If you work as a graphic designer, then you know very well that graphic design software uses up quite a lot of system resources. It is also very likely that, like many graphic designers, you chose to use a Mac for its speed and high performance.
On the other hand, using other resource-heavy applications at the same time as your main graphic design software might leave you with a very slow Mac.
Therefore, to help you prevent your Mac from becoming slow and making you unproductive, we are about to share seven tips to speed up your Mac for graphic design.
Tip #1: Check Storage Space
If there is not enough free disk space on your Mac, your computer might start underperforming even if you are not currently using software that needs significant system resources. If free disk space is lower than 10%, your Mac will become very slow.
To check how much free disk space you have left, click on the Apple icon, go to the option About This Mac, and choose the Storage tab. Here, you will access the information about what type of files are taking up space on your Mac and might want to declutter your Mac.
Tip #2: Uninstall Apps You Do Not Need
Either if you have a lot of small apps or a few large ones, it is highly possible that most of them are just taking up storage space on your computer, and you do not really use them.
Thus take some of your free time and invest it in reviewing the apps you have installed on your Mac. To do so, you can open the Launchpad that can be found on your Dock. If you want to uninstall an app, simply drag it to the Trash Bin.
Tip #3: Remove Unneeded Files from the Downloads Folder
The second step to creating more free disk space on your Mac should be removing unnecessary files from the Downloads folder. This folder keeps all sorts of files downloaded from the internet, such as PDF books, flyers, pictures, installation files, and whatnot.
Some of the installation files and PDF books might be pretty heavy space-vise, so it is best to delete them if you are sure you will not need them again. Also, do not forget to empty your Trash Bin after deleting a bunch of items.
Tip #4: Review Your Photo Library
Another spot to check for large amounts of files to delete is your Photo Library. If you enjoy traveling with your family and taking a lot of photos abroad, or you work as a social media influencer and create a lot of visual content daily, you will find many similar photos in your Photo Library.
Thus it would be good to take some time and review the entire gallery of photos you have accumulated over time and delete similar ones. When taking a selfie, it is more than possible to take more than ten shots of the same picture, so keep only the best one.
Tip #5: Clean Up Your Desktop
To be more productive and make your Mac run faster, it is important to clean your Desktop regularly. If you let your desktop clutter up, it will become difficult to quickly find the files you need, especially if you do not name them properly.
Also, it could cause some misunderstanding at work if you send a customer the wrong file. More to it, each icon that is displayed on your screen is using system resources and slowing your computer down. If you want to have quick access to applications like Adobe Photoshop, you can add it to your Dock.
Tip #6: Use Cloud Storage Services
Working as a graphic designer, it is understandable that deleting a bunch of files and uninstalling apps you don’t use might not create 10% of free disk space on your Mac, especially if you were working as a graphic designer for years and accumulated a lot of project files.
Therefore, a solution to keep all of your files you do not want to delete and have enough free disk space on your Mac is to use a cloud storage service. There are many to choose from, one of the most popular being Google Drive and DropBox.
Tip #7: Purchase an External Storage Device
If you do not have constant access to the internet, it will be difficult for you to work by using a cloud storage service unless you do not keep the files you need for work there. In other cases, a better solution would be to invest in an external storage device.
By using an external storage device, you will save disk space on your Mac and still have an archive of your recent projects.
