades. File recovery function paired with the new Safe mode helped preserve designer works more reliably while GPU performance boon was more than welcome.

Download Illustrator CC 2014 - In June 2014, Illustrator received the version 18 update, presenting a more comprehensive integration to the acclaimed Creative Cloud platform. Fonts, settings, and onboard color palettes could be synchronized with a click on a button. Brand-new typing functionalities were added, as well as the CSS extraction feature.

Download Illustrator CC - The first Illustrator without a nickname in 25 years, as well as the first subscription-based suite of software compatible with the Illustrator, CC 2013 gave designers a different type of pricing, a fresh set of typing functionalities, and extended range of file placement features. It was updated on the 16th of January 2014, introducing Typekit integration and a revamped pencil tool.

Download Illustrator CS6 - Popularly known as Illustrator Ellora was the first Adobe Illustrator to support 64-bit memory systems. User Interface was revamped, bringing a cleaner outlook, and Image Trace replaced the Live Trace feature. Ellora was the last 'named' Illustrator.

Download Illustrator CS5 - Ajanta was launched in May 2010, introducing strokes with variable width, the bristle brush, Perspective tools, and various minor tweaks to performance. Shape-builder tools were a massive hit and had almost completely replaced Pathfinder tools.

Download Illustrator CS3 - The CS3, or Illustrator 'Jason' version brought Flash integration, early versions of the Isolation mode, multiple document profiles, the crop area functionality, and the Live color feature.

Downlaod Illustrator CS2 - The heavily acclaimed Zodiac was one of the most groundbreaking improvements to Illustrator. Version 12 and 12.0.1 came with support for Photoshop layers, Adobe Bridge, and Wacom tablet. Live trace and colorized grayscale effects were also introduced.

The first version of Creative Studio - Released nearly two decades ago, the original Creative Studio brought an eclectic suite of software designed for professional editing of digital media. After Effects, Bridge, and Photoshop were its main highlights. 

Download Illustrator 10 - After Pavel, Simba, Elvis, Matisse, and Paloma versions, the Pangea Illustrator came and took the market by storm, offering 3D and scribble effects, Microsoft Office sync, optical kerning and margins, configurable columns and rows, dozens of character and paragraph styles, and OpenType support.

Adobe Illustrator Alternatives?

Some graphic designers find Illustrator to be too challenging to use while many beginners who are yet to learn how vector designing tools work typically look for free programs to learn the basics. While the best Adobe Illustrator alternatives may not be as versatile, their features are usually much simpler to use.

Illustrator vs Photoshop

Illustrator can do nearly everything Photoshop is capable of, but not the other way around. Although many enthusiasts may argue that Photoshop feels a bit easier to use, Adobe’s team worked diligently to simplify Illustrator without sacrificing its versatility. As a better-rounded program with drastically more robust features, Illustrator would clearly win.

Check out our in-depth Illustrator vs Photoshop comparison of the two leading graphics and design editing software packages on the market. Or consider downloading Adobe Photoshop for Windows and compare for yourself side by side.

Illustrator vs CorelDRAW

When it comes to two of the most renowned vector graphics editing programs on the market, picking the right one can be difficult.

For more information, check out this fantastic Adobe Illustrator vs. CorelDRAW 2022 break down. While both are amazing vector graphics editors, they offer vastly different and unique advantages.

Should I Upgrade to Adobe Illustrator 2022?

There are thousands of reasons for upgrading to the latest version of Adobe Illustrator and barely a handful against it. First and foremost, Illustrator has been the leading graphic design software for decades, and Adobe has consistently delivered upon the promise of quality with each new version, patch, and update.

Check out my in-depth article on Adobe Illustrator pricing or download the free Adobe Illustrator trial for 7-days and see what you think for yourself.

Download Illustrator CS

Illustrator CS introduced a variety of new features and leveraged a plethora of benefits that the Creative Suite has to offer. By downloading Adobe Illustrator CS, you are getting a powerful, dependable vector editor software packed with the latest features and some of the most advanced tools.

Software Summary:

You can run Adobe Illustrator on Windows operating systems. Adobe Illustrator is a software product developed by Adobe and it is listed in the category. Adobe Illustrator is licensed as Adobe Illustrator.