04 - Choosing the right tools 166842_01_04_MM30_rightTool
1 (1 Likes / 0 Dislikes)
Before desktop publishing,
designers relied on handcrafted techniques
like drawing, illustration and paste up.
While computers have dramatically changed
the way we work,
some things have remained the same.
Drawing and
illustration skills are just as important
today as they were in the past.
Once you get your idea down on paper,
you need to create a digital version of it
in order for it to become a reality.
In today's graphic design world, most
designers are using three main
applications, InDesign, Photoshop and
Illustrator.
InDesign is a layout tool for producing
documents for print and onscreen delivery.
This includes print publications,
interactive documents,
digital magazines and e-books.
Text and images import easily and InDesign
has a rich collection of
tools that will enable you to customize
every element of your design.
When designing more complex documents that
require consistent styles,
such as a book or a magazine, you can
create master pages that
will apply a consistent layout to the
pages in your document.
This is great for things like page
numbers, headers, or
logos that need to appear in the same
place on every page.
InDesign is also a great tool for creating
interactive PDF's or
exporting EPUBs, which is now a standard
e-book file format.
Photoshop enables you to edit and create
images, designs and
videos and even 3D models.
It's a great tool for taking care of
common editing tasks, like cropping and
straightening, color and tonal
adjustments, shadow and
highlight detail, sharpening, compositing
and re-touching.
One of the many benefits of editing in
Photoshop is the ability to
edit non-destructively, working in layers,
using masks, and more.
Nondestructive editing is where the
original content is not modified in
the course of editing,
which makes it easy to revert back to the
original version if desired.
Illustrator is a powerful drawing tool for
creating scalable vector art.
Meaning, these works can be scaled up
indefinitely and
never degrade their quality.
This is especially important for
logos that might be used at wildly
different sizes.
It's also a great program for
creating freehand drawings ,as well as
tracing and recoloring scanned in art.
And many use Illustrator for
creating logos, icons, illustrations, and
even setting type.
It's an essential tool for any designer.
In addition to these three powerful tools,
if you want to design a website but
you're new to web design, or
coding isn't your thing, the application
called Muse is an excellent option.
It's a WYSIWYG program, What You See Is
What You Get, which can create a fully
functioning site without ever having to
write a single line of code.
However, since it doesn't let you work
with code, a required skill set for
modern web designers, it does have some
limitations.
But if those limitations aren't an issue
for
you, this program is worth looking into.
Learning software takes time.
But these types of programs are vitally
important and
will enable you to create work you
couldn't otherwise.