Having one of the best monitors for graphic artists can make a huge difference to your work. From top colour gamut coverage to high-resolution screens, these displays can elevate your work to a new level. Pair one up with the best graphic design software and one of the best laptops for graphic design and your workstation will be complete.
Our favourite monitor for graphic artists is the BenQ PD3220U, and we love its high colour accuracy, 4K 32-inch screen and wide range of adjustment options. It’s far from your only option, though, and below we’ve detailed all of our top picks to give you more choice.
Here at Creative Bloq, we have a ton of experience reviewing monitors, laptops and other tech essentials for graphic artists. That includes testing for colour accuracy, using the displays with our favourite graphic design apps, and much more. Read on for our verdicts.
Quick list
We'll begin with a quick overview of our top picks. Scroll down for more our full evaluation of each option.
We think this super-cheap 27-inch display is practically a steal. You sacrifice 4K resolution and the brightness and colour gamut are hardly spectacular, but the price is incredible. Read more below
This premium screen provides top-tier performance, excellent contrast and colour coverage, solid connectivity, and an included calibration tool. Read more below
Superb image quality and Apple's trademark high-quality construction and design make this a solid pick. It's not without its flaws, though, and the lack of HDR support is a particular pain point. Read more below
A portable external monitor can be handy for working on the move, and this OLED display takes the concept up a level with solid brightness and colour coverage for visual art and design. Read more below
The best monitors for graphic artists in full
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✅ You want the ideal balance of size, quality and price: We think this monitor is priced just right while providing solid specs for creative work.
✅ You want a 4K display. 4K resolution provides a more detailed picture on larger screens, and we find 32 inches to be the ideal size for the resolution.
✅ You want a versatile display: We love the ease with which it's possible to switch to portrait mode and to change colour modes with the hotkey puck control.
Don't buy it if
❌ You're on a tight budget: We think this monitor is good value for the specs, but at around $1,000 it isn't cheap.
❌ You want a smaller display: 32 inches may be too large if you have a very small desk.
❌ You want the best Adobe RGB coverage: If you work in the Adobe RGB colour space, the ASUS ProArt display covers 99% compared to the 83% of this display based on our own testing.
The bottom line
🔎 BenQ PD3220U is an excellent monitor for graphic artists. We think it provides the perfect size for most workflows and an optimum balance between display quality and price. Colour coverage and image quality is solid and the design and ports make it a practical and versatile choice. ★★★★★
What you need to know:
The BenQ PD3220U is a monitor that was clearly made with designers in mind. In our review, we discovered a rich feature set, superb image quality and broad color representation.
Design and build: We liked the flexibility of this display. The stand had a bit of wobble but it was very highly adjustable. The screen can pivot 90 degrees, and the portrait mode automatically adjusts for that to give you a vertical screen to work on. We also liked the handy disk-shaped wired remote control Hotkey Puck G2 for access to menus for easy adjustment. This will be particularly useful for designers working in difference colour spaces since it allows colours modes to be switched quickly. There are connectivity options provided too, including two Thunderbolt 3 ports. These can allow you to daisy-chain another monitor, and one of them delivers 85W of power, so you can charge your laptop off it too, helping to reduce trailing cables.
Display: We find 4K on a 32-inch screen is the sweet spot in terms of resolution, and this was no exception. Image quality was superb in our testing, and colour coverage was sound, surpassing the stated specs in our own tests to provide 98% DCI-P3 as well as 100% of sRGB and 100% Rec.709. Adobe RGB coverage was naturally more limited at 83%, which may be of concern to the most demanding creative who need to match colours for print (we recommend the Asus ProArt display at number 3 if you know you need more).
We found the preset color modes to be accurate and east to use. Other handy features that could simply some creatives' workflows include picture-in-picture and picture-by-picture modes, allowing you to display visuals from two inputs. We also got more than the stated typical brightness of 250 nits, but it's still not the brightest monitor, offering around the same brightness as the average for a consumer laptop.
Pricing: We think the BenQ PD3220U is a great-value package for graphics artists and designers. At around $1,000 / £1,000, it occupies a mid-range price for screens designed for creative work, but it offers specs that could cost more.
Connections: 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack
Brightness (max): 250 nits
Buy it if
✅ You're starting out in graphic art: We think this is a great options for students or beginner designers who don't have a big budget.
✅ You want passable colour coverage: There are even cheaper monitors about, but this still provides reasonable colour coverage for visual art.
✅ You want to dabble in gaming: This display comes with a 165Hz refresh rate, which is decent for gaming and much better than the measly 60Hz many budget monitors offer.
Don't buy it if
❌ You want a 4K display: The resolution here is FHD: 1920 x 1080.
❌ You want a large display: More space can make it easier to multitask.
❌ You want pro colour coverage: This hits 80% of the Adobe RGB space and 81% of DCI-P3. That's not terrible, but it's not suitable for colour-accurate work.
The bottom line
🔎 Xiaomi G27i is aimed squarely at the budget end of the market, but it packs in a few surprises that make it stand out above the cut-price crowd. We think it's a great budget option for beginner graphic designers and digital artists who want a mid-sized screen. ★★★★½
What you need to know:
If you're not yet working in graphic art or design professionally, you might not be ready to splash out on a high-resolution display with pro specs. If you're looking for a more affordable screen to get started with, we think the Xiaomi G27i is the best budget monitor for graphic design.
Design and build: Given that this is a budget monitor, the design is pretty barebones, as you'd expect. You can't adjust the display's height or positioning, while the ports are on the back of the screen rather than the underneath, which you'll need to be aware of if you want to place it against a wall. Speaking of ports, you only get two slots: one for HDMI 2.0 and one for DisplayPort (there's a 3.5mm headphone jack too). But when the price is this cheap, a little cheapness in the build is acceptable, especially when you consider the quality of the screen itself and how little Xiaomi charges for it.
Display: FHD resolution has its limits, but it's not as much of an issue for static art as it is for video. Here, you'll get 99% coverage of the sRGB colour space, along with 80% of Adobe RGB and 81% of DCI-P3. It's rounded out by 275 nits of brightness.
Pricing: The Xiaomi G27iis the cheapest monitor for graphic design and digital art that we can recommend, and it's hard to stress just how good value this monitor is. At just £110/$130, it's ridiculously cheap and a fantastic buy for those who are starting out.
Color space coverage: 100% sRGB, 80% rec. 2020, f99% DCI-P3, 99% Adobe RGB
Connections: 3x HDMI (v2.0), 1x DisplayPort (v1.4), 1s USB-C (DP Alt mode, 65W power delivery), 4x USB-A
Brightness (max): 500 nits
Reasons to buy
+
Accurate presets for all color formats
+
Class-leading color and contrast
+
Auto-calibration feature
Reasons to avoid
-
Only a 60Hz refresh rate
-
Costs the same as several of the others on this list combined
Buy it if
✅ You're a pro designer or artist and want to take your setup to the next level: This beauty from Asus provides exceptional colour coverage and accuracy, ideal for precise colour matching for print.
✅ You want the perfect 4K screen: We think 32-inches is the perfect size for a 4K monitor for graphics work.
✅ You want a monitor for gaming: This monitor's specs are almost all outstanding with the exception of the refresh rate, which is on a par with most of the other display on our list.
Don't buy it if
❌ You're on a tight budget: This is naturally a very expensive monitor.
❌ You don't do work for print: If you're work is only seen on digital displays, you may not need such high Adobe RGB coverage.
❌ You want pro colour coverage: This doesn't quite manage 100% sRGB.
The bottom line
🔎 Asus ProArt OLED PA32DC is a premium professional monitor that very much lives up to its promise based on our own testing. Its bright, contrast and colour coverage and accuracy are excellent, and it has handy features for creatives. ★★★★½
What you need to know:
If you're a professional graphic artist looking to upgrade your setup with a premium screen, this is one of the best we've ever tested. The Asus ProArt OLED PA32DC is 4K-plus 32-inch display that shines when it comes to colour accuracy.
Design and build: This professional display is big and heavy, and it has fairly large bezels for these days. Some might think that makes it look a little old-fashioned, but we were very happy with how sturdy it was, and we found it easy to adjust. The joystick-like controller requires a light touch but works well, and we found the generous array of ports on the back easy enough to access. The USB-C port supports power delivery of up to 65W, so you can use the monitor as a USB hub if you have a port-deprived laptop.
The monitor is available with a monitor hood to help reduce reflections and glare, and plenty of ports for peripherals, and it comes with a built-in colorimeter to allow regular calibration of the screen without needing to grab your monitor calibrator.
Display: We were immediately impressed by the brightness and contrast of the OLED panel. It has three HDR standards, HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision, all flicker-free. This is the screen to go for if you want outstanding colour coverage for print as well as digital and video, hitting 99% of Adobe RGB. Our testing also vouched for the precise △E< 1 score for colour accurac.
There are preset modes for a wide range of colour setups – sRGB, Adobe RGB, DCI-P3, Rec. 2020, DICOM, Rec. 709, HDR_PQ DCI, HDR_PQ Rec2020, HDR_HLG, HDR_HLG DCI, Dolby Vision. It pretty much covers every colour setup a graphic artist or indeed a video editor, photographer or animator could need. Our reviewers only grumble was the fairly slow 60Hz refresh rate. You might expect higher on a monitor with such impressive specs elsewhere, but this isn't a screen designed for gaming.
Pricing: The only real problem with the ProArt OLED PA32DC as a monitor for graphic artists, and the reason it isn't at the top of our guide, is the price. At over £3,199, it's the second most expensive monitor we've included after the Apple Pro Display XDR. Considering how good the BenQ DesignVue PD3220U is at number one our our list, only those who really need the extra features and specs will want to consider spending $2,000 more for this beautiful display.
✅ You want an ultrawide monitor for graphic art or design: Most ultrawides are designed for gaming or general productivity, but this has solid specs for creative work.
✅ You want minimal setup: This display is calibrated out of the box and is simple to get started with.
✅ You want a curved screen: Curved screens feel more immersive, but not everyone likes them for graphics work.
Don't buy it if
❌ Your budget is tight: This is another pricey display.
❌ You have a small desk: Desktops where space is at a premium are unlikely to have enough room for this big monitor.
The bottom line
🔎 HP Z34c G3 is relatively rare in that it's an ultrawide monitor with excellent specs for graphics work. The 34-inch screen provides a lot of space to play with, and its out-of-the-box calibration will let you get started with minimal fuss. ★★★★½
What you need to know:
If you work across multiple programs or panels or you like to be able to compare your work side by side, the extra space provide by an ultrawide can be a huge benefit. Just note that some creatives feel that a curved screen can distort the appearance of their work. This is a subjective thing, but you might want to test the experience to check how it works for you.
Design and build: The HP Z34c G3 looks sleek and modern, although the bezels are a little thick. The build is solid and sturdy, which is ideal for such a large panel. The location of the monitor's ports on the back panel are a little out of reach, but it's not a major issue.
Display: This monitor has good specs for creative work, boasting 99% sRGB and 99% BT.709 coverage, although its 81% 98% DCI-P3 coverage could be better. That said, its calibrated deltaE average of 0.31 is very good for graphic design work (anything below 0.5 is recommended). Its 365 cd/m2 at 100% brightness was also impressive.
Pricing: An ultrawide with these specs never comes cheap, but at $849 (£875) RRP, it's a little cheaper than some high-end ultrawides out there.
✅ You're a big Apple fan: Anyone who likes the design of Apple products will love this sleek display.
✅ You have cash to spare: Apple's Pro Display XDR costs (much) more, but the Studio Display still doesn't come cheap.
✅ You need a bright display: The 600 nits offered by the Studio Display is far above many comparable screens.
Don't buy it if
❌ You don't have unlimited funds: This is a pretty expensive display, and you have to pay extra for a more manoeuvrable stand. ❌ You're working in a small home office: A screen of this calibre is overkill for most home offices.
The bottom line
🔎 Apple Studio Display is an exceptional beast of a monitor that offers a more affordable option than the Pro Display XDR. It's an excellent display for HDR work with plenty of high-quality extras. ★★★½
What you need to know
Those looking to keep everything within the Apple family should consider the Apple Studio Display. But its well-rounded package isn't just for Apple fans.
Design and build: This monitor has the sleek design and finish that we expect from Apple device. Its Thunderbolt 3 port ensures it can be hooked up easily in a Thunderbolt chain, and there are a bunch of USB-C ports for accessories too. Its price tag bites hard, and the fact that the official stand will cost you a chunk extra does sting.
Display: The Studio Display didn't blow us away when we reviewed, mainly due to a few missing features that we would have liked to have for the price (the lack of HDR support in particular seems a strange choice for Apple). However, performance was decent, with bright and vivid image quality. There's support for one billion colours with P3 wide colour (more than sRGB).
Pricing: Now we come to the negative part. The pricing was one of the main reasons we only gave the display three stars in our original review. It's a nice screen, but we feel that it's hard to justify the price tag for many users. At well over $2,000 / £2,000, we would like to see more for the price.
✅ You want a portable display: Most portable monitors provide fairly pedestrian displays, but we think this one just makes the grade for creative work.
✅ You work out of the office: The benefit of a portable display is the ability to take it with you to work in different locations or to show work to clients.
✅ You want an OLED screen: There are cheaper portable monitors about, but Asus's OLED tech makes this one stand out for image quality.
Don't buy it if
❌ You need the best colour coverage: This only reaches 95.5% of sRGB, but sadly we've not tested a portable monitor that can do better.
❌ You're looking for a main monitor: At just 16-inches, this display is an extra for using on the go not as a main display for creative work.
The bottom line
🔎 Asus ZenScreen MQ16AH impressed us with a quality OLED panel in a compact portable package. This isn't going to be your main screen for creative work, but it could be very useful for a mobile setup or to show work. ★★★★
What you need to know:
Most portable monitors make decent productivity devices for working on the go or an an addition to a laptop screen, but they aren't so hot for creative work. This OLED display from Asus is a very welcome exception.
Build and design: A portable 16-inch OLED display is a niche device. It only makes sense if you regularly work on the move, for example in cafes, hotel rooms, co-working spaces or clients' offices. For situations like that, this device comes into its own. It's slim and compact, making it easy to slip into a bag and connect to a laptop using just one cable. We found it to be a flexible device that's equally suitable for graphic art and design as writing or coding. With a dongle, it’s possible to use the USB-C port to connect game consoles, a Raspberry Pi, or even a streaming stick.
Display: ASUS claims 95.5% of sRGB, and we got 100% in our tests, as well as 96% of Adobe RGB and 98% of P3 and Delta E < 2 colour accuracy. We didn't manage to get the 400 nits of brightness that Asus claims using USB-C (the alternative is to use mini HDMI), but the OLED screen was still very bright for a portable monitor and able to overpower most reflections in the office at 80% brightness. The 60Hz refresh rate gives a smooth picture.
Pricing: At around $350 / £450, the ASUS ZenScreen MQ16AH represents quite good value for what it offers. There are a lot of cheaper portable monitors out there, but not with anything near the specs needed for graphic art and design.
Connections: 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB Type-C, 2x USB 3.2 downstream, 1x USB 3.2 upstream
Brightness: 250 cd/m²
Reasons to buy
+
Empty List
Reasons to avoid
-
Empty List
Buy it if
✅ You're after an OLED display: Gigabyte's monitor boasts bright, saturated colours and good contrast.
✅ You like ultrawides: The extra screen space is great if you want to work with multiple apps and windows at once.
✅ You enjoy gaming: Although we're looking at this screen from a graphic art perspective, its 175Hz refresh rate makes it a decent gaming contender.
Don't buy it if
❌ You don't like screen reflections: The OLED panel has a tendency to accentuate reflections, which can be distracting.
❌ You hate curved screens: Curved displays are divisive, and some graphic artists feel they can distort the appearance of their work.
The bottom line
🔎 Gigabyte MO34WQC is an attractive curved display that isn't so big it utterly dominates your desk. We liked the quality of its OLED screen and the extra space afforded by its ultrawide dimensions. Just be aware that it doesn't come cheap. ★★★★
What you need to know:
Most portable monitors make decent productivity devices for working on the go or an an addition to a laptop screen, but they aren't so hot for creative work. This OLED display from Asus is a very welcome exception.
Build and design: We were a little disappointed at the lack of adjustment options: you get just 130mm of height adjustment, 25 degrees of tilt, and no rotation. Still, both the screen and the stand are solidly built, and they should hold up well in use. The on-screen display also has some useful options to tweak settings in a few quick taps. There are plenty of inputs on the underside, too, as well as a USB hub.
Display: With an OLED panel as part of the package, the Gigabyte MO34WQC brings a lot of quality to the table. You can expect bright colours and really solid contrast, although the screen reflections were noticeable (despite the included anti-reflective coating). As for colour accuracy, our testing measured 100% of sRGB, 96% of Adobe RGB and 98% of P3, which is excellent for colour-accurate work.
Pricing: The Gigabyte MO34WQC costs £700 in the UK and $949 in the US. That makes it fairly expensive, but far from the priciest monitor you can buy. Considering its wide enough to cover the screen real estate of two separate displays, you might feel the cost is well worth it.
The above displays are our picks for the best monitors for graphic artists, but there are plenty more options that might work for you. Below, we've included another choice that has been vetted by our experts and is worth considering if you want to look further afield.
As an affordable hybrid working or WFH monitor, the Acer Vero RL272 offers enough screen real estate, resolution and colour performance, including a 99% sRGB coverage, to make it an equal to many monitors at least twice its price.
How to choose the best monitor for graphic artists
There are several things to consider and look out for when you're choosing a monitor for graphic design or art. One of the most important is to decide what size monitor you want. A larger monitor means that you can see your work at a larger size, and it can also make it easier to see all of your work if you have lots of layers or to navigate multiple windows, which is handy if you're jumping between different programs or if you're checking an image against a reference. However, a larger screen takes up more space.
One of the most important factors in a monitor for visual art and design is colour coverage and accuracy. There are no minimum requirements that you should look for, but if you're producing work for digital uses, you'll want the highest sRGB colour space coverage, ideally 100%, and good coverage for other colour spaces such as Adobe RGB and DCI-P3.
How we tested the best monitors for graphic artists
We have chosen the best monitors for graphic artists based on our writers' experiences when carrying our our own hands-on tests and reviews. We have also taken on board recommendations and feedback from working artists and customer reviews.
When reviewing monitors, we conduct benchmark tests to check brightness and contrast levels, colour coverage, accuracy and uniformity. We also use the monitors over several days in real-life use cases, including for creating graphic design and digital art in programs such as Illustrator, Photoshop and CorelDRAW. As well as the quality of the display itself, we also evaluate build, ergonomics, connectivity and price. We then seek to identify the best monitor for different needs and budgets.
What is the best monitor for graphic artists and designers?
We think the best monitor for graphic artists is the BenQ DesignVue PD3220U. It takes our top spot as an exceptional all-around package that meets the needs of most graphic artists and designers, with solid colour coverage and overall image quality, generous screen space and good connectivity for a very reasonable price.
However, each of our picks for the best monitor for graphic designers here has its merits and will perform very highly in many circumstances depending on what you're looking for. What suits one graphic artist perfectly may not be the ideal choice for another. The best monitor for you will depend on the kind of work you do, how you like to work, and on your budget, which is why we've included a range of options.
Do you need a 4K monitor for graphic art and design?
The best monitor for graphic artists or designers doesn't have to be 4K since resolution isn't as important for static design as it is for video. That said, your work will look better up close since details will be clearer, so 4K is generally worth the extra outlay if you have the budget.
What specs does a graphic design monitor need?
There's no definitive answer for what specs you need in a graphic design monitor, but there are certainly some things you need to consider. Ideally, you want a resolution higher than FHD (1920x1080), as the higher the pixel count, the more detail you'll be able to see when editing your work. Brightness is also important, so the higher this the monitor's brightness (usually measured in nits or cd/m²), the better.
There are other specs that need to be considered if you're going to be doing graphic design work. As we've mentioned above, coverage of various colour gamuts is extremely important, and a monitor with a high coverage percentage for the Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 gamuts (95% or better is ideal) will be a strong choice where colour accuracy is important to your work.
What's the best screen type for graphic artists?
Generally, there are a few main screen types when it comes to monitors: LCD and OLED. But which one should you pick?
LCD is the most affordable, and you'll find it on a range of budget displays. It offers average brightness and contrast and won't break the bank. However, recent technological advances have made LCD displays a strong option for graphic artists, with improvements in colour accuracy and energy efficiency.
There's a sub-group of LCD panel types that you might have heard about: mini-LED. A mini-LED screen fits in a huge amount of LED backlights, which helps tremendously with contrast and black levels. They also come with exceptional brightness.
OLED panels can control the monitor's backlighting on a per-pixel level, and this gives them superior contrast ratios and black levels. They're also very accurate when it comes to colour, and boast very wide viewing angles too. They can suffer from burn-in, though, although this isn't as much of an issue as it used to be.
Is OLED needed for graphic design work?
You definitely don't need OLED in order to do graphic design work, and if you're just starting out it's even less important. Advances to LCD technology in recent years (such as mini-LED, mentioned above) have meant that OLED tech is not essential in your monitor.
That said, there are distinct advantages in going with OLED. Because it can switch off its backlighting on such a minuscule, accurate level, its black levels are superb, as are its contrast ratios. Yet it can still deliver excellent colours, vivid brightness and wide viewing angles. It's absolutely worth considering if you're looking for a monitor for graphic design.
The best way to decide is to view different monitor types in person. If you can make it to a local store to try out some LCD and OLED displays, we'd recommend doing so.
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Deputy Editor, TechRadar Gaming; Tech, hardware and games writer
Rob is the Deputy Editor at TechRadar Gaming, and a writer on games, gaming hardware, and tech, and also gardens and landscapes. He has been in the gaming and tech media industry for more than six years with bylines at the likes of Eurogamer, PCGamer, RockPaperShotgun, GamesRadar+, and more. Previously to being at TechRadar Gaming, he had a short but successful stint as Games Editor at WePC, and prior to that spent more than four years at GamesRadar+, building its hardware team up from scratch to great success. Elsewhere, he is merging his passion and expertise in both gardens and landscapes and video games by crowdfunding a book on video game landscapes that you can back and pre-order now.
