Drop Down Menu

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

What software is used for what? Part III

If you are new to the design biz you might be overwhelmed by all the software out there and not sure which is the best option for your project.  I know I won’t cover everything on the market, there is just too much out there but I will touch on the industry standards in this four part series.

Line Drawings
You might see where professional design software is going; basically Adobe has the market on applications with line drawings being typically done in Adobe Illustrator.  There are some sign printers that use Corel Draw, but ad agencies and designers in general work in Adobe Illustrator.  Like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator was created in collaboration with Apple and made to work only on Macs.  After the first decade or so it started becoming available on PCs as well.

This program is great for setting and manipulating type, line drawings, and things like logo design.  Illustrator uses Post Script programming, and is a vector based program.  What this means is you can render creative in any resolution and still have a crisp final output.  This is perfect for tasks like building logos because logos will be used at a variety of sizes and we need our branding to be legible at any size since it is our identity.

In addition to the vector format of Adobe Illustrator it has always had a variety of drawing tools like the Benzie Pen which makes drawing just a matter of pointing and clicking around the page to develop an image.  As versions have been developed features like Live Trace have been added and enhanced allowing a user to scan in an image and convert it to an editable image.  There are many more features like creating charts, filters, and path type tools to name a few things that allow full document creation possible.  In more present versions Adobe has made Illustrator interchangeable with other products like Photoshop, with a range of output formats even Flash symbols can be created and used seamlessly.  

Check out Part II of this software series to learn more about image manipulation software.  If you would like to dig into Adobe Illustrator there are tutorials posted on this blog.  Download a trial version and get started.  Next week we will discuss multimedia software

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

What software is used for what? Part II

If you are new to the design biz you might be overwhelmed by all the software out there and not sure which is the best option for your project.  I know I won’t cover everything on the market, there is just too much out there but I will touch on the industry standards in this four part series.

Image Manipulation
Not sure I even need to tell you this one, I think Adobe Photoshop is becoming more main stream these days with the release of Elements and dummied down versions of Photoshop hitting the market for affordable prices. 

Adobe Photoshop has always been the program to use for Photo Manipulation, although there are some less complicated photo editing programs on the market they are not as robust to even be competition.  Originally Photoshop was kind of a collaboration with Apple, and only sold to work on a Mac. Eventually PC versions were released but they did not have the same functionality as the Mac version did.  The loyalty Adobe showed to Apple is what helped sell Macs when they were the less desirable option.  Every ad agency, in-house design team, college design class, print house and freelancer had to get a Mac to compete in the market.
Adobe Photoshop has always been known for the precise photo manipulation with filters, rubber stamp and precise selection tools to name a few things it is easy to clean up a less than perfect photo or replace elements looking totally natural like that was how the photo was taken.  In the past setting any copy in Photoshop was a bad idea because it produces raster art which would result in jagged text.

Over the years Photoshop as upgraded to a highly scalable design tool.  In addition to more precise photo imaging there are drawing tools, 3D capability, a lot more filters and features to layer into a design, advanced export features for higher compatibility with other software, and additional productivity features.  Another great change is the text feature.  Although I still prefer using other programs for setting text I can set it in Photoshop and it comes out clean and legible.

Check out Part I discussing page layout if you missed that.  If you would like to dig into Adobe Photoshop further check out the tutorials posted.  Download a trial version and get started.  Next week we will discuss line drawing software.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

What software is used for what? Part I

If you are new to the design biz you might be overwhelmed by all the software out there and not sure which is the best option for your project.  I know I won’t cover everything on the market, there is just too much out there but I will touch on the industry standards in this four part series.

Page Layout
The current industry standard is to use Adobe InDesign.  Twenty or so years ago the program to use was Adobe PageMaker, then entered Quark which was quickly adopted because of the easy learning curve and flexibility.  PageMaker seemed clunky next to the features Quark offered.  Even novice designers could master a polished layout easily.  

The problem was Quark Inc got a little too big for their own good.  The started pricing their program to an unaffordable rate; even upgrades were difficult to afford.  In addition Quark would not offer educational discounts so it was not possible for students to learn the software to obtain a job.   Finally customer service began to lapse, and upgrades were becoming less compatible with changing technology.  The design world was looking for the next big page layout program.  In all reality InDesign had been on the market for a little while, but most designers expected it to be cumbersome as PageMaker was, but as the design world got more frustrated with the lack of flexibility from Quark the switchover began.

I foresee InDesign staying center stage for design professionals for some time to come.  The reason is upgrades give the program more flexibility to do more tasks.  In addition Adobe has made this program interchangeable with other Adobe products and Microsoft Office.

FYI, I don’t have any tutorials posted for InDesign but will add if I get requests for anything. You can always download a trial version and dig in.

Next week we will talk image manipulation software!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Digital design for learning – Part II layout formatting

The first part of designing for education talked about formatting text for optimum retention.  The second part of the series discusses layout formatting.  As important as it is to highlight specific information in the text it is also important to format the layout so all is easier to read.

Chunk out information
Divide content into small chunks of information.  If you think about it larger bits are more overwhelming to look at, where as a smaller chunk can give a learner quick success in conquering the data.  That might mean more paragraphs and even more pages to a document.  Cramming everything into one page is not going to call attention to the content, reading will turn into skimming and your important information is not going to be retained.

White space
Break out topics and paragraphs with plenty of whitespace.  Spacing everything out generously will create a visual that is easier to digest.  The eye will travel smoothly from one topic to the next.

Justification
Justify text to the left since we typically read left to right this will ensure important elements will get read in the order it is intended. Full justification is ok to do, however in viewing on a screen the gaps can’t be controlled as they could be in print.  Breaking the rhythm of the text can break the focus of learning the content.

Bullets & Numbering
For specific direction steps to any learning aid it is important to number each step.  Bullet points serve as a great way to organize additional points to a topic.  Whichever you choose they break apart the copy even further making it easier to read.

Just a few layout elements can make a difference in the success of a layout for learning.  Small Chunks of info, White Space, Justification, and numbering or bullets could separate content elements enough to make the training easier to absorb and retain.