Ease of Use:  

 Print Artist Platinum has a clean interface that is intuitive and fairly easy to use. The software includes an extensive tutorial to guide you through the more involved features of the program. Upon starting the software, you’re presented a welcome screen that allows you to choose from five options: open an existing project, choose a pre-designed project, design a project from scratch, view the tutorial or close. This screen reappears whenever you choose “New” to begin another project which is a good way to guide the user through the project options.

The drawbacks we encountered as we used the software included being frustrated by the lack of an option to delete pages in projects that were pre-designed with multiple pages. We recommend spending time with the in-program tutorials to familiarize yourself with the different features as well as watching the brief video tour offered on the developer’s website.

Feature Set:  

With the 15,000 professionally-designed project templates included in Print Artist Platinum, you can create polished projects in three simple steps. Print Artist Platinum includes projects that few of the comparable print creativity software programs have, including: calendars, CD slide shows, designed email headers, office forms, stationery and fabric transfers for items such as T-shirts, tote bags and aprons.

Graphic/Image Tools:  

The extensive image library contained in Print Artist Platinum is full of a wide variety of project styles. The quality ranges from very polished and contemporary to rather dated and kitschy. The ability to import your own photos and illustrations is a nice, if expected, capability. The image editor included in the program is adequate for basic corrections and also includes some good filters and photo effects, however if you’re comfortable with finding your way around a standalone photo editing program, you’ll find this program’s tool rather limited.

Text Tools:  

The text tools included with Print Artist Platinum are adequate. Most of the effects are preformatted shortcuts to help you achieve a particular look with a single mouse click. One of the more irritating hang-ups with the text tools was the all-or-nothing style approach in the text box. This inability to include two or more text styles in one text box is particularly frustrating if you want to bold a word or increase its point size within a greeting. In order to do this you have to jury-rig a work around by placing the word you want to change in its own text box and then layering it over top of the other text and fiddling with the spacing until it looks right. Fortunately, once you’ve got the layers where you want them you can group the items together so you don’t inadvertently shift something out of place.

Help/Support:  

Nova Development provides good help and support both within the Print Artist Platinum program itself as well as the developer’s website. Another nice feature the developer offers is the online user community where other users have posted questions and comments about the product.

Overall, Print Artist Platinum is a strong contender in the Print Creativity arena. It offers a great deal of features and guidance all in a single program. There is no need for a subscription or additional downloads to access extra images or project designs. This is a double-edge sword. On the positive side, you’ve got a fairly comprehensive feature offering and not having to pay for further elements is nice. On the other hand, the self-contained nature of the software means its designs will become dated more quickly than other products that continually offer additional design downloads whether paid or free. 

Print Artist Platinum is suitable for most skill-levels from grass-green novice to the fairly accomplished user however, if you’re comfortable using standalone photo editing and publishing programs, you’ll find this product rather limited. Check out our “TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award” winner Print Shop Deluxe and “TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award” PrintMaster Platinum for programs with more muscle.