Tom Arah uncovers the best ways to convert digital photographs into eye-catching art.
These days thanks to scanners and digital cameras we are surrounded, even swamped, by digital photographs. These are excellent for capturing a particular moment in time, but a work of art is able to capture something more timeless: the essence of the image. At a rather more mundane level giving an image some creative flair instantly helps it to stand out from the crowd and makes it ideal, say, for illustrating an in-depth article or thought-piece rather than a photo-led news story. And artistic images have another major practical advantage: even poorly-shot, low-resolution photographs can be turned into striking, high-quality reproductions so you are effectively freed from the limitations of your raw materials. So how can you best turn an existing digital photo into a work of art?
The obvious solution is to turn to dedicated art media software such as Corel Painter. This offers hundreds of tailor-made brushes designed to mimic their real world counterparts as accurately as possible. It also offers cloning capabilities in which the current brush automatically picks up the colour it applies by sampling an original source photograph. The downside is that to truly master all Painter’s brushes and settings would take longer than learning how to paint in the first place. And while Painter does offer some automatic cloning capabilities these are too limited to be of real use and so essentially leaves the user facing a blank canvas. For the artistically-challenged, or those working to tight deadlines, this is a non-starter. We need the computer to take a much more active role: at the very least we need art-based software that provides a helping hand, preferably takes command and, maybe even does the entire job for us.
In-built Artistic FiltersAnd it looks like this is exactly the sort of power promised by the dominant professional and consumer bitmap editors. Both Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements offer around 40 dedicated artistic filters (originally provided separately as the Aldus Gallery Effects collection) divided into three main categories: Artistic, Brush Strokes and Sketch. All the main media seem to be catered for: coloured pencil, dry brush, conté crayon, charcoal, watercolour and so on, and some of the filters are certainly striking. The Cutout effect for example can be used to break an image into a few areas of solid colour to create screen-printed, pop art effects or, by boosting the Edge Simplicity and slashing the Edge Fidelity parameters, to create instant Mondrian-style abstracts.
Photo To Art Tutorial / Roundup Tom Arah uncovers the best ways to convert digital photographs into eye-catching art.
These days thanks to scanners and digital cameras we are surrounded, even swamped, by digital photographs. These are excellent for capturing a particular moment in time, but a work of art is able to capture something more timeless: the essence of the image. At a rather more mundane level giving an image some creative flair instantly helps it to stand out from the crowd and makes it ideal, say, for illustrating an in-depth article or thought-piece rather than a photo-led news story. And artistic images have another major practical advantage: even poorly-shot, low-resolution photographs can be turned into striking, high-quality reproductions so you are effectively freed from the limitations of your raw materials. So how can you best turn an existing digital photo into a work of art?
The obvious solution is to turn to dedicated art media software such as Corel Painter. This offers hundreds of tailor-made brushes designed to mimic their real world counterparts as accurately as possible. It also offers cloning capabilities in which the current brush automatically picks up the colour it applies by sampling an original source photograph. The downside is that to truly master all Painter’s brushes and settings would take longer than learning how to paint in the first place. And while Painter does offer some automatic cloning capabilities these are too limited to be of real use and so essentially leaves the user facing a blank canvas. For the artistically-challenged, or those working to tight deadlines, this is a non-starter. We need the computer to take a much more active role: at the very least we need art-based software that provides a helping hand, preferably takes command and, maybe even does the entire job for us.
In-built Artistic FiltersAnd it looks like this is exactly the sort of power promised by the dominant professional and consumer bitmap editors. Both Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements offer around 40 dedicated artistic filters (originally provided separately as the Aldus Gallery Effects collection) divided into three main categories: Artistic, Brush Strokes and Sketch. All the main media seem to be catered for: coloured pencil, dry brush, conté crayon, charcoal, watercolour and so on, and some of the filters are certainly striking. The Cutout effect for example can be used to break an image into a few areas of solid colour to create screen-printed, pop art effects or, by boosting the Edge Simplicity and slashing the Edge Fidelity parameters, to create instant Mondrian-style abstracts.
Photoshop’s in-built art effects flatter to deceive.
Photoshop’s in-built filters certainly show the potential of automatic art on the computer but, after the initial excitement, the effects soon pall. This is partly due to the limited level of control on offer with each filter built around just a few largely baffling parameters. The real problem though is more fundamental – the filters just don’t deliver what they promise. Ultimately the connection between the filter’s end results and its name are tenuous at best. With the Watercolour filter for example there are just three settings one of which controls shadow intensity resulting in strong edges and solid black areas which is hardly what most people imagine when they think of a watercolour. Ultimately you get the feeling that the Aldus Gallery/Photoshop filters weren’t developed by someone lovingly trying to recreate an existing artistic effect but rather by someone exploring what effects were possible if they manipulated pixel values – reducing colour differences, darkening areas of tonal shift and so on – and then slapping on the name of an artistic media as soon as they spotted even the slightest point of connection.
There’s no intrinsic reason it has to be like this and other bitmap-based editors offer much more effective artistic filters. Sadly the range offered by JASC/Corel’s Paint Shop Pro is even more technical and less artistic than Aldus/Adobe’s but Ulead’s PhotoImpact and Corel’s PHOTO-PAINT show what can be done. Both offer a much more limited range of filters – 19 in the case of PhotoImpact and 15 for PHOTO-PAINT. However these have clearly been designed with much more thought and with a real eye on the real world art media effects they are intended to replicate. Whereas Photoshop’s Accented Edges filter relies on crude edge detection techniques with little customizable control, for example, PhotoImpact’s Contour Drawing filter lets you set overall sensitivity, threshold and edge length ranges along with smoothness, thickness and texture parameters for the lines drawn. The end result is fluid, variable-width lines that look as if they really have been hand-drawn rather than generated.
Corel PHOTO-PAINT offers an impressive range of artistic filters including a version of Paint Alchemy.
With both PhotoImpact and PhotoPaint available at bargain prices – less than £50 if you do a bit of hunting and, in the case of PHOTO-PAINT, effectively free if you’re a CorelDRAW user – then it’s easy to make the case for adding both programs to your arsenal for their artistic filters alone. However rather than getting to grips with new applications, most users would feel happier extending the artistic capabilities of their existing copy of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. And there are plenty of third-party developers looking to oblige. Three collections of dedicated artistic Photoshop-compatible plug-ins stand out in particular.
Third-Party FiltersThe first is Virtual Painter 4 (US$59 from www.vpainter.com) which is available as both a standalone application and Photoshop plug-in (unlike most plug-ins its effects can also be applied non-destructively in Fireworks and Illustrator). And it couldn’t be simpler to use. Simply call up the filter and you are presented with a choice of sixteen effects presented as resizable thumbnails of the current image. In most cases you can simply choose the one that looks like it works best and that’s it. If you want more control you can open an Adjust window where you can set five parameters – material, rendering, coloration, deformation and focus – that are shared by all filters. You can also draw on the preview to indicate the main areas of interest in the image and these are handled accordingly.
What makes Virtual Painter stand out is the sheer flair of its effects. It’s clear that the program’s developer, Umemura Taka, has a passionate interest in the creative possibilities that computer generated art provides and explores them to the full. While the list of filters includes the usual suspects such as Coloured Drawing, Pointillism and WaterColour for example, the results are very different from the comparatively uninspired renderings that Photoshop’s in-built filters tend to apply – where lines are drawn for example these are fluid and graceful not crude edges. And Virtual Painter also pushes the envelope with the types of artistic genre that it attempts to mimic with Gouache, Impasto and even Fauvist oil painting options.
Virtual Painter offers real creative flair - instantly.
The exuberance of Virtual Painter puts the majority of artistic filters to shame and, at its best, really does produce attractive creative work instantly. However, by its nature, you are effectively handing over all creative control and input to the program. You can fine-tune around the edges, but essentially you have to take what you are given. If you’d rather remain in complete charge of the artistic process, but still leave the filter to do all the hard work, then Paint Alchemy (sale price $99 fromwww.xaostools.com) has a lot to offer.
Like the Aldus Gallery Effects, Paint Alchemy was one of the first sets of Photoshop-compatible filters available and its age is immediately apparent in its idiosyncratic interface built around floating windows and a tiny central preview. The program is crying out for a makeover and this is exactly what Corel has provided with the version of the filter that it bundles with PHOTO-PAINT which offers a more modern, tabbed interface complete with on-image preview. However the fact that the original Paint Alchemy plug-in for Photoshop is still available and still doing useful work shows the success of its underlying approach.
Essentially what Paint Alchemy offers is Painter-style, brush-based artistic cloning but done automatically. Call up the dialog and you can choose from dozens of preset effects ranging through from Art to ZigZag and taking in options such as charcoal, coloured pencil, crayon, cubist and pointillist along the way. In each case the style is built around a central choice of brush based on a grayscale BMP (which means you can add your own) and an application method. It’s here that Paint Alchemy offers its extensive customization control with the ability to set an overall stroke density and to manage colour, size, angle and transparency. Crucially each of these settings can be set to vary based on factors such as position, distance from a given point and image hue, saturation and brightness. This is particularly important as, by tying the strokes applied to the underlying image, Paint Alchemy can produce some surprisingly subtle creative work.
For the most part the Paint Alchemy results don’t look obviously computer generated, but let’s be honest: they don’t really look like they’ve been hand painted either. Maybe the idea of instant off-the-shelf solutions that can be applied automatically to any image, even ones that can be customized as much as Paint Alchemy, is just too much to ask for. That’s certainly the opinion of UK company Fo2PiX, specialist developers ofphoto-to-art solutions and the makers of the BuZZ.Pro 3 Photoshop plug-in (£102 from www.Fo2PiX.co.uk).
BuZZ.Pro breaks an image down into its core elements: colour, line, highlights, shadows and so on.
What makes Fo2PiX and BuZZ.Pro different is its recognition that producing a work of art is an ongoing process not a one-off event. Typically for example a painter will break a picture down into broad areas of colour, apply outlines to define the subject and then apply highlights and shadows to bring them to life. This break-down and build-up process is exactly what BuZZ.Pro is designed to replicate. Key here is a range of dedicated and patented filters designed to simplify the photo into areas of colour by removing detail without blurring or blending (there are five different variations on this one theme), others for finding colour and mono edges and others for picking out colour, highlight and shadow details and yet others for boosting saturation, blurring and so on.
However, rather than providing a collection of separate filters, BuZZ.Pro 3 provides a single central dialog in which multiple filters are added to create a “stack” that is then applied to the image. Sequences of filters can then be saved as stacks for future re-use and Fo2PiX provides a range of 25 to get you started including options such as bright colour wash, oil, sketch and watercolour. Once loaded all the parameters of the stack are available for customization simultaneously so, say, by changing the settings for the simplifier effect you affect the mono edges filter which follows.
It’s a great idea in principle, but there are three major limitations in practice. The first is that there is no option for previewing effects on the actual image and it’s virtually impossible to make sensible judgments via the tiny preview window. The second is that the stack is limited to the filters that Fo2PiX provides so you can’t combine a simplification say with one of Photoshop’s in-built artistic filters. The third limitation is the most fundamental of all – the filters in the stack are applied sequentially. While this is fine for some effects, for others it’s useless. In particular the stack’s cumulative approach means that you can’t for example overlay an outline effect over a reduced colour effect – instead you’ll get an outlined version of the simplified image.
All is not lost however. The solution is to create multiple copies of the original image as layers within Photoshop/Elements and to then apply the necessary filters to each and blend the results. In fact this use of layers for combining effects is hugely important whether you use BuZZ.Pro or not. As we saw a few months ago (RW135) when you break a composition into layers a whole host of options for creative compositing becomes available. This means that you can combine the best features of any filters in Photoshop’s in-built and third-party arsenal of effects, say overlaying a sketched outline over a brush-based effect. Using opacity settings and layer masks you also have non-destructive control of exactly where and how strong the lines appear. And using blend modes you also have another array of tools at your disposal for creatively combining layers to produce beautifully subtle or strikingly eye-catching effects.
The artistic potential that the use of layers opens up is impressive enough but the full version of Photoshop offers even more compositing functionality through one of its least appreciated features – history snapshots. Using the History Palette you can store multiple snapshots of an image with various effects applied. By then selecting the History Brush tool and selecting a snapshot as its source, you can interactively paint with each effect in turn complete with full control over blend mode and transparency and, crucially, your choice of brush. This same control is also available if you switch to Photoshop’s dedicated Art History brush tool which also offers access to a number of different paint styles designed to produce a more artistic impressionistic end result by using the source snapshot to lay down cloning-style dabs of paint.
Photoshop’s Art History Brush is the best way to artistically combine multiple image states.
Using its in-built and third-party effects combined with layer-based and history state-based compositing, Photoshop eventually reveals some considerable power when it comes to converting photographs into art. However to make the most of it you really need to be an expert user and, even then, it’s very much a process of creative experimentation and trial and error. What we really want is an application built on the same principles, but designed from the ground up to make the process easier, more targeted and more creatively rewarding.
Dedicated ApplicationsThis is exactly what Fo2PiX promises with its wide range of dedicated standalone art applications: the consumer PhotoArtMaster Classic/Silver/Gold (£8.50/£38/£64) and the recently-added semi-professional ArtMaster (£195) and high-end ArtMasterPro (£495). In all cases the programs work by breaking down an original photograph into a number of filtered sources (roughly equivalent to Photoshop’s history snapshots) which are presented as thumbnails and organized into tabbed groups. Typical sources would include colour reduced versions of the current image, outlined versions, shadow versions, highlight versions, saturated versions and so on. Once a source has been selected you apply it to the current canvas either as a fill or interactively via a simple brush. Crucially, using simple mixer controls, you can also easily explore factors such as hue, saturation, transparency and blend mode which determine just how the current source is composited with the work so far. It’s only when you are happy with the results onscreen that you commit your changes to make them permanent and move on to the next stage of building up your artwork.
As all the Fo2PiX applications are built on the same core principles the obvious question is: what do the expensive ArtMaster packages offer over and above the bargain PhotoArtMaster applications? To begin with the ArtMaster interfaces are more efficient with the removal of hidden and floating palettes. The number of sources that each application can make use of, including canvas and stencil sources, is also higher (ranging from under 50 sources in PhotoArtMaster Classic up to 700 in ArtMasterPro). Much the biggest difference though is the introduction of ArtWizards (seven in ArtMaster and 15 in ArtMasterPro). These are task-based wizards designed to walk users through the steps necessary to recreate a particular art effect such as pencil drawing, pop art, watercolour and chalk.
ArtMasterPro offers creative power and automation.
I have to admit that my first response to Fo2PiX’s introduction of ArtWizards was overwhelmingly negative. To begin with such mandatory hand-holding seemed much more appropriate to a home user rather than a professional user willing to invest so much money and presumably effort. Far worse was the fact that with the semi-pro ArtMaster you can’t actually escape from the ArtWizards as there is no freeform Manual mode where you can choose your sources at will as there is with ArtMasterPro and the budget PhotoArtMaster applications. Thankfully this doesn’t mean that you are limited to reproducing just the seven styles provided as you can jump between steps in different ArtWizards, but doing so adds a layer of unnecessarily complication. More importantly, it’s clear that the major underlying motive is to generate more revenue by encouraging users to buy more ArtWizards (£17 each) to open up more sources and art styles.
On reflection I still think ArtMaster should offer a manual mode and that, at the price, ArtMasterPro should provide access to all ArtWizards as they are released. Other than this though, I have to admit that I have been won over by ArtMasterPro and by the use of ArtWizards in particular. The sheer range of creative choices that Fo2PiX’s source-based approach unleashes combined with the infinite range of ways in which these can be applied means that you really do need an ever-present guide. Moreover you don’t actually feel restricted by the ArtWizards in practice as you can always choose a different source or mix and are in control of just where the effects are applied. The end result is that, thanks to ArtWizards, you can quickly, confidently and consistently give any photograph a particular artistic feel while retaining creative input and ultimate creative control. Once at ease with the system, you can even record your own ArtWizards to produce your own re-usable, automatic but fully customizable artistic styles.
ArtMasterPro certainly isn’t the last word in converting photographs to art – in particular it could do with grafting on a bit of Virtual Painter style flair, a Paint Alchemy inspired focus on the importance of brushes and a generally greater integration with Photoshop. What it does do though is show just how much computers have to offer in this field – and not just in terms of efficiency and productivity but in terms of sheer creativity.
Tom Arah
February 2006
Monday, May 19, 2008
The importance of good grid handling
Tom Arah looks at the underlying basis of all design - the grid - and investigates how the two PC-based DTP rivals, Ventura and PageMaker, approach the issue.
I've been thinking about the principles of good layout a great deal recently for two reasons. The first is that I've been working on producing the DTP masterclass (issue ). The second is that I've been reading the recently published "Grids" by André Jute, which is a modern look at that old-fashioned fundamental principle of graphic design - the layout grid. I say old-fashioned because, with today's onscreen layout, it's easy to forget just how all-important the grid used to be. I still remember the days when text was typeset to a given width and output as continuous galleys which were then cut to length and manually pasted onto lay-up sheets that had been marked up with the vertical and horizontal guides of the chosen page design.
The central point that Jute's book makes is that, although the production process has changed out of all recognition, the underlying grid should never have been forgotten. The layout flexibility offered by the computer means that, if we so chose, we could design a publication with no layout limitations whatsoever. Text could be entered anywhere on the page, at any point-size, to any column width and interspersed with images of any size, shape and orientation. We never actually do this, however, because the grid is not just a practical limitation to be overcome. Rather, it serves a number of crucial functions for both the reader and the designer.
The Benefits of DisciplineA good grid forces order onto the layout and so acts as an orienting device enabling the reader to knows where to look for information and to understand its relative importance. Just as importantly the grid works on an aesthetic level. The readers might not consciously be aware of it, but subliminally they pick up on the fact that everything is well ordered and in its place. If a picture juts fractionally into the column next to it something seems to be slightly amiss, but if the lines of text align neatly across the columns on a page some fundamental and reassuring logic seems to be at work.
Grids are equally important for the designer. By putting in the time to set up a grid that works, the design decisions that crop up during the production process fall naturally into place. Essentially if you get the grid right, you can be confident that your end results will be a success. Moreover, good design is a balance of order and variation and the imposed discipline of the grid gives the scope to creatively break free. A rotated image, for example, will stand out far more if it is surrounded by others that are not. Ultimately the apparent limitations of the grid turn out to be fruitful both in terms of productivity and in terms of creativity.
When computers first came to be used in the publishing process, however, both the limitations and the benefits of the grid were quickly forgotten. With word processors the default page size and margins were largely taken as givens and, when columns were introduced, these were always of equal width with text flowing automatically and unavoidably from one column to the next. Even today this is largely the case and not even the most advanced and design-conscious of today's word processors allows the enforcement of the interline grid to ensure that lines of text line up horizontally across columns.
The Ventura Automated ApproachThe advent of desktop publishing changed all this with its wysiwyg page layout view and the ability to position text and graphics anywhere on the layout. The first of the PC-based DTP programs was Ventura Publisher and this introduced a number of grid-based features. Custom page sizes could be created by resizing and repositioning the base page frame. Multiple columns could be set up and the width of each could be precisely controlled so that it was possible to produce asymmetric grids. To help the layout process it was possible to set floating frames to automatically snap to the page's columns. Ventura also offered the advanced feature of a line snap, which forced frames to line up exactly with the body text tag's leading. This was intended to ensure that both graphics and text lined up with the underlying horizontal grid, a feature essential for high quality design.
However there were a number of problems. The first was that this horizontal interline grid was invisible which made checking alignment difficult. The second was that the interline grid was measured from the page edge rather than from the page margins so that unless the top margin was set to a multiple of interline spacing, floating frames were actually forced to misalign with the grid! Far more fundamental and unavoidable was - and is - the problem of non-body text. Unless the leading of each paragraph was an exact multiple of the body text's, it would immediately disrupt the interline grid. In other words, a slightly larger subheading or a smaller bullet point would mean that the following lines would no longer line up across columns and, more noticeably, the columns would no longer line up at the bottom of the page.
The only way around this was to only create tags with extra above and below spacing worked out to ensure that the following paragraph was back on the grid. Again, however, there were problems. For example the above spacing of a subheading at the top of a page would automatically be ignored so that a special tag "sub top" would have to be created that took this into account. Likewise, if the subheading took up two or three lines instead of one, special "sub 2" and "sub 3" tags would again have to be created. When you remember that the early versions of Ventura did not allow local overrides so that every exception needed to have its own tag created - or worse an empty frame added to push down the text - you begin to see why the interline grid fell into disuse. Ultimately Ventura was not suited for design-intensive work, and on aesthetic grounds it suffered as a result - I doubt that many design awards have been won with it.
To only judge the program against this standard, however, is unfair. Ventura's frame-based text flow and tag-based formatting might be unsuited for the demands of labour-intensive grid-based design, but they come into their own in the area of document automation. In fact in many ways Ventura's main strengths are diametrically opposed to the discipline of the grid. The flexibility offered for retrospectively and automatically changing a layout, for example, would be anathema to a purist like André Jute. To him the idea that at any point during the design process you could easily change all the fundamentals of a page layout, from its size and orientation to the number and width of its columns, would simply suggest that you did not have the right grid set up originally. In many ways he would be right, but I have to say I've found the ability too useful too many times to be willing to give it up.
Vertical JustificationEven more telling is Ventura's ability to vertically justify a column. This is the process whereby spacing is automatically and imperceptibly added above and below all paragraphs - often called "feathering" - to ensure that the last lines of columns line up across the page. To an extent this can be seen a grid-based feature as ragged columns are very noticeable and clearly aesthetically unpleasing. On the other hand, to achieve the effect, the interline grid of lines of text lining up across columns is inevitably lost. Again purists might frown, but I've found the capability invaluable. On a regular price list, for example, the number of entries I had to fit in to the given number of pages would change literally up until the minute I output the final artwork. Thanks to vertical justification I could ensure that the pages always looked finished and professional even if they were never going to win awards.
Generally speaking, Ventura offered its own automation strengths that made up for the limitations of its grid-based capabilities. Since Corel took over the program, however, it has been moving the program increasingly in the design-intensive direction. Most noticeable - and most welcome - is the ability to apply local overrides so that individual paragraphs can be controlled without the need to create a new tag. New, more obviously grid-based features have also been added. For example it is now possible to add guidelines both interactively, by dragging down from the rulers, or precisely, from a dedicated dialog. It is even possible to set up a visible grid of automatically repeating green guidelines onscreen to help alignment.
With column, interline, guideline and grid snap you would expect the fan of grids to be content, but the capabilities have only been half thought through. The repeating gridlines for example can only be absolutely regular and the distance between them is specified in millimetres while an interline grid would obviously be set up in points. More bizarrely, while the origin of the visible grid can be changed, the origin of the interline snap is still set to the top of the page rather than the margin. Again unless the top margin is set to be a multiple of the body text leading, interline snap actually ensures that lines of text and graphics do not line up!
Such problems can be worked around or lived with, but far more worrying is the fact that Corel does not seem to have appreciated Ventura's own alternative strengths. Rather than expanding on the automation of document design, this feature has been allowed to wither. I was horrified to find that in the latest Ventura, vertical justification is simply not working properly. Rather than spreading the extra spacing needed imperceptibly through all the paragraphs in a column, Ventura 7 adds the maximum spacing allowed to paragraphs as it works its way down the column. This leads to greater spacing for paragraphs at the top of the column than at the bottom, an effect that could never be desirable and which shows that the programmers in charge have simply no idea of what the feature was designed to do.
The latest Ventura, in trying to have it both ways, ends up falling between the two stools of document automation and design-intensive production. The reason for the shift, of course, is that Corel is trying to emulate the market leader, Adobe PageMaker. PageMaker has always been the software choice for the traditional graphic designer trained on the principles of the grid because it uses the same artboard metaphor. Just as in the past, the user prepares their layout by first setting up margin, column and additional guides and then manually placing the freeform text blocks and images within this grid.
PageMaker Hands-OnThis computerised simulation of the old cut-and-paste process is fundamental to PageMaker and, in the hands of an expert, can lead to excellent results. Closer analysis however reveals that PageMaker's grid-based features are actually surprisingly sparse. Setting up an asymmetric grid, for example, is absurdly complex as the columns command only gives the option of creating equally-sized columns which must then be repositioned using the onscreen ruler. Adding further guides individually is just as laborious and just as likely to be inaccurate. Even worse in terms of the interline grid there is no Ventura-style option to set up an automatic line snap to ensure that text and graphics align across columns.
For a program whose whole working method is ostensibly built on grids, PageMaker certainly doesn't go out of its way to help the user to set up and use them. In fact the situation is not quite as bad as it first appears as there are some hidden features to help. A working interline snap can be created, for example, using the following workaround. Set the vertical ruler units to your body text's interline spacing with the Preferences command. Make sure that Snap to Rulers is set to on under the View menu and then drag the ruler origin down from the edge of the page to the top margin. You'll also have to change the default leading method of your body text style from proportional to baseline using the Paragraph dialog's Spacing sub dialog. Obvious really.
The system works but it's hardly intuitive and still needs constant checking to make sure that all images and text boxes are lined up on the main ruler units not on the subdivisions. The major problem is that, as with Ventura's line snap, the interline grid is invisible so that the whole process is like working half-blind. In fact this problem can be overcome by using the Grid Manager add-in. This allows repeating guidelines to be added automatically to the page. This is useful for splitting the design into set numbers of columns and rows and also for automatically adding baseline guidelines to make a visible interline grid. At last we are back to the basic functionality of the manual lay-up sheets!
Don't get too excited, however, as there are still a number of problems. The dialog is frustratingly complex and can lead to unexpected results. It took me nearly an hour to work out that the interline grid wasn't quite working because my page origin was not set exactly to the top of the page. The Grid Manager also raises more expectations than it fulfils. It's impossible to automatically add and position individual guidelines or even to automatically set up irregular grids like the popular two and a half column set-up. Other features that would be welcome would be the ability to add mid-column or mid-gutter vertical guides and the ability to hide and reveal sets of guides independently of others so that the interline grid could be hidden, for example, but the column guides still shown.
The grid manager is definitely moving in the right direction but promises much more than it delivers. More to the point such power shouldn't be hidden away in a semi-detached add-on. For a program like PageMaker such functionality should be absolutely core. The irony is that PageMaker's grid-based strengths have been allowed to stagnate because the program's new owner, Adobe, has been desperately trying to copy the layout flexibility and automation of its old rival Ventura. The recent attempt to introduce frames to control text flow and layout adjustment to automate major design changes was welcome, but the implementation was half-baked. Has anyone used automatic layout adjustment and been genuinely happy with the results? Has anyone actually used 6.5's frames at all?
The problem is that just as Ventura's design-intensive features have only been half realised so have PageMaker's document automation capabilities. I'm not saying that either company is wrong to want to add the best of the other's features as there is no intrinsic reason why a DTP program should not offer the best of both worlds. The problem is that at the moment neither seems to have a clear idea of exactly what they are trying to achieve and so have lost sight of their existing strengths.
Even worse I don't think that either company has ever had a true understanding of the aesthetic and functional importance of the layout grid. This means that, over a decade after DTP first arrived, there still has been no improvement to the computer implementation of the most fundamental of design tools. Of course good grid-based design can still be produced on the computer and I'm not seriously suggesting that we would be better off in the days of cut-and-paste. However, the fact that ten years on it is still down to the user to learn what the grid can offer and to then struggle to achieve it is a real indictment.
As the situation stands, if you want to appreciate the benefits and elements of good structured design you'd be well advised to read a book like Grids. In the longer term let's hope that the Adobe and Corel programmers do too.
From : Tom Arah
November 1997
I've been thinking about the principles of good layout a great deal recently for two reasons. The first is that I've been working on producing the DTP masterclass (issue ). The second is that I've been reading the recently published "Grids" by André Jute, which is a modern look at that old-fashioned fundamental principle of graphic design - the layout grid. I say old-fashioned because, with today's onscreen layout, it's easy to forget just how all-important the grid used to be. I still remember the days when text was typeset to a given width and output as continuous galleys which were then cut to length and manually pasted onto lay-up sheets that had been marked up with the vertical and horizontal guides of the chosen page design.
The central point that Jute's book makes is that, although the production process has changed out of all recognition, the underlying grid should never have been forgotten. The layout flexibility offered by the computer means that, if we so chose, we could design a publication with no layout limitations whatsoever. Text could be entered anywhere on the page, at any point-size, to any column width and interspersed with images of any size, shape and orientation. We never actually do this, however, because the grid is not just a practical limitation to be overcome. Rather, it serves a number of crucial functions for both the reader and the designer.
The Benefits of DisciplineA good grid forces order onto the layout and so acts as an orienting device enabling the reader to knows where to look for information and to understand its relative importance. Just as importantly the grid works on an aesthetic level. The readers might not consciously be aware of it, but subliminally they pick up on the fact that everything is well ordered and in its place. If a picture juts fractionally into the column next to it something seems to be slightly amiss, but if the lines of text align neatly across the columns on a page some fundamental and reassuring logic seems to be at work.
Grids are equally important for the designer. By putting in the time to set up a grid that works, the design decisions that crop up during the production process fall naturally into place. Essentially if you get the grid right, you can be confident that your end results will be a success. Moreover, good design is a balance of order and variation and the imposed discipline of the grid gives the scope to creatively break free. A rotated image, for example, will stand out far more if it is surrounded by others that are not. Ultimately the apparent limitations of the grid turn out to be fruitful both in terms of productivity and in terms of creativity.
When computers first came to be used in the publishing process, however, both the limitations and the benefits of the grid were quickly forgotten. With word processors the default page size and margins were largely taken as givens and, when columns were introduced, these were always of equal width with text flowing automatically and unavoidably from one column to the next. Even today this is largely the case and not even the most advanced and design-conscious of today's word processors allows the enforcement of the interline grid to ensure that lines of text line up horizontally across columns.
The Ventura Automated ApproachThe advent of desktop publishing changed all this with its wysiwyg page layout view and the ability to position text and graphics anywhere on the layout. The first of the PC-based DTP programs was Ventura Publisher and this introduced a number of grid-based features. Custom page sizes could be created by resizing and repositioning the base page frame. Multiple columns could be set up and the width of each could be precisely controlled so that it was possible to produce asymmetric grids. To help the layout process it was possible to set floating frames to automatically snap to the page's columns. Ventura also offered the advanced feature of a line snap, which forced frames to line up exactly with the body text tag's leading. This was intended to ensure that both graphics and text lined up with the underlying horizontal grid, a feature essential for high quality design.
However there were a number of problems. The first was that this horizontal interline grid was invisible which made checking alignment difficult. The second was that the interline grid was measured from the page edge rather than from the page margins so that unless the top margin was set to a multiple of interline spacing, floating frames were actually forced to misalign with the grid! Far more fundamental and unavoidable was - and is - the problem of non-body text. Unless the leading of each paragraph was an exact multiple of the body text's, it would immediately disrupt the interline grid. In other words, a slightly larger subheading or a smaller bullet point would mean that the following lines would no longer line up across columns and, more noticeably, the columns would no longer line up at the bottom of the page.
The only way around this was to only create tags with extra above and below spacing worked out to ensure that the following paragraph was back on the grid. Again, however, there were problems. For example the above spacing of a subheading at the top of a page would automatically be ignored so that a special tag "sub top" would have to be created that took this into account. Likewise, if the subheading took up two or three lines instead of one, special "sub 2" and "sub 3" tags would again have to be created. When you remember that the early versions of Ventura did not allow local overrides so that every exception needed to have its own tag created - or worse an empty frame added to push down the text - you begin to see why the interline grid fell into disuse. Ultimately Ventura was not suited for design-intensive work, and on aesthetic grounds it suffered as a result - I doubt that many design awards have been won with it.
To only judge the program against this standard, however, is unfair. Ventura's frame-based text flow and tag-based formatting might be unsuited for the demands of labour-intensive grid-based design, but they come into their own in the area of document automation. In fact in many ways Ventura's main strengths are diametrically opposed to the discipline of the grid. The flexibility offered for retrospectively and automatically changing a layout, for example, would be anathema to a purist like André Jute. To him the idea that at any point during the design process you could easily change all the fundamentals of a page layout, from its size and orientation to the number and width of its columns, would simply suggest that you did not have the right grid set up originally. In many ways he would be right, but I have to say I've found the ability too useful too many times to be willing to give it up.
Vertical JustificationEven more telling is Ventura's ability to vertically justify a column. This is the process whereby spacing is automatically and imperceptibly added above and below all paragraphs - often called "feathering" - to ensure that the last lines of columns line up across the page. To an extent this can be seen a grid-based feature as ragged columns are very noticeable and clearly aesthetically unpleasing. On the other hand, to achieve the effect, the interline grid of lines of text lining up across columns is inevitably lost. Again purists might frown, but I've found the capability invaluable. On a regular price list, for example, the number of entries I had to fit in to the given number of pages would change literally up until the minute I output the final artwork. Thanks to vertical justification I could ensure that the pages always looked finished and professional even if they were never going to win awards.
Generally speaking, Ventura offered its own automation strengths that made up for the limitations of its grid-based capabilities. Since Corel took over the program, however, it has been moving the program increasingly in the design-intensive direction. Most noticeable - and most welcome - is the ability to apply local overrides so that individual paragraphs can be controlled without the need to create a new tag. New, more obviously grid-based features have also been added. For example it is now possible to add guidelines both interactively, by dragging down from the rulers, or precisely, from a dedicated dialog. It is even possible to set up a visible grid of automatically repeating green guidelines onscreen to help alignment.
With column, interline, guideline and grid snap you would expect the fan of grids to be content, but the capabilities have only been half thought through. The repeating gridlines for example can only be absolutely regular and the distance between them is specified in millimetres while an interline grid would obviously be set up in points. More bizarrely, while the origin of the visible grid can be changed, the origin of the interline snap is still set to the top of the page rather than the margin. Again unless the top margin is set to be a multiple of the body text leading, interline snap actually ensures that lines of text and graphics do not line up!
Such problems can be worked around or lived with, but far more worrying is the fact that Corel does not seem to have appreciated Ventura's own alternative strengths. Rather than expanding on the automation of document design, this feature has been allowed to wither. I was horrified to find that in the latest Ventura, vertical justification is simply not working properly. Rather than spreading the extra spacing needed imperceptibly through all the paragraphs in a column, Ventura 7 adds the maximum spacing allowed to paragraphs as it works its way down the column. This leads to greater spacing for paragraphs at the top of the column than at the bottom, an effect that could never be desirable and which shows that the programmers in charge have simply no idea of what the feature was designed to do.
The latest Ventura, in trying to have it both ways, ends up falling between the two stools of document automation and design-intensive production. The reason for the shift, of course, is that Corel is trying to emulate the market leader, Adobe PageMaker. PageMaker has always been the software choice for the traditional graphic designer trained on the principles of the grid because it uses the same artboard metaphor. Just as in the past, the user prepares their layout by first setting up margin, column and additional guides and then manually placing the freeform text blocks and images within this grid.
PageMaker Hands-OnThis computerised simulation of the old cut-and-paste process is fundamental to PageMaker and, in the hands of an expert, can lead to excellent results. Closer analysis however reveals that PageMaker's grid-based features are actually surprisingly sparse. Setting up an asymmetric grid, for example, is absurdly complex as the columns command only gives the option of creating equally-sized columns which must then be repositioned using the onscreen ruler. Adding further guides individually is just as laborious and just as likely to be inaccurate. Even worse in terms of the interline grid there is no Ventura-style option to set up an automatic line snap to ensure that text and graphics align across columns.
For a program whose whole working method is ostensibly built on grids, PageMaker certainly doesn't go out of its way to help the user to set up and use them. In fact the situation is not quite as bad as it first appears as there are some hidden features to help. A working interline snap can be created, for example, using the following workaround. Set the vertical ruler units to your body text's interline spacing with the Preferences command. Make sure that Snap to Rulers is set to on under the View menu and then drag the ruler origin down from the edge of the page to the top margin. You'll also have to change the default leading method of your body text style from proportional to baseline using the Paragraph dialog's Spacing sub dialog. Obvious really.
The system works but it's hardly intuitive and still needs constant checking to make sure that all images and text boxes are lined up on the main ruler units not on the subdivisions. The major problem is that, as with Ventura's line snap, the interline grid is invisible so that the whole process is like working half-blind. In fact this problem can be overcome by using the Grid Manager add-in. This allows repeating guidelines to be added automatically to the page. This is useful for splitting the design into set numbers of columns and rows and also for automatically adding baseline guidelines to make a visible interline grid. At last we are back to the basic functionality of the manual lay-up sheets!
Don't get too excited, however, as there are still a number of problems. The dialog is frustratingly complex and can lead to unexpected results. It took me nearly an hour to work out that the interline grid wasn't quite working because my page origin was not set exactly to the top of the page. The Grid Manager also raises more expectations than it fulfils. It's impossible to automatically add and position individual guidelines or even to automatically set up irregular grids like the popular two and a half column set-up. Other features that would be welcome would be the ability to add mid-column or mid-gutter vertical guides and the ability to hide and reveal sets of guides independently of others so that the interline grid could be hidden, for example, but the column guides still shown.
The grid manager is definitely moving in the right direction but promises much more than it delivers. More to the point such power shouldn't be hidden away in a semi-detached add-on. For a program like PageMaker such functionality should be absolutely core. The irony is that PageMaker's grid-based strengths have been allowed to stagnate because the program's new owner, Adobe, has been desperately trying to copy the layout flexibility and automation of its old rival Ventura. The recent attempt to introduce frames to control text flow and layout adjustment to automate major design changes was welcome, but the implementation was half-baked. Has anyone used automatic layout adjustment and been genuinely happy with the results? Has anyone actually used 6.5's frames at all?
The problem is that just as Ventura's design-intensive features have only been half realised so have PageMaker's document automation capabilities. I'm not saying that either company is wrong to want to add the best of the other's features as there is no intrinsic reason why a DTP program should not offer the best of both worlds. The problem is that at the moment neither seems to have a clear idea of exactly what they are trying to achieve and so have lost sight of their existing strengths.
Even worse I don't think that either company has ever had a true understanding of the aesthetic and functional importance of the layout grid. This means that, over a decade after DTP first arrived, there still has been no improvement to the computer implementation of the most fundamental of design tools. Of course good grid-based design can still be produced on the computer and I'm not seriously suggesting that we would be better off in the days of cut-and-paste. However, the fact that ten years on it is still down to the user to learn what the grid can offer and to then struggle to achieve it is a real indictment.
As the situation stands, if you want to appreciate the benefits and elements of good structured design you'd be well advised to read a book like Grids. In the longer term let's hope that the Adobe and Corel programmers do too.
From : Tom Arah
November 1997
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Adobe InDesign
History
InDesign is the direct competitor to QuarkXPress. In 2002, it was the first Mac OS X-native desktop publishing (DTP) software. Moreover, InDesign CS and InDesign CS2 were bundled with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat in the Creative Suite.
InDesign exports documents in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) and has multilingual support. It was the first DTP application to support Unicode for text processing, advanced typography with Open Type fonts, advanced transparency features, layout styles, optical margin alignment, and cross-platform scripting using JavaScript.
InDesign is the successor alternative to Adobe's own PageMaker. Designers are the principal users in creating and laying out periodical publications, posters, and print media; nevertheless, longer documents still are designed with FrameMaker (manuals, technical documents, etc.), or with QuarkXPress (books, catalogs, etc.). Using a relational database, InDesign and Adobe InCopy word processor use the same formatting engine as InDesign.
Later versions of the software introduced new file formats. To support the new features (especially typographic) introduced with InDesign CS, both the program and its document format are not retro-compatible, but the InDesign CS2 has the retro-compatible .inx format, an XML-based document representation. InDesign CS versions updated with the 3.01 April 2005 update (free from the Adobe website) can read InDesign CS2-saved files exported to the .inx format. The InDesign Interchange format does not support versions earlier than InDesign CS.
Adobe developed InDesign CS3 (and Creative Suite 3) as a universal binary software compatible with native Intel and PowerPC Mac for 2007. The CS2 Mac version has code tightly integrated to the PPC architecture, and not natively compatible with the Intel processors in Apple's new machines. Porting the products to another platform was an endeavour. Adobe developed the CS3 application integrating Macromedia products (2005), rather than recompiling CS2 and simultaneously developing CS3. Inconveniencing Intel-Mac early-adopters, Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen announced that "Adobe will be first with a complete line of universal applications."[citation needed]
InDesign and LeopardCurrently InDesign up to 5.0.2 does not seem to work correctly on Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5), as Adobe states: "InDesign CS3 may unexpectedly quit when using the Place, Save, Save As or Export commands using either the OS or Adobe dialog boxes. Unfortunately, there are no workarounds for these known issues."
Server Version The server icon, negative to the original iconIn October 2005, Adobe released "InDesign Server CS2", a modified version of InDesign (without user interface) for Windows and Macintosh server platforms. It does not provide any editing client; rather it is for use by developers in creating client-server solutions with the InDesign plug-in technology.[2] In March 2007 Adobe officially announced Adobe InDesign CS3 Server as part of the Adobe InDesign family.
VersionsInDesign 1.0 (codenamed K2): August 16, 1999. InDesign 1.5 (codenamed Sherpa): April 2001. InDesign 2.0 (codenamed Annapurna): January 2002 (just days before QuarkXPress 5). First version to support Mac OS X and native transparencies & drop shadows. InDesign CS (codenamed Dragontail) and InDesign CS PageMaker Edition (3.0): October 2003. InDesign CS2 (4.0) (codenamed Firedrake): shipped in May 2005. InDesign Server released: October 2005 InDesign CS3 (5.0) (codenamed Cobalt): April 2007. First Universal binary versions to natively support Intel-based Macs, Regular expression, Table styles, new interface InDesign CS3 Server released : May 2007
Internationalization and localization
Language availabilityAdobe InDesign CS3 is available in the following languages: Arabic (Middle Eastern version), Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, French (Canadian), German, Greek, Hebrew (Middle Eastern version), Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Spanish (Latin American), Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian.
Adobe InDesign Middle Eastern language versions available from WinSoft.[3].
Specific features for Arabic (also Persian) and Hebrew languagesThe Middle Eastern/Hebrew and the Middle Eastern/Arabic versions are specifically developed for Arabic and Hebrew languages.
Text settingsInDesign Middle Eastern versions come with special settings for laying out Arabic or Hebrew text, such as:
Possibility to use Arabic, Farsi or Hindi digits Use kashidas for letter spacing and full justification Ligature option Set vowels /diacritics positioning Justify text in three possible ways to get the results you want (Standard, Arabic, Naskh) Option to "Insert Special Character": three Hebrew characters (Geresh, Gershayim, Magaf) and an Arabic one (Kashida) Apply standard, Arabic or Hebrew styles for page, paragraph and footnote numbering
Bi-directional text flowIn InDesign Middle Eastern versions, the notion of right-to-left behaviour applies to several objects: Story, Paragraph, Character and Table. You can easily mix Right-to-Left and Left-to-Right Words, Paragraphs and Stories in a document.
InDesign CS3 Middle Eastern versions allow you to change in one click the direction of neutral characters (for ex.: ,/?, etc.) according to your keyboard language. InDesign CS3 Middle Eastern versions allow you to change the direction of the cursor
Dictionary and hyphenation moduleInDesign Middle Eastern versions come with a comprehensive dictionary for Arabic allowing you to spell check Arabic text with a choice of rules, like Strict Aleef Hamza, Strict Final Yaa, both or none. Depending on your system capabilities, InDesign Middle Eastern versions come with a Dictionary and Hyphenation Module for Hebrew.
Enhanced font supportInDesign Middle Eastern versions support most fonts shipped with the OS as well as a large number of third party fonts widely used by graphic designers in the Middle Eastern regions.
Find/changeYou can search for and change specific occurrences of Middle Eastern characters, words, groups of words, or text formatted a certain way across a selection, one or more stories, a document, or multiple open documents. You can also search for other items, including OpenType attributes such as fractions and swashes.
Table of contentsYou can create a table of contents (TOC) for any document or book in InDesign Middle Eastern versions. InDesign Middle Eastern versions come with a set of Table of contents titles, one for each supported language. The TOC is also sorted according to the chosen language. InDesign CS3 Middle Eastern versions allow you to choose the language of your index title and cross-references by right clicking in the title field in the Generate Index window.
IndexesYou can create a simple keyword index or a comprehensive, detailed guide to the information in your book. InDesign Middle Eastern versions let you set various Sort Options for your indexes according to the language you are dealing with.
Importing and exportingInDesign Middle Eastern versions bring the capability of opening directly and converting QuarkXPress files, even using Arabic XT, Arabic Phonyx or Hebrew XPressWay fonts, retaining the layout and content. InDesign Middle Eastern versions come with more than 50 import/export filters enabling you to place many kinds of images and Roman texts: Microsoft Word 97-98-2000 Import filter and Text Import filter.
Reverse layoutInDesign Middle Eastern versions include a reverse layout feature to revert the layout of a document, when converting a Left to Right document (Roman) to a Right to Left one (Arabic or Hebrew) or vice versa. It is also helpful when creating multilingual document.
The Middle Eastern versions are also available for Adobe Acrobat [4], Adobe Illustrator [5], Adobe Photoshop [6], Adobe InCopy [7] and Adobe Dreamweaver [8], for Adobe Creative Suite [9] (Design Standard, Design Premium, Web Premium).
References^ Adobe® InDesign® CS3 5.0.2 Update Read Me ^ Adobe InDesign Server CS2 Frequently Asked Questions. Adobe.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-29. ^ Adobe InDesign - Design and produce professional page layouts, enhanced features for Central and East European and Middle Eastern Users ^ Adobe Acrobat Professional software - Communicate and collaborate with the essential PDF solution, enhanced features for Central and East European and Middle Eastern users Users ^ Adobe Illustrator - Explore new paths with the essential vector tool, enhanced features for Central and East European and Middle Eastern Users ^ Adobe Photoshop - See what's possible, enhanced features for Central and East European and Middle Eastern Users ^ Adobe InCopy - Collaborate in demanding editorial workflows, enhanced features for Central and East European and Middle Eastern Users ^ Adobe Dreamweaver - Develop websites and applications , enhanced features for Central and East European and Middle Eastern Users ^ Adobe Creative Suite 3, Design and Web Editions
InDesign is the direct competitor to QuarkXPress. In 2002, it was the first Mac OS X-native desktop publishing (DTP) software. Moreover, InDesign CS and InDesign CS2 were bundled with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat in the Creative Suite.
InDesign exports documents in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) and has multilingual support. It was the first DTP application to support Unicode for text processing, advanced typography with Open Type fonts, advanced transparency features, layout styles, optical margin alignment, and cross-platform scripting using JavaScript.
InDesign is the successor alternative to Adobe's own PageMaker. Designers are the principal users in creating and laying out periodical publications, posters, and print media; nevertheless, longer documents still are designed with FrameMaker (manuals, technical documents, etc.), or with QuarkXPress (books, catalogs, etc.). Using a relational database, InDesign and Adobe InCopy word processor use the same formatting engine as InDesign.
Later versions of the software introduced new file formats. To support the new features (especially typographic) introduced with InDesign CS, both the program and its document format are not retro-compatible, but the InDesign CS2 has the retro-compatible .inx format, an XML-based document representation. InDesign CS versions updated with the 3.01 April 2005 update (free from the Adobe website) can read InDesign CS2-saved files exported to the .inx format. The InDesign Interchange format does not support versions earlier than InDesign CS.
Adobe developed InDesign CS3 (and Creative Suite 3) as a universal binary software compatible with native Intel and PowerPC Mac for 2007. The CS2 Mac version has code tightly integrated to the PPC architecture, and not natively compatible with the Intel processors in Apple's new machines. Porting the products to another platform was an endeavour. Adobe developed the CS3 application integrating Macromedia products (2005), rather than recompiling CS2 and simultaneously developing CS3. Inconveniencing Intel-Mac early-adopters, Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen announced that "Adobe will be first with a complete line of universal applications."[citation needed]
InDesign and LeopardCurrently InDesign up to 5.0.2 does not seem to work correctly on Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5), as Adobe states: "InDesign CS3 may unexpectedly quit when using the Place, Save, Save As or Export commands using either the OS or Adobe dialog boxes. Unfortunately, there are no workarounds for these known issues."
Server Version The server icon, negative to the original iconIn October 2005, Adobe released "InDesign Server CS2", a modified version of InDesign (without user interface) for Windows and Macintosh server platforms. It does not provide any editing client; rather it is for use by developers in creating client-server solutions with the InDesign plug-in technology.[2] In March 2007 Adobe officially announced Adobe InDesign CS3 Server as part of the Adobe InDesign family.
VersionsInDesign 1.0 (codenamed K2): August 16, 1999. InDesign 1.5 (codenamed Sherpa): April 2001. InDesign 2.0 (codenamed Annapurna): January 2002 (just days before QuarkXPress 5). First version to support Mac OS X and native transparencies & drop shadows. InDesign CS (codenamed Dragontail) and InDesign CS PageMaker Edition (3.0): October 2003. InDesign CS2 (4.0) (codenamed Firedrake): shipped in May 2005. InDesign Server released: October 2005 InDesign CS3 (5.0) (codenamed Cobalt): April 2007. First Universal binary versions to natively support Intel-based Macs, Regular expression, Table styles, new interface InDesign CS3 Server released : May 2007
Internationalization and localization
Language availabilityAdobe InDesign CS3 is available in the following languages: Arabic (Middle Eastern version), Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, French (Canadian), German, Greek, Hebrew (Middle Eastern version), Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Spanish (Latin American), Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian.
Adobe InDesign Middle Eastern language versions available from WinSoft.[3].
Specific features for Arabic (also Persian) and Hebrew languagesThe Middle Eastern/Hebrew and the Middle Eastern/Arabic versions are specifically developed for Arabic and Hebrew languages.
Text settingsInDesign Middle Eastern versions come with special settings for laying out Arabic or Hebrew text, such as:
Possibility to use Arabic, Farsi or Hindi digits Use kashidas for letter spacing and full justification Ligature option Set vowels /diacritics positioning Justify text in three possible ways to get the results you want (Standard, Arabic, Naskh) Option to "Insert Special Character": three Hebrew characters (Geresh, Gershayim, Magaf) and an Arabic one (Kashida) Apply standard, Arabic or Hebrew styles for page, paragraph and footnote numbering
Bi-directional text flowIn InDesign Middle Eastern versions, the notion of right-to-left behaviour applies to several objects: Story, Paragraph, Character and Table. You can easily mix Right-to-Left and Left-to-Right Words, Paragraphs and Stories in a document.
InDesign CS3 Middle Eastern versions allow you to change in one click the direction of neutral characters (for ex.: ,/?, etc.) according to your keyboard language. InDesign CS3 Middle Eastern versions allow you to change the direction of the cursor
Dictionary and hyphenation moduleInDesign Middle Eastern versions come with a comprehensive dictionary for Arabic allowing you to spell check Arabic text with a choice of rules, like Strict Aleef Hamza, Strict Final Yaa, both or none. Depending on your system capabilities, InDesign Middle Eastern versions come with a Dictionary and Hyphenation Module for Hebrew.
Enhanced font supportInDesign Middle Eastern versions support most fonts shipped with the OS as well as a large number of third party fonts widely used by graphic designers in the Middle Eastern regions.
Find/changeYou can search for and change specific occurrences of Middle Eastern characters, words, groups of words, or text formatted a certain way across a selection, one or more stories, a document, or multiple open documents. You can also search for other items, including OpenType attributes such as fractions and swashes.
Table of contentsYou can create a table of contents (TOC) for any document or book in InDesign Middle Eastern versions. InDesign Middle Eastern versions come with a set of Table of contents titles, one for each supported language. The TOC is also sorted according to the chosen language. InDesign CS3 Middle Eastern versions allow you to choose the language of your index title and cross-references by right clicking in the title field in the Generate Index window.
IndexesYou can create a simple keyword index or a comprehensive, detailed guide to the information in your book. InDesign Middle Eastern versions let you set various Sort Options for your indexes according to the language you are dealing with.
Importing and exportingInDesign Middle Eastern versions bring the capability of opening directly and converting QuarkXPress files, even using Arabic XT, Arabic Phonyx or Hebrew XPressWay fonts, retaining the layout and content. InDesign Middle Eastern versions come with more than 50 import/export filters enabling you to place many kinds of images and Roman texts: Microsoft Word 97-98-2000 Import filter and Text Import filter.
Reverse layoutInDesign Middle Eastern versions include a reverse layout feature to revert the layout of a document, when converting a Left to Right document (Roman) to a Right to Left one (Arabic or Hebrew) or vice versa. It is also helpful when creating multilingual document.
The Middle Eastern versions are also available for Adobe Acrobat [4], Adobe Illustrator [5], Adobe Photoshop [6], Adobe InCopy [7] and Adobe Dreamweaver [8], for Adobe Creative Suite [9] (Design Standard, Design Premium, Web Premium).
References^ Adobe® InDesign® CS3 5.0.2 Update Read Me ^ Adobe InDesign Server CS2 Frequently Asked Questions. Adobe.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-29. ^ Adobe InDesign - Design and produce professional page layouts, enhanced features for Central and East European and Middle Eastern Users ^ Adobe Acrobat Professional software - Communicate and collaborate with the essential PDF solution, enhanced features for Central and East European and Middle Eastern users Users ^ Adobe Illustrator - Explore new paths with the essential vector tool, enhanced features for Central and East European and Middle Eastern Users ^ Adobe Photoshop - See what's possible, enhanced features for Central and East European and Middle Eastern Users ^ Adobe InCopy - Collaborate in demanding editorial workflows, enhanced features for Central and East European and Middle Eastern Users ^ Adobe Dreamweaver - Develop websites and applications , enhanced features for Central and East European and Middle Eastern Users ^ Adobe Creative Suite 3, Design and Web Editions
Exploring Graphic Design
Graphic Design is a growing profession that encompasses print and Web site design, multi-media, and desktop publishing. From simple business cards and forms to full-scale publications and digital media, a fundamental understanding of design principles is essential.
Within this collection of graphic design resources you'll find Web sites with plenty tips and techniques and those that teach basic layout and design principles; and share professional tips, free templates, articles and tutorials for your creative design projects.
Featured Graphics ArticlesDesign Faux Pas: Mixing Web Graphics w/ Print ProjectsBy Chris DunmireA quick lesson in the ethical, legal, and common-sense reasons why not to use images downloaded from random Web sites in your newsletters and other print projects.
Robin Williams Design Tips & AdviceProfessional advice on many design topics by Robin Williams. Features articles from Eyewire's Typetalk, excellent tips and advice for graphic design, desktop publishing, fonts, typography, and Web site design.
Choosing the "Right" LogoBy Colleen RyanLogotype, commonly know as a logo, is a design, a graphic representation / image / trademark symbolizing one’s organization. Designed for instant identification, a logo can appear on company letterhead, advertising material and signs as an emblem by way of which the organization can easily be recognized.
Graphic Design Resources DesignDump.com Articles by Todd BertschThe design dump is your total graphic design resource for graphic design books, web design books, news, articles, links, conferences, statistics and much more.
Graphic Design Talk BoardA graphic design resources and talk forum and interactive web site, with user participation and education a key element. Visitors are invited to discuss design issues, provide help and troubleshooting suggestions.
DivaDesign Tips & TutorialsLearn ten tricks for better graphic design focusing on type, white space, illustrations, color, and originality. Plus tips for printing in high resolution: bleeds, crop marks, color matching, PDF's, and gradients.
Design, Type, and Graphics MagazineA design and desktop publishing guide with "tips and tricks for design, printing, photography, and publishing of all kinds." Covers topics in Web design, print design, digital art and painting, self-publishing resources, clipart, cameras, e-books, and newsletters. Articles and interviews with leading experts in the graphic design and desktop publishing fields.
IdeaBook.comA place to learn how to design and market anything. Includes sections for production and design; articles for how to write it, produce it, and get it printed; step by step design ideas for business cards, logos, and brochures. Covers working with printers, integrated branding, form and function of folds, presentations, type design, views on design, writing, and advice for new designers.
Desktop Publishing at About.comA solid desktop publishing / graphic design community and resource. Covers the essential topics of desktop publishing (DTP 101) including how to do desktop publishing; things you'll need as a publisher (software, fonts); and careers in DTP. Features step by step tutorials by skill level, software, graphic design, Web design, scanning, prepress and file prep, typography, and printing. Explains the differences between print and Web design, film, font classes, and postscript printers.
Graphic Design at About.comA solid graphic design resource and discussion board community covering all aspects of graphic design. Covers fonts, type, layout, desktop publishing, illustration, design careers, portfolios, design tips, information design, Photoshop, Adobe, Corel, Quark, case studies, projects, tutorials, how-to's. Includes information for finding a job, setting rates, business tips, articles, and newsletters.
Designer's Jumpola"Chuck Green's large list of links for designers and marketers." Includes a section of how-to articles covering design and production, and design directory of links for all the design resources you'll need including: online design tools, tips, photos and clipart, type foundries, Web design, print design, free templates, type viewers, paper sellers, and printers
Within this collection of graphic design resources you'll find Web sites with plenty tips and techniques and those that teach basic layout and design principles; and share professional tips, free templates, articles and tutorials for your creative design projects.
Featured Graphics ArticlesDesign Faux Pas: Mixing Web Graphics w/ Print ProjectsBy Chris DunmireA quick lesson in the ethical, legal, and common-sense reasons why not to use images downloaded from random Web sites in your newsletters and other print projects.
Robin Williams Design Tips & AdviceProfessional advice on many design topics by Robin Williams. Features articles from Eyewire's Typetalk, excellent tips and advice for graphic design, desktop publishing, fonts, typography, and Web site design.
Choosing the "Right" LogoBy Colleen RyanLogotype, commonly know as a logo, is a design, a graphic representation / image / trademark symbolizing one’s organization. Designed for instant identification, a logo can appear on company letterhead, advertising material and signs as an emblem by way of which the organization can easily be recognized.
Graphic Design Resources DesignDump.com Articles by Todd BertschThe design dump is your total graphic design resource for graphic design books, web design books, news, articles, links, conferences, statistics and much more.
Graphic Design Talk BoardA graphic design resources and talk forum and interactive web site, with user participation and education a key element. Visitors are invited to discuss design issues, provide help and troubleshooting suggestions.
DivaDesign Tips & TutorialsLearn ten tricks for better graphic design focusing on type, white space, illustrations, color, and originality. Plus tips for printing in high resolution: bleeds, crop marks, color matching, PDF's, and gradients.
Design, Type, and Graphics MagazineA design and desktop publishing guide with "tips and tricks for design, printing, photography, and publishing of all kinds." Covers topics in Web design, print design, digital art and painting, self-publishing resources, clipart, cameras, e-books, and newsletters. Articles and interviews with leading experts in the graphic design and desktop publishing fields.
IdeaBook.comA place to learn how to design and market anything. Includes sections for production and design; articles for how to write it, produce it, and get it printed; step by step design ideas for business cards, logos, and brochures. Covers working with printers, integrated branding, form and function of folds, presentations, type design, views on design, writing, and advice for new designers.
Desktop Publishing at About.comA solid desktop publishing / graphic design community and resource. Covers the essential topics of desktop publishing (DTP 101) including how to do desktop publishing; things you'll need as a publisher (software, fonts); and careers in DTP. Features step by step tutorials by skill level, software, graphic design, Web design, scanning, prepress and file prep, typography, and printing. Explains the differences between print and Web design, film, font classes, and postscript printers.
Graphic Design at About.comA solid graphic design resource and discussion board community covering all aspects of graphic design. Covers fonts, type, layout, desktop publishing, illustration, design careers, portfolios, design tips, information design, Photoshop, Adobe, Corel, Quark, case studies, projects, tutorials, how-to's. Includes information for finding a job, setting rates, business tips, articles, and newsletters.
Designer's Jumpola"Chuck Green's large list of links for designers and marketers." Includes a section of how-to articles covering design and production, and design directory of links for all the design resources you'll need including: online design tools, tips, photos and clipart, type foundries, Web design, print design, free templates, type viewers, paper sellers, and printers
Friday, May 16, 2008
Desktop publishing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Desktop publishing (also known as DTP) combines an inexpensive personal computer and WYSIWYG page layout software to create publication documents on a computer for either large scale publishing or small scale local economical multifunction peripheral output and distribution. Users create page layouts with text, graphics, photos and other visual elements using software such as QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Publisher, Apple Pages, the free Scribus and (to some extent) any graphics software or word processor that combines editable text with images. For small jobs a few copies of a publication might be printed on a local printer. For larger jobs a computer file can be sent to a vendor for high-volume printing.
The term "desktop publishing" is commonly used to describe page layout skills. However, the skills and software are not limited to paper and books. The same skills and software are often used to create graphics for point of sale displays, promotional items, trade show exhibits, retail package designs, and outdoor signs.
History
Desktop publishing began in 1985 with the introduction of PageMaker software from Aldus and the LaserWriter printer from Apple Computer for the Apple Macintosh computer. The ability to create WYSIWYG page layouts on screen and then print pages at crisp 300 dpi resolution was revolutionary for both the typesetting industry as well as the personal computer industry. Newspapers and other print publications made the move to DTP-based programs from older layout systems like Atex and other such programs in the early 1980s.
The term
"desktop publishing" is attributed to Aldus Corporation founder Paul Brainerd, who sought a marketing catch-phrase to describe the small size and relative affordability of this suite of products in contrast to the expensive commercial phototypesetting equipment of the day.
Often considered a primary skill, increased accessibility to more user-friendly DTP software has made DTP a secondary skill to art direction, graphic design, multimedia development, marketing communications, administrative careers and advanced high school literacy in thriving economies. DTP skill levels range from what may be learned in a few hours (e.g. learning how to put clip art in a word processor) to what requires a college education and years of experience (e.g. advertising agency positions.) The discipline of DTP skills range from technical skills such as prepress production and programming to creative skills such as communication design and graphic image development.
By the standards of today, early desktop publishing was a primitive affair. Users of the PageMaker-LaserWriter-Macintosh 512K system endured frequent software crashes, the Mac's tiny 512 x 342 1-bit black and white screen, the inability to control letter spacing, kerning (the addition or removal of space between individual characters in a piece of typeset text to improve its appearance or alter its fit) and other typographic features, and discrepancies between the screen display and printed output. However, it was a revolutionary combination at the time, and was received with considerable acclaim.
Behind-the-scenes technologies developed by Adobe Systems set the foundation for professional desktop publishing applications. The LaserWriter and LaserWriter Plus printers included high quality, scalable Adobe [Type 1 fontsPostScript fonts] built into their ROM memory. The LaserWriter's PostScript capability allowed publication designers to proof files on a local printer then print the same file at DTP service bureaus using optical resolution 600+ ppi PostScript-printers such as those from Linotronic. Later, the Macintosh II was released which was much more suitable for desktop publishing because of its larger, color screen, support for multiple displays, greater RAM capacity and its SCSI storage interface which allowed fast, high-capacity hard drives to be attached to the system.
Although Macintosh-based systems would continue to dominate the market, in 1986, the GEM-based Ventura Publisher was introduced for MS-DOS computers. While PageMaker's pasteboard metaphor closely simulated the process of creating layouts manually, Ventura Publisher automated the layout process through its use of tags/style sheets and automatically generated indices and other body matter. This made it suitable for manuals and other long-format documents. Desktop publishing moved into the home market in 1986 with Professional Page for the Amiga, Publishing Partner for the Atari ST, GST's Timeworks Publisher on the PC and Atari ST, Calamus for the Atari TT030, and even Home Publisher, Newsroom, and GEOPublish for 8-bit computers like the Apple II and Commodore 64.
During these early years, desktop publishing acquired a bad reputation from untrained users who created poorly-organized ransom note effect layouts — criticisms that would be levied again against early web publishers a decade later. However, some were able to realize truly professional results. For example, .info (magazine) became the very first desktop-published, full-color, newsstand magazine in the last quarter of 1986, using a combination of Commodore Amiga computers, Professional Page desktop publishing software, and an Agfagraphics typesetter[1].
Page layout conceptsPage A page is a prefixed size of virtual printing material which can be viewed on the monitor in WYSIWYG format. Each page has full size and printable area. They are separated with margin guides. In most cases, the full size of page are set to international standard paper sizes such as A4, letter, etc. Printing components There are three main types of components to be laid out on a page. They are text, natural or scanned images, artificial or creative images. Layout Layout is the process by which the printing components are laid on the page aesthetically and precisely.
Comparisons with word processingWhile desktop publishing software still provides extensive features necessary for print publishing, modern word processors now have publishing capabilities beyond those of many older DTP applications, blurring the line between word processing and desktop publishing.
In the early days of graphical user interfaces, DTP software was in a class of its own when compared to the fairly spartan word processing applications of the time. Programs such as WordPerfect and WordStar were still mainly text-based and offered little in the way of page layout, other than perhaps margins and line spacing. On the other hand, word processing software was necessary for features like indexing and spell checking, features that are today taken for granted.
As computers and operating systems have become more powerful, vendors have sought to provide users with a single application platform that can meet all needs. Software such as Open Office.org Writer and Microsoft Word offers advanced layouts and linking between documents, and DTP applications have added in common word processor features.
Comparisons with other electronic layoutIn modern usage, DTP is not generally said to include tools such as TeX or troff, though both can easily be used on a modern desktop system and are standard with many Unix-like operating systems and readily available for other systems. The key difference between electronic typesetting software and DTP software is that DTP software is generally interactive and WYSIWYG in design, while older electronic typesetting software tends to operate in batch mode, requiring the user to enter the processing program's markup language manually without a direct visualization of the finished product. The older style of typesetting software occupies a substantial but shrinking niche in technical writing and textbook publication; however, since much software in this genre is freely available, it can be more cost-effective than the professionally-oriented DTP systems. It is also particularly suitable for corporate newsletters or other applications where consistent, automated layout is important.
There is some overlap between desktop publishing and what is known as Hypermedia publishing (i.e. Web design, Kiosk, CD-ROM). Many graphical HTML editors such as Microsoft FrontPage and Adobe Dreamweaver use a layout engine similar to a DTP program. However, some Web designers still prefer to write HTML without the assistance of a WYSIWYG editor and resort to such software, if at all, solely for complex layout that cannot easily be rendered in hand-written HTML code.
Desktop publishing (also known as DTP) combines an inexpensive personal computer and WYSIWYG page layout software to create publication documents on a computer for either large scale publishing or small scale local economical multifunction peripheral output and distribution. Users create page layouts with text, graphics, photos and other visual elements using software such as QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Publisher, Apple Pages, the free Scribus and (to some extent) any graphics software or word processor that combines editable text with images. For small jobs a few copies of a publication might be printed on a local printer. For larger jobs a computer file can be sent to a vendor for high-volume printing.
The term "desktop publishing" is commonly used to describe page layout skills. However, the skills and software are not limited to paper and books. The same skills and software are often used to create graphics for point of sale displays, promotional items, trade show exhibits, retail package designs, and outdoor signs.
History
Desktop publishing began in 1985 with the introduction of PageMaker software from Aldus and the LaserWriter printer from Apple Computer for the Apple Macintosh computer. The ability to create WYSIWYG page layouts on screen and then print pages at crisp 300 dpi resolution was revolutionary for both the typesetting industry as well as the personal computer industry. Newspapers and other print publications made the move to DTP-based programs from older layout systems like Atex and other such programs in the early 1980s.
The term
"desktop publishing" is attributed to Aldus Corporation founder Paul Brainerd, who sought a marketing catch-phrase to describe the small size and relative affordability of this suite of products in contrast to the expensive commercial phototypesetting equipment of the day.
Often considered a primary skill, increased accessibility to more user-friendly DTP software has made DTP a secondary skill to art direction, graphic design, multimedia development, marketing communications, administrative careers and advanced high school literacy in thriving economies. DTP skill levels range from what may be learned in a few hours (e.g. learning how to put clip art in a word processor) to what requires a college education and years of experience (e.g. advertising agency positions.) The discipline of DTP skills range from technical skills such as prepress production and programming to creative skills such as communication design and graphic image development.
By the standards of today, early desktop publishing was a primitive affair. Users of the PageMaker-LaserWriter-Macintosh 512K system endured frequent software crashes, the Mac's tiny 512 x 342 1-bit black and white screen, the inability to control letter spacing, kerning (the addition or removal of space between individual characters in a piece of typeset text to improve its appearance or alter its fit) and other typographic features, and discrepancies between the screen display and printed output. However, it was a revolutionary combination at the time, and was received with considerable acclaim.
Behind-the-scenes technologies developed by Adobe Systems set the foundation for professional desktop publishing applications. The LaserWriter and LaserWriter Plus printers included high quality, scalable Adobe [Type 1 fontsPostScript fonts] built into their ROM memory. The LaserWriter's PostScript capability allowed publication designers to proof files on a local printer then print the same file at DTP service bureaus using optical resolution 600+ ppi PostScript-printers such as those from Linotronic. Later, the Macintosh II was released which was much more suitable for desktop publishing because of its larger, color screen, support for multiple displays, greater RAM capacity and its SCSI storage interface which allowed fast, high-capacity hard drives to be attached to the system.
Although Macintosh-based systems would continue to dominate the market, in 1986, the GEM-based Ventura Publisher was introduced for MS-DOS computers. While PageMaker's pasteboard metaphor closely simulated the process of creating layouts manually, Ventura Publisher automated the layout process through its use of tags/style sheets and automatically generated indices and other body matter. This made it suitable for manuals and other long-format documents. Desktop publishing moved into the home market in 1986 with Professional Page for the Amiga, Publishing Partner for the Atari ST, GST's Timeworks Publisher on the PC and Atari ST, Calamus for the Atari TT030, and even Home Publisher, Newsroom, and GEOPublish for 8-bit computers like the Apple II and Commodore 64.
During these early years, desktop publishing acquired a bad reputation from untrained users who created poorly-organized ransom note effect layouts — criticisms that would be levied again against early web publishers a decade later. However, some were able to realize truly professional results. For example, .info (magazine) became the very first desktop-published, full-color, newsstand magazine in the last quarter of 1986, using a combination of Commodore Amiga computers, Professional Page desktop publishing software, and an Agfagraphics typesetter[1].
Page layout conceptsPage A page is a prefixed size of virtual printing material which can be viewed on the monitor in WYSIWYG format. Each page has full size and printable area. They are separated with margin guides. In most cases, the full size of page are set to international standard paper sizes such as A4, letter, etc. Printing components There are three main types of components to be laid out on a page. They are text, natural or scanned images, artificial or creative images. Layout Layout is the process by which the printing components are laid on the page aesthetically and precisely.
Comparisons with word processingWhile desktop publishing software still provides extensive features necessary for print publishing, modern word processors now have publishing capabilities beyond those of many older DTP applications, blurring the line between word processing and desktop publishing.
In the early days of graphical user interfaces, DTP software was in a class of its own when compared to the fairly spartan word processing applications of the time. Programs such as WordPerfect and WordStar were still mainly text-based and offered little in the way of page layout, other than perhaps margins and line spacing. On the other hand, word processing software was necessary for features like indexing and spell checking, features that are today taken for granted.
As computers and operating systems have become more powerful, vendors have sought to provide users with a single application platform that can meet all needs. Software such as Open Office.org Writer and Microsoft Word offers advanced layouts and linking between documents, and DTP applications have added in common word processor features.
Comparisons with other electronic layoutIn modern usage, DTP is not generally said to include tools such as TeX or troff, though both can easily be used on a modern desktop system and are standard with many Unix-like operating systems and readily available for other systems. The key difference between electronic typesetting software and DTP software is that DTP software is generally interactive and WYSIWYG in design, while older electronic typesetting software tends to operate in batch mode, requiring the user to enter the processing program's markup language manually without a direct visualization of the finished product. The older style of typesetting software occupies a substantial but shrinking niche in technical writing and textbook publication; however, since much software in this genre is freely available, it can be more cost-effective than the professionally-oriented DTP systems. It is also particularly suitable for corporate newsletters or other applications where consistent, automated layout is important.
There is some overlap between desktop publishing and what is known as Hypermedia publishing (i.e. Web design, Kiosk, CD-ROM). Many graphical HTML editors such as Microsoft FrontPage and Adobe Dreamweaver use a layout engine similar to a DTP program. However, some Web designers still prefer to write HTML without the assistance of a WYSIWYG editor and resort to such software, if at all, solely for complex layout that cannot easily be rendered in hand-written HTML code.
Measuring Paper
From Jacci Howard Bear
ISO and North American Sheet SizesDo you know the difference between "Letter" size paper (8.5 x 11 inches) and A4 paper? Letter and A4 sizes are comparable in use. Depending on where you are, each size is the standard for letters, magazines, copy machines, and desktop printing. Comparing them graphically (sidebar image) is the easiest way to see the difference. A4 (210 mm x 297 mm), the standard in most countries outside North America, is not quite as wide as Letter size (approx. 216 mm x 279 mm) paper and is longer. When exchanging documents this difference can cause problems. For example, a document formatted for A4 paper must be reformatted (possibly causing page numbering and referencing errors) to print on Letter size -- otherwise information at the bottom of the longer A4 page may be lost.
TIP: When photocopying A4 pages to Letter size paper, reduce the pages 94% to fit the shorter paper.
When photocopying Letter size pages to A4 paper reduce the pages 97% to fit the slightly narrower page (or risk losing margins or text that appears near the page edges).For a better understanding of common paper sizes used by other countries, EDS, Inc. provides a Guide to International Paper Sizes [offsite link] with a comprehensive set of tables, comparisons, and conversion tips.
To get a quick overview, see these definitions:ISO Sheet Sizes North American Sheet Sizes
Beyond the DesktopWhile desktop printers typically use letter size papers, for commercial printing there is a whole other world of paper measurements to consider.
A few of specific interest to desktop publishing:
Parent Sheets - the larger sheets of paper used by commercial printers that are typically cut or folded into smaller sizes
Cut Sizes - the smaller sheets of paper used by quick printers and desktop printers including letter and tabloid sizes
Basis Weight - the weight, in pounds, of 500 sheets of any particular standard size of paper
Basic Size - the customary standard sheet size that is used to determine the basis weight for 500 sheets (ream) of paper The purpose of this article is simply to acquaint you with some of the terminology associated with measuring paper. Other tutorials will address more detailed use of this information.
Next > Measuring Resolution: SPI, PPI, DPI, LPI
Intermediate Tasks > Measurements Systems > Measuring Paper
Related ArticlesSize and Measurements - How Size is Expressed and the T...What is Tabloid Size Paper and Publications? - Tabloid ...What is Letter Size Paper and Publications - Letter Siz...Define Basic Size - What is Basic SizeDefine Basis Weight - What is Basis WeightSponsored LinksTorque MeasurementComplete solutions from 0.02Nm to MNmwww.industrial-measurements.com
Customer SatisfactionAutomated phone and web surveys for customer satisfaction monitoringinfo.opinion-8.com
Temperature regulatorsElectronic Control Systems Measuring-Controlling-Regulatingwww.welba.de
Accurate ViscosityThe power of a simple solution Highly accurate, consistent resultswww.cambridgeviscosity.com
OGP SmartScope3D Non Contact/Contact MultiSensor Measuring Systems for QA/QC inspectwww.smartscope.com.sg
ISO and North American Sheet SizesDo you know the difference between "Letter" size paper (8.5 x 11 inches) and A4 paper? Letter and A4 sizes are comparable in use. Depending on where you are, each size is the standard for letters, magazines, copy machines, and desktop printing. Comparing them graphically (sidebar image) is the easiest way to see the difference. A4 (210 mm x 297 mm), the standard in most countries outside North America, is not quite as wide as Letter size (approx. 216 mm x 279 mm) paper and is longer. When exchanging documents this difference can cause problems. For example, a document formatted for A4 paper must be reformatted (possibly causing page numbering and referencing errors) to print on Letter size -- otherwise information at the bottom of the longer A4 page may be lost.
TIP: When photocopying A4 pages to Letter size paper, reduce the pages 94% to fit the shorter paper.
When photocopying Letter size pages to A4 paper reduce the pages 97% to fit the slightly narrower page (or risk losing margins or text that appears near the page edges).For a better understanding of common paper sizes used by other countries, EDS, Inc. provides a Guide to International Paper Sizes [offsite link] with a comprehensive set of tables, comparisons, and conversion tips.
To get a quick overview, see these definitions:ISO Sheet Sizes North American Sheet Sizes
Beyond the DesktopWhile desktop printers typically use letter size papers, for commercial printing there is a whole other world of paper measurements to consider.
A few of specific interest to desktop publishing:
Parent Sheets - the larger sheets of paper used by commercial printers that are typically cut or folded into smaller sizes
Cut Sizes - the smaller sheets of paper used by quick printers and desktop printers including letter and tabloid sizes
Basis Weight - the weight, in pounds, of 500 sheets of any particular standard size of paper
Basic Size - the customary standard sheet size that is used to determine the basis weight for 500 sheets (ream) of paper The purpose of this article is simply to acquaint you with some of the terminology associated with measuring paper. Other tutorials will address more detailed use of this information.
Next > Measuring Resolution: SPI, PPI, DPI, LPI
Intermediate Tasks > Measurements Systems > Measuring Paper
Related ArticlesSize and Measurements - How Size is Expressed and the T...What is Tabloid Size Paper and Publications? - Tabloid ...What is Letter Size Paper and Publications - Letter Siz...Define Basic Size - What is Basic SizeDefine Basis Weight - What is Basis WeightSponsored LinksTorque MeasurementComplete solutions from 0.02Nm to MNmwww.industrial-measurements.com
Customer SatisfactionAutomated phone and web surveys for customer satisfaction monitoringinfo.opinion-8.com
Temperature regulatorsElectronic Control Systems Measuring-Controlling-Regulatingwww.welba.de
Accurate ViscosityThe power of a simple solution Highly accurate, consistent resultswww.cambridgeviscosity.com
OGP SmartScope3D Non Contact/Contact MultiSensor Measuring Systems for QA/QC inspectwww.smartscope.com.sg
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Designing a Magazine in Adobe InDesign
By Scott Citron
Dateline: May 9, 2008
More Graphic Design tips
Perhaps the most surefire way to gauge the health of the magazine business is to talk to advertisers. According to Advertising Age, "The top 100 U.S. advertisers in 2006 increased ad spending by a modest 3.1% to a record $104.8 billion. But most of that growth came from 'unmeasured' disciplines. In a troubling sign for traditional media, the marketing leaders increased measured media spending by just 0.6%, the smallest gain since the 2001 recession."
The news for newspapers isn’t much better. If you’ve opened the New York Times lately, you’ve probably noticed it has gone on a diet. The Times' management recently trimmed 1½ inches off the paper’s width to save money on paper and printing costs. It was the same thing at the Wall Street Journal, which was recently swallowed by Rupert Murdoch’s mammoth News Corporation.
So, does this bleak forecast portend the end of magazines and newspapers? Admittedly the future looks dim, but don’t rush to eulogize such long-standing forms of communication quite yet. Instead, this trend more than anything underscores that good magazine and newspaper design is now more critical than ever. As publishers move toward digital delivery via the Internet, only the strong will survive on paper. This article shows how to create great-looking magazines and newspapers. You’ll learn what makes these kinds of publications stand out and how you can build your own magazine or newspaper using the wealth of tools in Adobe Creative Suite 3.
What Makes Great Magazines and Newspapers?
Much as I’d like to credit the power of great design as the cornerstone of success when it comes to magazines and newspapers, the fact is that even the most handsome publication will fail if the stories stink. In other words, content is still king. If readers have nothing worth reading, then even the most captivating publication won’t last. Unfortunately, graphic designers generally have no control over the quality of the writing in their magazines or newspapers. So in this regard, they’re stuck with what they’re given. But, assuming the writing is good (or good enough), then designers have a chance. And in the end, it’s the editorial content that the design must serve. Often young designers get this relationship between words and pictures backward. They are so intent in making their voices heard that they drown out that of the writer. Yet when the design works in concert with the words, when both voices sing together harmoniously, publications soar.
Stacey King, in her inspiring book Magazine Design That Works: Secrets for Successful Magazine Design (Rockport Publishers, 2001), distills the principles of magazine design into what she calls the Four Fs: format, formula, frame, and function. For examples of excellence in magazine design, look no further than last year’s award winners chosen by the Society of Publication Designers. Among those consistently cited by the organization for their outstanding design are GQ, Martha Stewart Living, Details, and Real Simple.
Designing for Magazines and NewspapersGood design is good design, but when it comes to designing for magazines and newspapers, it helps to understand how they differ. And the way in which they differ has more to do with shelf life than any other factor. Think of the newspaper as a frail flower; here today, gone tomorrow. In its short life span, the daily newspaper must grab the attention of readers quickly, deliver cogent content, and then fold up at night. Since they’re around only for 24 hours, newspapers behave similarly to a short story. They start fast, hook their reader, tell their tale, and then abruptly end. Magazines, conversely, are more like a novel. They open slowly, introduce their characters (sections), build toward a meaty center, reach their height, and then trail off quietly. Magazines are something you pick up, read, put down, pick up later, read some more, put down, pick up once more, and so on. Now of course there are exceptions to this portrayal, but most newspapers and magazines follow this basic pattern. Whereas magazines can go for pages without ads sharing space with editorial content, newspapers rarely do. Newspapers also tend toward fewer graphic elements in favor of column after relentless column of copy. Only special newspaper sections like a Sunday magazine or a weekly book review are afforded space to do much of anything graphically. An interesting trend to follow these days is how, because of the convergence of print and digital, many newspapers are supplementing written stories with audio, video, and even interactive pieces on the Web.
The once very conservative and staunchly traditional New York Times is one such example. Today many stories in the daily Times are fleshed out in greater detail at nytimes.com.
Typography for Magazines and NewspapersSo, how do these factors affect the way each is designed? Renowned publication designer and consultant Dr. Mario Garcia concludes his excellent book Pure Design (Miller Media, 2002) with his top 10 myths of magazine and newspaper design. Of the 10, several of these myths revolve around type. For example, Dr. Garcia contends that, based on his research and experience, the notion that justified type is more readable than ragged right is pure myth. And he states that the tightly held beliefs that italics are hard to read and that readers don’t like reversed-out type are also unsubstantiated. Yet despite Dr. Garcia’s lofty credentials as an award-winning publication doctor, just see how far you get with your executive editor the next time you try to flout one of these conventions. Although attitudes are changing, most newspaper and magazine decision makers keep designers on a very short leash when it comes to breaking the so-called rules of type. Magazines, on the other hand, generally offer more room to experiment with less conventional solutions. For examples of creative uses of type in the magazine world, look again at some of the award-winning titles mentioned at the beginning of this article.
Parts of a MagazineBefore you design a magazine, it helps to familiarize yourself with the vocabulary of magazines and the magazine business. The first third of a magazine is referred to as the front of the book (FOB), the last third is called the back of the book (BOB), and the middle or meat of the magazine is called the well. Typically the well is free of advertising. Pages that contain both editorial content and advertising are called fractional pages or simply fractionals. See the illustrations below for more of a breakdown of the magazine’s parts.
Here are some terms used to describe various parts of a magazine, or what’s called in the business “the book.” A Headline (or Hed; B Deck (or Dek); C Byline; D Caption; E Body Text; F Subhead; G Folio; H Footer; I Sidebar; J Pull Quote or Call Out; K Gutter.
Dateline: May 9, 2008
More Graphic Design tips
Perhaps the most surefire way to gauge the health of the magazine business is to talk to advertisers. According to Advertising Age, "The top 100 U.S. advertisers in 2006 increased ad spending by a modest 3.1% to a record $104.8 billion. But most of that growth came from 'unmeasured' disciplines. In a troubling sign for traditional media, the marketing leaders increased measured media spending by just 0.6%, the smallest gain since the 2001 recession."
The news for newspapers isn’t much better. If you’ve opened the New York Times lately, you’ve probably noticed it has gone on a diet. The Times' management recently trimmed 1½ inches off the paper’s width to save money on paper and printing costs. It was the same thing at the Wall Street Journal, which was recently swallowed by Rupert Murdoch’s mammoth News Corporation.
So, does this bleak forecast portend the end of magazines and newspapers? Admittedly the future looks dim, but don’t rush to eulogize such long-standing forms of communication quite yet. Instead, this trend more than anything underscores that good magazine and newspaper design is now more critical than ever. As publishers move toward digital delivery via the Internet, only the strong will survive on paper. This article shows how to create great-looking magazines and newspapers. You’ll learn what makes these kinds of publications stand out and how you can build your own magazine or newspaper using the wealth of tools in Adobe Creative Suite 3.
What Makes Great Magazines and Newspapers?
Much as I’d like to credit the power of great design as the cornerstone of success when it comes to magazines and newspapers, the fact is that even the most handsome publication will fail if the stories stink. In other words, content is still king. If readers have nothing worth reading, then even the most captivating publication won’t last. Unfortunately, graphic designers generally have no control over the quality of the writing in their magazines or newspapers. So in this regard, they’re stuck with what they’re given. But, assuming the writing is good (or good enough), then designers have a chance. And in the end, it’s the editorial content that the design must serve. Often young designers get this relationship between words and pictures backward. They are so intent in making their voices heard that they drown out that of the writer. Yet when the design works in concert with the words, when both voices sing together harmoniously, publications soar.
Stacey King, in her inspiring book Magazine Design That Works: Secrets for Successful Magazine Design (Rockport Publishers, 2001), distills the principles of magazine design into what she calls the Four Fs: format, formula, frame, and function. For examples of excellence in magazine design, look no further than last year’s award winners chosen by the Society of Publication Designers. Among those consistently cited by the organization for their outstanding design are GQ, Martha Stewart Living, Details, and Real Simple.
Designing for Magazines and NewspapersGood design is good design, but when it comes to designing for magazines and newspapers, it helps to understand how they differ. And the way in which they differ has more to do with shelf life than any other factor. Think of the newspaper as a frail flower; here today, gone tomorrow. In its short life span, the daily newspaper must grab the attention of readers quickly, deliver cogent content, and then fold up at night. Since they’re around only for 24 hours, newspapers behave similarly to a short story. They start fast, hook their reader, tell their tale, and then abruptly end. Magazines, conversely, are more like a novel. They open slowly, introduce their characters (sections), build toward a meaty center, reach their height, and then trail off quietly. Magazines are something you pick up, read, put down, pick up later, read some more, put down, pick up once more, and so on. Now of course there are exceptions to this portrayal, but most newspapers and magazines follow this basic pattern. Whereas magazines can go for pages without ads sharing space with editorial content, newspapers rarely do. Newspapers also tend toward fewer graphic elements in favor of column after relentless column of copy. Only special newspaper sections like a Sunday magazine or a weekly book review are afforded space to do much of anything graphically. An interesting trend to follow these days is how, because of the convergence of print and digital, many newspapers are supplementing written stories with audio, video, and even interactive pieces on the Web.
The once very conservative and staunchly traditional New York Times is one such example. Today many stories in the daily Times are fleshed out in greater detail at nytimes.com.
Typography for Magazines and NewspapersSo, how do these factors affect the way each is designed? Renowned publication designer and consultant Dr. Mario Garcia concludes his excellent book Pure Design (Miller Media, 2002) with his top 10 myths of magazine and newspaper design. Of the 10, several of these myths revolve around type. For example, Dr. Garcia contends that, based on his research and experience, the notion that justified type is more readable than ragged right is pure myth. And he states that the tightly held beliefs that italics are hard to read and that readers don’t like reversed-out type are also unsubstantiated. Yet despite Dr. Garcia’s lofty credentials as an award-winning publication doctor, just see how far you get with your executive editor the next time you try to flout one of these conventions. Although attitudes are changing, most newspaper and magazine decision makers keep designers on a very short leash when it comes to breaking the so-called rules of type. Magazines, on the other hand, generally offer more room to experiment with less conventional solutions. For examples of creative uses of type in the magazine world, look again at some of the award-winning titles mentioned at the beginning of this article.
Parts of a MagazineBefore you design a magazine, it helps to familiarize yourself with the vocabulary of magazines and the magazine business. The first third of a magazine is referred to as the front of the book (FOB), the last third is called the back of the book (BOB), and the middle or meat of the magazine is called the well. Typically the well is free of advertising. Pages that contain both editorial content and advertising are called fractional pages or simply fractionals. See the illustrations below for more of a breakdown of the magazine’s parts.
Here are some terms used to describe various parts of a magazine, or what’s called in the business “the book.” A Headline (or Hed; B Deck (or Dek); C Byline; D Caption; E Body Text; F Subhead; G Folio; H Footer; I Sidebar; J Pull Quote or Call Out; K Gutter.
Desktop Publishing
Desktop publishing, or DTP, is the process of editing and layout of printed material intended for publication, such as books, magazines, brochures, and the like using a personal computer.
Desktop publishing software, such as QuarkXPress or Adobe InDesign, is software specifically designed for such tasks. Such programs do not generally replace word processors and graphics applications, but are used to aggregate content created in these programs: text, raster graphics (such as images edited with Adobe Photoshop) and vector graphics (such as drawings/illustrations made with Adobe Illustrator).
When the material is ready for publication the DTP software can output PostScript or Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) which can be used by the commercial printers to produce printing plates. Desktop publishingDesktop publishing started in 1985, with the conjunction of Aldus Pagemaker (later acquired by Adobe), the Apple Macintosh, and the $7000 Apple LaserWriter, the first laser printer to use Adobe Systems' PostScript page description language, including its scalable fonts in Type 1 format.
The phrase desktop publishing is attributed to Paul Brainerd, the founder of Aldus Corporation, as a marketing term that referred to the use of a computer on top of a desk for publishing and also alluded the desktop metaphor that Apple used to mimic a real desktop.
In 1986 Ventura Publisher was introduced on the PC moving infant DTP into the mainstream, this allowed DTP to be moved into the home market via GST's Timeworks Publisher on the PC and Atari ST but these systems were initially used mainly for small-distribution publications such as club newsletters.
While this allowed many more people access to publishing their own work it also gave DTP a bad reputation for a while as amateurs made typographical mistakes that professional typesetters would never make.
As these systems improved they became widely adopted throughout the professional publishing world, the turning point was the introduction of Quark XPress 3.0 in the 1990s -- presently, virtually all publishing is "desktop publishing". The superior flexibility and speed of desktop publishing systems has greatly reduced the lead time for magazine publication and allowed more elaborate layouts than would otherwise have been possible.
Programmable, automated systems like LaTeX mean that long, repetitive, or highly-structured documents can be produced in a fraction of the time that it would take a manually-controlled system.
Computer based typesetting using a personal computer started in 1978, when the TeX program showed that publication-quality typesetting could be done on any normal business computer, and even long and complex jobs like books and journals could be produced from a standard desktop terminal.
Prior to this, typesetting had been performed by mechanical (Lintotype and Monotype) or electro-mechanical means (photofilmsetting), or by extremely expensive mainframe or mini-computer based systems.
Introduction of Apple Macintosh & PageMakerThe introduction of the Apple Macintosh and PageMaker allowed synchronous typographical editing using the graphical user interface, this system was commonly referred to as What You See is What You Get, WYSIWYG.
The Apple Macintosh, with historically superior graphics capabilities (particularly in the areas of typography and colour management), and a simple GUI, is highly popular in this application domain and remains one of Apple's core markets.
The Atari TT030 was widely used for DTP with Calamus application. Calamus has its own technology called Softripping for WYSIWYG which uses the same routine for output to monitor as well as high density print devices.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Desktop Publishing.
Desktop publishing software, such as QuarkXPress or Adobe InDesign, is software specifically designed for such tasks. Such programs do not generally replace word processors and graphics applications, but are used to aggregate content created in these programs: text, raster graphics (such as images edited with Adobe Photoshop) and vector graphics (such as drawings/illustrations made with Adobe Illustrator).
When the material is ready for publication the DTP software can output PostScript or Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) which can be used by the commercial printers to produce printing plates. Desktop publishingDesktop publishing started in 1985, with the conjunction of Aldus Pagemaker (later acquired by Adobe), the Apple Macintosh, and the $7000 Apple LaserWriter, the first laser printer to use Adobe Systems' PostScript page description language, including its scalable fonts in Type 1 format.
The phrase desktop publishing is attributed to Paul Brainerd, the founder of Aldus Corporation, as a marketing term that referred to the use of a computer on top of a desk for publishing and also alluded the desktop metaphor that Apple used to mimic a real desktop.
In 1986 Ventura Publisher was introduced on the PC moving infant DTP into the mainstream, this allowed DTP to be moved into the home market via GST's Timeworks Publisher on the PC and Atari ST but these systems were initially used mainly for small-distribution publications such as club newsletters.
While this allowed many more people access to publishing their own work it also gave DTP a bad reputation for a while as amateurs made typographical mistakes that professional typesetters would never make.
As these systems improved they became widely adopted throughout the professional publishing world, the turning point was the introduction of Quark XPress 3.0 in the 1990s -- presently, virtually all publishing is "desktop publishing". The superior flexibility and speed of desktop publishing systems has greatly reduced the lead time for magazine publication and allowed more elaborate layouts than would otherwise have been possible.
Programmable, automated systems like LaTeX mean that long, repetitive, or highly-structured documents can be produced in a fraction of the time that it would take a manually-controlled system.
Computer based typesetting using a personal computer started in 1978, when the TeX program showed that publication-quality typesetting could be done on any normal business computer, and even long and complex jobs like books and journals could be produced from a standard desktop terminal.
Prior to this, typesetting had been performed by mechanical (Lintotype and Monotype) or electro-mechanical means (photofilmsetting), or by extremely expensive mainframe or mini-computer based systems.
Introduction of Apple Macintosh & PageMakerThe introduction of the Apple Macintosh and PageMaker allowed synchronous typographical editing using the graphical user interface, this system was commonly referred to as What You See is What You Get, WYSIWYG.
The Apple Macintosh, with historically superior graphics capabilities (particularly in the areas of typography and colour management), and a simple GUI, is highly popular in this application domain and remains one of Apple's core markets.
The Atari TT030 was widely used for DTP with Calamus application. Calamus has its own technology called Softripping for WYSIWYG which uses the same routine for output to monitor as well as high density print devices.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Desktop Publishing.
Desktop Publishing and Free Software
How to Obtain Free, Low-cost and Donated SoftwareIf you missed it in the Articles Index, be sure to read this Museum Marketing Tips guide to obtaining popular, up-to-date software at much reduced prices -- sometimes even free.
Desktop Publishing TemplatesDozens of free Microsoft Publisher, QuarkXpress and Adobe Illustrator templates for everything from business cards and brochures to place cards, numbered tickets and award certificates.
Antiquities Clip artJohn Stewart's shareware collections include clip art from 17th, 18th and 19th century engravings, drawings and hand-colored prints.
About.com Guide to Free Clip Art ResourcesWhatever subject you're looking for clip art on, you're likely to find a link to it here.
Color Shipping Label TemplatesNeed a short run of customized, color labels to use on presentation folders or as shipping labels? Why not print your own? HP's website provides free templates that you can download and adapt for your own use. All you need is Microsoft Word 95 or higher, some Avery labels and an inkjet color printer.
CNET.comIf you're looking for free software or shareware to download, it doesn't get much better than this.
Calculators and Calendars
Direct Mail CalculatorsEasy-to-use online calculators at EdithRoman.com allow you to perform "what if" scenarios to determine the cost and projected profit of a direct mail campaign and how many pieces must be mailed to achieve desired results.
Calculators On-Line CenterWith over 11,000 different calculators on this site, you can calculate just about anything.
Convert Anything to AnythingThat's the claim of OnlineConversion.com, and they just may be right. At this site you can convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, yards to meters, and gigabytes to kilobytes. You can also convert clothing sizes between many different countries, test your typing speed and figure your age in dog years.
The Worldwide Holiday and Festival SiteVisit this amazing site for the dates of holidays by state, country, religion and more -- plus links to a multitude of other related sites.
TimeAndDate.comWondering what day of the week Christmas falls on in 2006, or the date of Thanksgiving in 2010? Need to know exactly how many days remain until the end of your capital campaign? Or the right time to place an important overseas phone call? How about the date of the full moon for that harvest hayride event you'd like to plan for October 2003? This site quickly answers those questions and more, with customizable calendars available for more than two dozen countries.
PhoneSpellPhoneticIf you're looking for a new phone number that spells out your organization's name -- or if you'd just like to see what words are contained in your present phone number -- try either of these two sites.
Area Code FinderWith so many area code changes, here's a quick way to be sure you're dialing the right one. Enter the city and state or zip code and up pops the correct area code.
ZIP Find CentralYou can do all kinds of zippy things at this site. Type in a zip code and up pops its population, county, area code and time zone. Or enter a zip code, chose a radius in miles and find all the nearby zips. Or type in two different zip codes and find the distance between them. Or type in a city and get a list of all of its zip codes, along with population figures. Or...
Internet
Beginner's Central -- A User's Guide to the InternetAward-winning tutorial for newbies, but even if you're an experienced user, you can find some helpful information here.
Cyber Journalist Super SearchA great search resource.
Librarians' Index to the InternetMore great search stuff!
Industry PortalsGateway to information about myriad industries.
TutorialsFind.comLinks to online tutorials on a wide variety of subjects.
Postal and Government
Free Shipping SuppliesOrder free shipping supplies online from the United States Postal Service and have them delivered to your door.
Firstgov.govThe U.S. Government's new official website; a user-friendly way to access federal departments and information.
Miscellaneous
EffectiveMeetings.comThis site's large selection of articles, tips, quizzes and interactive features makes it a terrific online resource for anyone looking for ways to get meetings back on track.
Free Online Technical SupportProtonic.com is an online community that provides technical support to computer users for free. The volunteer techs are knowledgeable about PCs, Macs, Unix and even PDAs, so if you have a computer problem - anything from hardware to HTML problems - you can submit your question on their online form and receive an answer by e-mail.
American Craft Council OnlineLinks to a number of craft associations and periodicals.
ArtCalendar.comThis site is home to Art Calendar, "The Business Magazine for Visual Artists," now in its sixteenth year of bringing artists and marketing opportunities together.
Cross Cultural CommunicationsPractical tips for those who develop material, services or products for translation and/or export.
Desktop Publishing TemplatesDozens of free Microsoft Publisher, QuarkXpress and Adobe Illustrator templates for everything from business cards and brochures to place cards, numbered tickets and award certificates.
Antiquities Clip artJohn Stewart's shareware collections include clip art from 17th, 18th and 19th century engravings, drawings and hand-colored prints.
About.com Guide to Free Clip Art ResourcesWhatever subject you're looking for clip art on, you're likely to find a link to it here.
Color Shipping Label TemplatesNeed a short run of customized, color labels to use on presentation folders or as shipping labels? Why not print your own? HP's website provides free templates that you can download and adapt for your own use. All you need is Microsoft Word 95 or higher, some Avery labels and an inkjet color printer.
CNET.comIf you're looking for free software or shareware to download, it doesn't get much better than this.
Calculators and Calendars
Direct Mail CalculatorsEasy-to-use online calculators at EdithRoman.com allow you to perform "what if" scenarios to determine the cost and projected profit of a direct mail campaign and how many pieces must be mailed to achieve desired results.
Calculators On-Line CenterWith over 11,000 different calculators on this site, you can calculate just about anything.
Convert Anything to AnythingThat's the claim of OnlineConversion.com, and they just may be right. At this site you can convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, yards to meters, and gigabytes to kilobytes. You can also convert clothing sizes between many different countries, test your typing speed and figure your age in dog years.
The Worldwide Holiday and Festival SiteVisit this amazing site for the dates of holidays by state, country, religion and more -- plus links to a multitude of other related sites.
TimeAndDate.comWondering what day of the week Christmas falls on in 2006, or the date of Thanksgiving in 2010? Need to know exactly how many days remain until the end of your capital campaign? Or the right time to place an important overseas phone call? How about the date of the full moon for that harvest hayride event you'd like to plan for October 2003? This site quickly answers those questions and more, with customizable calendars available for more than two dozen countries.
PhoneSpellPhoneticIf you're looking for a new phone number that spells out your organization's name -- or if you'd just like to see what words are contained in your present phone number -- try either of these two sites.
Area Code FinderWith so many area code changes, here's a quick way to be sure you're dialing the right one. Enter the city and state or zip code and up pops the correct area code.
ZIP Find CentralYou can do all kinds of zippy things at this site. Type in a zip code and up pops its population, county, area code and time zone. Or enter a zip code, chose a radius in miles and find all the nearby zips. Or type in two different zip codes and find the distance between them. Or type in a city and get a list of all of its zip codes, along with population figures. Or...
Internet
Beginner's Central -- A User's Guide to the InternetAward-winning tutorial for newbies, but even if you're an experienced user, you can find some helpful information here.
Cyber Journalist Super SearchA great search resource.
Librarians' Index to the InternetMore great search stuff!
Industry PortalsGateway to information about myriad industries.
TutorialsFind.comLinks to online tutorials on a wide variety of subjects.
Postal and Government
Free Shipping SuppliesOrder free shipping supplies online from the United States Postal Service and have them delivered to your door.
Firstgov.govThe U.S. Government's new official website; a user-friendly way to access federal departments and information.
Miscellaneous
EffectiveMeetings.comThis site's large selection of articles, tips, quizzes and interactive features makes it a terrific online resource for anyone looking for ways to get meetings back on track.
Free Online Technical SupportProtonic.com is an online community that provides technical support to computer users for free. The volunteer techs are knowledgeable about PCs, Macs, Unix and even PDAs, so if you have a computer problem - anything from hardware to HTML problems - you can submit your question on their online form and receive an answer by e-mail.
American Craft Council OnlineLinks to a number of craft associations and periodicals.
ArtCalendar.comThis site is home to Art Calendar, "The Business Magazine for Visual Artists," now in its sixteenth year of bringing artists and marketing opportunities together.
Cross Cultural CommunicationsPractical tips for those who develop material, services or products for translation and/or export.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
10 Top Books on Design Creativity and Inspiration
From Jacci Howard Bear
Where do you get ideas? Where do you find inspiration? Whether you come up with your design ideas by looking at the work of others, studying how other designers approach the design process, or by looking at pictures or the world around you, one of these books is sure to provide just the right type of brainstorming and creativity boost you need.
1. Inspiration=Ideas:
A Creativity Sourcebook for Graphic DesignersSome of the world's top designers reveal where and how they find inspiration from people to songs to everyday garbage. The book then offers pages full of patterns, textures, and other images from which the designer can draw inspiration and develop their own creative ideas.
2. Idea Index: Graphic Effects and Typographic Treatments
This pocket-size book serves much like a clip file of ideas helping you to get past a design problem, make changes, and brainstorm new ideas. Not intended as a designer showcase, individual concepts are presented, described briefly, and simply illustrated.
3. Layout Index
Just as the Idea Index provides inspiration for graphics and type, the Layout Index helps you discover layout solutions and provides a trigger for your imagination as you design layouts for brochures, Web designs, posters, flyers, advertising, newsletters, and stationery. It's a convenient take anywhere size too.
4. Graphic Design:
Inspirations & Innovations
Discover how other graphic designers find inspiration and approach the design process while also pleasing the client. Profiles of 75 graphic designers are accompanied by examples of their work, including some sketches and early versions of the designs to see how they move from idea to final printed piece.
5. Graphic Design: Inspirations & Innovations 2
This version offers up case studies of "the best of design done under the worst of conditions." Get past impossible deadlines, natural disasters, human error, and "Murphy's Law" and still be creative and deliver the design with these inspiring tales from real designers.
6. Creative Sparks
Creativity is the focus and this book delivers it in the form of tips, idea-starters, suggestions, and advice on how to challenge yourself as a designer and still create practical visual communications.
7. Visual Workout:
Creativity Workbook
Instead of just reading about how other designers approach the design process or browsing design annuals, this book invites you to put pencil to paper and learn how to use sketches, develop an idea file, explore design possibilities, and come up with fresh, innovative concepts and design solutions.
8. The Big Book of New Design Ideas
If you find inspiration by browsing books of brochure designs, corporate logos, award-winning package designs, or other such creative annuals, then this book is written for you. It's like a cross-section of all those picture books of graphic design eye candy in one convenient volume.
9. Graphic Idea Notebook
A long time favorite of mine, it's just page after page of graphic idea-generators for conveying information visually.It's one of those books you thumb through when you're stuck for ideas on how to make a graph more visually exciting, want to go beyond the default "drop caps" in your software, or need ideas on how to visually convey movement, unity, division, importance, or other concepts.
10. Graphic Design Cookbook
It offers hundreds of thumbnails of borders, page numbering ideas, grids, mixing type sizes, text columns, pull-quote styles, drop caps, cropping, and other ideas for entire pages and parts of a page. It's not cutting-edge and some examples aren't great, but as an idea-starter that's easy to thumb through it's useful for jumpstarting the layout process
Where do you get ideas? Where do you find inspiration? Whether you come up with your design ideas by looking at the work of others, studying how other designers approach the design process, or by looking at pictures or the world around you, one of these books is sure to provide just the right type of brainstorming and creativity boost you need.
1. Inspiration=Ideas:
A Creativity Sourcebook for Graphic DesignersSome of the world's top designers reveal where and how they find inspiration from people to songs to everyday garbage. The book then offers pages full of patterns, textures, and other images from which the designer can draw inspiration and develop their own creative ideas.
2. Idea Index: Graphic Effects and Typographic Treatments
This pocket-size book serves much like a clip file of ideas helping you to get past a design problem, make changes, and brainstorm new ideas. Not intended as a designer showcase, individual concepts are presented, described briefly, and simply illustrated.
3. Layout Index
Just as the Idea Index provides inspiration for graphics and type, the Layout Index helps you discover layout solutions and provides a trigger for your imagination as you design layouts for brochures, Web designs, posters, flyers, advertising, newsletters, and stationery. It's a convenient take anywhere size too.
4. Graphic Design:
Inspirations & Innovations
Discover how other graphic designers find inspiration and approach the design process while also pleasing the client. Profiles of 75 graphic designers are accompanied by examples of their work, including some sketches and early versions of the designs to see how they move from idea to final printed piece.
5. Graphic Design: Inspirations & Innovations 2
This version offers up case studies of "the best of design done under the worst of conditions." Get past impossible deadlines, natural disasters, human error, and "Murphy's Law" and still be creative and deliver the design with these inspiring tales from real designers.
6. Creative Sparks
Creativity is the focus and this book delivers it in the form of tips, idea-starters, suggestions, and advice on how to challenge yourself as a designer and still create practical visual communications.
7. Visual Workout:
Creativity Workbook
Instead of just reading about how other designers approach the design process or browsing design annuals, this book invites you to put pencil to paper and learn how to use sketches, develop an idea file, explore design possibilities, and come up with fresh, innovative concepts and design solutions.
8. The Big Book of New Design Ideas
If you find inspiration by browsing books of brochure designs, corporate logos, award-winning package designs, or other such creative annuals, then this book is written for you. It's like a cross-section of all those picture books of graphic design eye candy in one convenient volume.
9. Graphic Idea Notebook
A long time favorite of mine, it's just page after page of graphic idea-generators for conveying information visually.It's one of those books you thumb through when you're stuck for ideas on how to make a graph more visually exciting, want to go beyond the default "drop caps" in your software, or need ideas on how to visually convey movement, unity, division, importance, or other concepts.
10. Graphic Design Cookbook
It offers hundreds of thumbnails of borders, page numbering ideas, grids, mixing type sizes, text columns, pull-quote styles, drop caps, cropping, and other ideas for entire pages and parts of a page. It's not cutting-edge and some examples aren't great, but as an idea-starter that's easy to thumb through it's useful for jumpstarting the layout process
Difference between Graphic Design and Desktop Publishing?
From Jacci Howard Bear.
Graphic design and desktop publishing share so many similarities that people often use the terms interchangeably. There's not really anything terribly wrong with that but it is helpful to know and understand how they differ and how some people use and confuse the terms.
A. The short answer is that graphic design jobs involve the creative process of coming up with the concepts and ideas and arrangements for visually communicating a specific message. Desktop publishing is the mechanical process that the designer and the non-designer use to turn their ideas for newsletters, brochures, ads, posters, greeting cards, and other projects into digital files for desktop or commercial printing. While desktop publishing does require a certain amount of creativity, it is more production-oriented than design-oriented.
Desktop Publishing SoftwareGraphic designers use desktop publishing software and techniques to create the print materials they envision. The computer and desktop publishing software also aids in the creative process by allowing the designer to easily try out various page layouts, fonts, colors, and other elements.
Non-designers also use desktop publishing software and techniques to create print projects for business or pleasure. The amount of creative design that goes into these projects varies greatly. The computer and desktop publishing software, along with professionally-designed templates, allow consumers to construct and print the same type of projects as graphic designers although the overall product may not be as well-thought out, carefully crafted, or polished as the work of a professional designer.
Graphic design is the process and art of combining text and graphics and communicating an effective message in the design of logos, graphics, brochures, newsletters, posters, signs, and any other type of visual communication.
Desktop publishing is the process of using the computer and specific types of software to combine text and graphics to produce documents such as newsletters, brochures, books, etc.
Graphic Design: "Good" and Desktop Publishing: "Evil"Graphic design and desktop publishing are often used interchangeably but, in part because it is an activity also used by non-designers, desktop publishing is often considered a lesser activity than graphic design. In truth, the two are separate but intertwined disciplines.
Not everyone who does desktop publishing does graphic design, but most graphic designers are involved in desktop publishing - the production side of design. The term desktop publisher can refer to a designer or a non-designer but it often carries negative connotations of an amateur.
Some graphic designers are quite vocal about their distaste for desktop publishing, which is somewhat amusing since much of what they do does involve desktop publishing. What they are really upset about is not desktop publishing itself - it's an invaluable part of the entire graphic design process - but rather the misuse (real or perceived) of desktop publishing software by non-designers.
Graphic design and desktop publishing share so many similarities that people often use the terms interchangeably. There's not really anything terribly wrong with that but it is helpful to know and understand how they differ and how some people use and confuse the terms.
A. The short answer is that graphic design jobs involve the creative process of coming up with the concepts and ideas and arrangements for visually communicating a specific message. Desktop publishing is the mechanical process that the designer and the non-designer use to turn their ideas for newsletters, brochures, ads, posters, greeting cards, and other projects into digital files for desktop or commercial printing. While desktop publishing does require a certain amount of creativity, it is more production-oriented than design-oriented.
Desktop Publishing SoftwareGraphic designers use desktop publishing software and techniques to create the print materials they envision. The computer and desktop publishing software also aids in the creative process by allowing the designer to easily try out various page layouts, fonts, colors, and other elements.
Non-designers also use desktop publishing software and techniques to create print projects for business or pleasure. The amount of creative design that goes into these projects varies greatly. The computer and desktop publishing software, along with professionally-designed templates, allow consumers to construct and print the same type of projects as graphic designers although the overall product may not be as well-thought out, carefully crafted, or polished as the work of a professional designer.
Graphic design is the process and art of combining text and graphics and communicating an effective message in the design of logos, graphics, brochures, newsletters, posters, signs, and any other type of visual communication.
Desktop publishing is the process of using the computer and specific types of software to combine text and graphics to produce documents such as newsletters, brochures, books, etc.
Graphic Design: "Good" and Desktop Publishing: "Evil"Graphic design and desktop publishing are often used interchangeably but, in part because it is an activity also used by non-designers, desktop publishing is often considered a lesser activity than graphic design. In truth, the two are separate but intertwined disciplines.
Not everyone who does desktop publishing does graphic design, but most graphic designers are involved in desktop publishing - the production side of design. The term desktop publisher can refer to a designer or a non-designer but it often carries negative connotations of an amateur.
Some graphic designers are quite vocal about their distaste for desktop publishing, which is somewhat amusing since much of what they do does involve desktop publishing. What they are really upset about is not desktop publishing itself - it's an invaluable part of the entire graphic design process - but rather the misuse (real or perceived) of desktop publishing software by non-designers.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
About Graphic design
History
The earliest graphics known to anthropologists studying prehistoric periods are cave paintings and markings on boulders, bone, ivory, and antlers, which were created during the Upper Palaeolithic period from 40,000 - 10,000 B.C. or earlier. Many of these were found to record astronomical, seasonal, and chronological details. Some of the earliest graphics and drawings known to the modern world, from almost 6,000 years ago, are that of engraved stone tablets and ceramic cylinder seals, marking the beginning of the historic periods and the keeping of records for accounting and inventory purposes.
Records from Egypt predate these and papyrus was used by the Egyptians as a material on which to plan the building of pyramids; they also used slabs of limestone and wood. From 600-250 BC, the Greeks played a major role in geometry. They used graphics to represent their mathematical theories such as the Circle Theorem and the Pythagorean theorem.
DrawingMain articles:
Drawing and Technical drawingDrawing generally involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a tool, or moving a tool across a surface. Common tools are graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoals, pastels, and markers. Digital tools which simulate the effects of these are also used. The main techniques used in drawing are line drawing, hatching, crosshatching, random hatching, scribbling, stippling, blending, and shading.
Cleft (graphic by Irina Minaeva)Drawing is generally considered distinct from painting, in which colored pigments are suspended in a liquid medium and are usually applied with a brush. Notable great drawers include Sir Michael Ash and Leonardo da Vinci.
Many people choose drawing as a main art style, or they may use it to sketch out paintings, sculptures and other styles of art.
Painting
Main article: PaintingIn the Middle Ages and Post Modern Ages, paintings were very distorted; for example, people on a castle wall appeared disproportionately large because they were the painting's focus. Later, realism and perspective became more important, characterized by the technique of looking through a wire mesh to precisely copy dimensions onto a corresponding grid drawn on canvas. During the Renaissance, artists took a non-mathematical approach to drawing. Giotto di Bondone and Duccio di Buoninsegna made great advancements in perspective drawing, using symmetry, converging lines and foreshortening. Many renaissance painters also used fresco - painting directly onto walls - a technique which finds its prototype in cave and rock art. Graphics of this kind, from 30-40,000 years ago, have survived in Australia and France. A modern day equivalent is the mural.
Printmaking
Main article: PrintmakingPrintmaking originated in China after paper was invented (about A.D. 105). Relief printing first flourished in Europe in the 15th century, when the process of papermaking was imported from the East. Since that time, relief printing has been augmented by the various techniques described earlier, and printmaking has continued to be practiced as one of the fine arts.
ArtMain article:
Line artLine art is any image that consists of distinct straight and curved lines placed against a (usually plain) background, without gradations in shade (darkness) or hue (color) to represent two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects. Line art is usually monochromatic, although lines may be of different colors.
EtchingMain article:
Etching EtchingEtching is an intaglio method of printmaking in which the image is incised into the surface of a metal plate using an acid. The acid eats the metal, leaving behind roughened areas, or, if the surface exposed to the acid is very thin, burning a line into the plate. The process is believed to have been invented by Daniel Hopfer (circa 1470-1536) of Augsburg, Germany, who decorated armour in this way, and applied the method to printmaking.
Etching is also a preliminary step in lithography. The Dutch artist M. C. Escher mastered the technique to perfection, specialising in etchings of impossible structures and oriental interlocking designs.
Etching is also used in the manufacturing of printed circuit boards and semiconductor devices.
[edit] IllustrationMain article: Illustration An illustration of a character from a story; also, an illustration of illustrationsAn illustration is a visualisation such as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that stresses subject more than form. The aim of an illustration is to elucidate or decorate a story, poem or piece of textual information (such as a newspaper article), traditionally by providing a visual representation of something described in the text. The editorial cartoon, also known as a political cartoon, is an illustration containing a political or social message.
Illustrations can be used to display a wide range of subject matter and serve a variety of functions, such as:giving faces to characters in a story displaying a number of examples of an item described in an academic textbook (e.g. A Typology) visualising step-wise sets of instructions in a technical manual communicating subtle thematic tone in a narrative linking brands to the ideas of human expression, individuality and creativity making a reader laugh or smile for fun (to make laugh) funny
GraphsMain article:
GraphsA graph or chart is a type of information graphic that represents tabular, numeric data. Charts are often used to make it easier to understand large quantities of data and the relationships between different parts of the data.
[edit] DiagramsMain article: DiagramsA diagram is a simplified and structured visual representation of concepts, ideas, constructions, relations, statistical data, etc, used to visualize and clarify the topic.
Symbols Main article:
SymbolsA symbol, in its basic sense, is a conventional representation of a concept or quantity; i.e., an idea, object, concept, quality, etc. In more psychological and philosophical terms, all concepts are symbolic in nature, and representations for these concepts are simply token artifacts that are allegorical to (but do not directly codify) a symbolic meaning, or symbolism.
[edit] Geometric design
[edit] MapsMain article: MapsA map is a simplified depiction of a space, a navigational aid which highlights relations between objects within that space. Usually, a map is a two-dimensional, geometrically accurate representation of a three-dimensional space.
One of the first 'modern' maps was made by Waldseemüller.
PhotographyMain article:
PhotographyOne difference between photography and other forms of graphics is that a photographer, in principle, just records a single moment in reality, with seemingly no interpretation. However, a photographer can choose the field of view and angle, and may also use other techniques, such as various lenses to distort the view or filters to change the colours. In recent times, digital photography has opened the way to an infinite number of fast, but strong, manipulations. Even in the early days of photography, there was controversy over photographs of enacted scenes that were presented as 'real life' (especially in war photography, where it can be very difficult to record the original events). Shifting the viewer's eyes ever so slightly with simple pinpricks in the negative could have a dramatic effect.
The choice of the field of view can have a strong effect, effectively 'censoring out' other parts of the scene, accomplished by cropping them out or simply not including them in the photograph. This even touches on the philosophical question of what reality is. The human brain processes information based on previous experience, making us see what we want to see or what we were taught to see. Photography does the same, although the photographer interprets the scene for their viewer.
Engineering drawingsMain article:
Engineering drawingsAn engineering drawing is a type of drawing that is technical in nature, used to fully and clearly define requirements for engineered items. It is usually created in accordance with standardized conventions for layout, nomenclature, interpretation, appearance (such as typefaces and line styles), size, etc.
Computer graphics A graphic from the video game OpenArena.Main article: Computer graphicsThere are two types of computer graphics: raster graphics, where each pixel is separately defined (as in a digital photograph), and vector graphics, where mathematical formulas are used to draw lines and shapes, which are then interpreted at the viewer's end to produce the graphic. Using vectors results in infinitely sharp graphics and often smaller files, but, when complex, vectors take time to render and may have larger filesizes than a raster equivalent.
In 1950, the first computer-driven display was attached to MIT's Whirlwind I computer to generate simple pictures. This was followed by MIT's TX-0 and TX-2, interactive computing which increased interest in computer graphics during the late 1950s. In 1962, Ivan Sutherland invented Sketchpad, an innovative program that influenced alternative forms of interaction with computers.
In the mid-1960s, large computer graphics research projects were begun at MIT, General Motors, Bell Labs, and Lockheed Corporation. D. T. Ross of MIT developed an advanced compiler language for graphics programming. S.A.Coons, also at MIT, and J. C. Ferguson at Boeing, began work in sculptured surfaces. GM developed their DAC-1 system, and other companies, such as Douglas, Lockheed, and McDonnell, also made significant developments. In 1968, ray tracing was invented by Apple
During the late 1970s, personal computers became more powerful, capable of drawing both basic and complex shapes and designs. In the 1980s, artists and graphic designers began to see the personal computer, particularly the Commodore Amiga and Macintosh, as a serious design tool, one that could save time and draw more accurately than other methods. 3D computer graphics became possible in the late 1980s with the powerful SGI computers, which were later used to create some of the first fully computer-generated short films at Pixar. The Macintosh remains one of the most popular tools for computer graphics in graphic design studios and businesses.
Modern computer systems, dating from the 1980s and onwards, often use a graphical user interface (GUI) to present data and information with symbols, icons and pictures, rather than text. Graphics are one of the five key elements of multimedia technology.
3D graphics became more popular in the 1990s in gaming, multimedia and animation. In 1996, Quake, one of the first fully 3D games, was released. In 1995, Toy Story, the first full-length computer-generated animation film, was released in cinemas worldwide. Since then, computer graphics have become more accurate and detailed, due to more advanced computers and better 3D modelling software applications, such as Cinema 4D.
Another use of computer graphics is screensavers, originally intended to preventing the layout of much-used GUIs from 'burning into' the computer screen. They have since evolved into true pieces of art, their practical purpose obsolete; modern screens are not susceptible to such burn in artifacts.
[edit] Web graphics Signature art used on web forumsIn the 1990s, Internet speeds increased, and Internet browsers capable of viewing images were released, the first being Mosaic. Websites began to use the GIF format to display small graphics, such as banners, advertisements and navigation buttons, on web pages. Modern web browsers can now display JPEG, PNG and increasingly, SVG images in addition to GIFs on web pages. SVG, and to some extent VML, support in some modern web browsers have made it possible to display vector graphics that are clear at any size. Plugins expand the web browser functions to display animated, interactive and 3-D graphics contained within file formats such as SWF and X3D.
Most modern web graphics are made with either Adobe Photoshop, the GIMP, or Corel Paint Shop Pro.[citation needed] However, users of Microsoft Windows mostly have MS Paint, which many find to be lacking in features.
Numerous platforms and websites have been created to cater to web graphics artists and to host their communities. A growing number of people use create internet forum signatures — generally appearing after a user's post — and other digital artwork, such as photo manipulations and large graphics.
UseGraphics are visual elements often used to point readers and viewers to particular information. They are also used to supplement text in an effort to aid readers in their understanding of a particular concept or make the concept more clear or interesting. Popular magazines, such as TIME, Wired and Newsweek, usually contain graphic material in abundance to attract readers, unlike the majority of scholarly journals. In computing, they are used to create a graphical interface for the user; and graphics are one of the five key elements of multimedia technology. Graphics are among the primary ways of advertising the sale of goods or services.
[edit] BusinessGraphics are commonly used in business and economics to create financial charts and tables. The term Business Graphics came into use in the late 1970s, when personal computers became capable of drawing graphs and charts instead of using a tabular format. Business Graphics can be used to highlight changes over a period of time.
Advertising
Advertising is one of the most profitable uses of graphics; artists often do advertising work or take advertising potential into account when creating art, to increase the chances of selling the artwork.
Political
The use of graphics for overtly political purposes - cartoons, graffiti, poster art, flag design, etc - is a centuries old practice which thrives today in every part of the world. The Northern Irish murals are one such example.
EducationGraphics are heavily used in textbooks, especially those concerning subjects such as geography, science and mathematics, in order to illustrate theories and concepts, such as the human anatomy. Diagrams are also used to label photographs and pictures.
Educational animation is an important emerging field of graphics. Animated graphics have obvious advantages over static graphics when explaining subject matter that changes over time.
The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary uses graphics and technical illustrations to make reading material more interesting and easier to understand. In an encyclopedia, graphics are used to illustrate concepts and show examples of the particular topic being discussed.
In order for a graphic to function effectively as an educational aid, the learner must be able to interpret it successfully. This interpretative capacity is one aspect of graphicacy.
[edit] Film and animationComputer graphics are often used in the majority of new feature films, especially those with a large budget. Films that heavily use computer graphics include Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Harry Potter films, Spider-Man and War of the Worlds.
Graphics educationThe majority of schools, colleges and universities around the world educate students on the subject of graphics and art.
The subject is taught in a broad variety of ways, each course teaching its own distinctive balance of craft skills and intellectual response to the client's needs.
Some graphics courses prioritize traditional craft skills - drawing, printmaking and typography - over modern craft skills. Other courses may place an emphasis on teaching digital craft skills. Stilllother courses may downplay the crafts entirely, concentrating on training students to generate novel intellectual responses that engage with the brief. Despite these apparent differences in training and curriculum, the staff and students on any of these courses will generally consider themselves to be graphic designers.
The typical pedagogy of a graphic design (or graphic communication, visual communication, graphic arts or any number of synonymous course titles) will be broadly based on the teaching models developed in the Bauhaus school in Germany or VKhUTEMAS in Soviet Russia. The teaching model will tend to expose students to a variety of craft skills (currently everything from drawing to motion capture), combined with an effort to engage the student with the world of visual culture.
Famous graphic designers
Aldus Manutius designed the first Italic type style which is often used in desktop publishing and graphic design. April Greiman is known for her influential poster design. Paul Rand is well known as a design pioneer for designing many popular corporate logos, including the logo for IBM, NeXT and UPS. William Caslon, during the mid-18th century, designed many typefaces, including ITC Founder's Caslon, ITC Founder's Caslon Ornaments, Caslon Graphique, ITC Caslon No. 224, Caslon Old Face and Big Caslon.
ExamplesPhotograph Drawing Drawing
See alsoLook up graphics inWiktionary, the free dictionary.Center for the Study of Political
Graphics Editorial cartoon
External linksWikimedia Commons has media related to: GraphicsTimeline Computer Graphics An Historical Timeline of Computer Graphics and Animation
References[hide]v • d • eMajor fields of technology Applied science Artificial intelligence · Ceramic engineering · Computing technology · Electronics · Energy · Energy storage · Engineering physics · Environmental technology · Fisheries science · Materials science and engineering · Microtechnology · Nanotechnology · Nuclear technology · Optics · Zoography Information Communication · Graphics · Music technology · Speech recognition · Visual technology Industry Construction · Financial engineering · Manufacturing · Machinery · Mining · Business informatics Military Ammunition · Bombs · Guns · Military technology and equipment · Naval engineering Domestic Educational technology · Domestic appliances · Domestic technology · Food technology Engineering Aerospace · Agricultural · Architectural · Audio · Automotive · Biological · Biochemical · Biomedical · Broadcast · Ceramic · Chemical · Civil · Computer ·
The earliest graphics known to anthropologists studying prehistoric periods are cave paintings and markings on boulders, bone, ivory, and antlers, which were created during the Upper Palaeolithic period from 40,000 - 10,000 B.C. or earlier. Many of these were found to record astronomical, seasonal, and chronological details. Some of the earliest graphics and drawings known to the modern world, from almost 6,000 years ago, are that of engraved stone tablets and ceramic cylinder seals, marking the beginning of the historic periods and the keeping of records for accounting and inventory purposes.
Records from Egypt predate these and papyrus was used by the Egyptians as a material on which to plan the building of pyramids; they also used slabs of limestone and wood. From 600-250 BC, the Greeks played a major role in geometry. They used graphics to represent their mathematical theories such as the Circle Theorem and the Pythagorean theorem.
DrawingMain articles:
Drawing and Technical drawingDrawing generally involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a tool, or moving a tool across a surface. Common tools are graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoals, pastels, and markers. Digital tools which simulate the effects of these are also used. The main techniques used in drawing are line drawing, hatching, crosshatching, random hatching, scribbling, stippling, blending, and shading.
Cleft (graphic by Irina Minaeva)Drawing is generally considered distinct from painting, in which colored pigments are suspended in a liquid medium and are usually applied with a brush. Notable great drawers include Sir Michael Ash and Leonardo da Vinci.
Many people choose drawing as a main art style, or they may use it to sketch out paintings, sculptures and other styles of art.
Painting
Main article: PaintingIn the Middle Ages and Post Modern Ages, paintings were very distorted; for example, people on a castle wall appeared disproportionately large because they were the painting's focus. Later, realism and perspective became more important, characterized by the technique of looking through a wire mesh to precisely copy dimensions onto a corresponding grid drawn on canvas. During the Renaissance, artists took a non-mathematical approach to drawing. Giotto di Bondone and Duccio di Buoninsegna made great advancements in perspective drawing, using symmetry, converging lines and foreshortening. Many renaissance painters also used fresco - painting directly onto walls - a technique which finds its prototype in cave and rock art. Graphics of this kind, from 30-40,000 years ago, have survived in Australia and France. A modern day equivalent is the mural.
Printmaking
Main article: PrintmakingPrintmaking originated in China after paper was invented (about A.D. 105). Relief printing first flourished in Europe in the 15th century, when the process of papermaking was imported from the East. Since that time, relief printing has been augmented by the various techniques described earlier, and printmaking has continued to be practiced as one of the fine arts.
ArtMain article:
Line artLine art is any image that consists of distinct straight and curved lines placed against a (usually plain) background, without gradations in shade (darkness) or hue (color) to represent two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects. Line art is usually monochromatic, although lines may be of different colors.
EtchingMain article:
Etching EtchingEtching is an intaglio method of printmaking in which the image is incised into the surface of a metal plate using an acid. The acid eats the metal, leaving behind roughened areas, or, if the surface exposed to the acid is very thin, burning a line into the plate. The process is believed to have been invented by Daniel Hopfer (circa 1470-1536) of Augsburg, Germany, who decorated armour in this way, and applied the method to printmaking.
Etching is also a preliminary step in lithography. The Dutch artist M. C. Escher mastered the technique to perfection, specialising in etchings of impossible structures and oriental interlocking designs.
Etching is also used in the manufacturing of printed circuit boards and semiconductor devices.
[edit] IllustrationMain article: Illustration An illustration of a character from a story; also, an illustration of illustrationsAn illustration is a visualisation such as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that stresses subject more than form. The aim of an illustration is to elucidate or decorate a story, poem or piece of textual information (such as a newspaper article), traditionally by providing a visual representation of something described in the text. The editorial cartoon, also known as a political cartoon, is an illustration containing a political or social message.
Illustrations can be used to display a wide range of subject matter and serve a variety of functions, such as:giving faces to characters in a story displaying a number of examples of an item described in an academic textbook (e.g. A Typology) visualising step-wise sets of instructions in a technical manual communicating subtle thematic tone in a narrative linking brands to the ideas of human expression, individuality and creativity making a reader laugh or smile for fun (to make laugh) funny
GraphsMain article:
GraphsA graph or chart is a type of information graphic that represents tabular, numeric data. Charts are often used to make it easier to understand large quantities of data and the relationships between different parts of the data.
[edit] DiagramsMain article: DiagramsA diagram is a simplified and structured visual representation of concepts, ideas, constructions, relations, statistical data, etc, used to visualize and clarify the topic.
Symbols Main article:
SymbolsA symbol, in its basic sense, is a conventional representation of a concept or quantity; i.e., an idea, object, concept, quality, etc. In more psychological and philosophical terms, all concepts are symbolic in nature, and representations for these concepts are simply token artifacts that are allegorical to (but do not directly codify) a symbolic meaning, or symbolism.
[edit] Geometric design
[edit] MapsMain article: MapsA map is a simplified depiction of a space, a navigational aid which highlights relations between objects within that space. Usually, a map is a two-dimensional, geometrically accurate representation of a three-dimensional space.
One of the first 'modern' maps was made by Waldseemüller.
PhotographyMain article:
PhotographyOne difference between photography and other forms of graphics is that a photographer, in principle, just records a single moment in reality, with seemingly no interpretation. However, a photographer can choose the field of view and angle, and may also use other techniques, such as various lenses to distort the view or filters to change the colours. In recent times, digital photography has opened the way to an infinite number of fast, but strong, manipulations. Even in the early days of photography, there was controversy over photographs of enacted scenes that were presented as 'real life' (especially in war photography, where it can be very difficult to record the original events). Shifting the viewer's eyes ever so slightly with simple pinpricks in the negative could have a dramatic effect.
The choice of the field of view can have a strong effect, effectively 'censoring out' other parts of the scene, accomplished by cropping them out or simply not including them in the photograph. This even touches on the philosophical question of what reality is. The human brain processes information based on previous experience, making us see what we want to see or what we were taught to see. Photography does the same, although the photographer interprets the scene for their viewer.
Engineering drawingsMain article:
Engineering drawingsAn engineering drawing is a type of drawing that is technical in nature, used to fully and clearly define requirements for engineered items. It is usually created in accordance with standardized conventions for layout, nomenclature, interpretation, appearance (such as typefaces and line styles), size, etc.
Computer graphics A graphic from the video game OpenArena.Main article: Computer graphicsThere are two types of computer graphics: raster graphics, where each pixel is separately defined (as in a digital photograph), and vector graphics, where mathematical formulas are used to draw lines and shapes, which are then interpreted at the viewer's end to produce the graphic. Using vectors results in infinitely sharp graphics and often smaller files, but, when complex, vectors take time to render and may have larger filesizes than a raster equivalent.
In 1950, the first computer-driven display was attached to MIT's Whirlwind I computer to generate simple pictures. This was followed by MIT's TX-0 and TX-2, interactive computing which increased interest in computer graphics during the late 1950s. In 1962, Ivan Sutherland invented Sketchpad, an innovative program that influenced alternative forms of interaction with computers.
In the mid-1960s, large computer graphics research projects were begun at MIT, General Motors, Bell Labs, and Lockheed Corporation. D. T. Ross of MIT developed an advanced compiler language for graphics programming. S.A.Coons, also at MIT, and J. C. Ferguson at Boeing, began work in sculptured surfaces. GM developed their DAC-1 system, and other companies, such as Douglas, Lockheed, and McDonnell, also made significant developments. In 1968, ray tracing was invented by Apple
During the late 1970s, personal computers became more powerful, capable of drawing both basic and complex shapes and designs. In the 1980s, artists and graphic designers began to see the personal computer, particularly the Commodore Amiga and Macintosh, as a serious design tool, one that could save time and draw more accurately than other methods. 3D computer graphics became possible in the late 1980s with the powerful SGI computers, which were later used to create some of the first fully computer-generated short films at Pixar. The Macintosh remains one of the most popular tools for computer graphics in graphic design studios and businesses.
Modern computer systems, dating from the 1980s and onwards, often use a graphical user interface (GUI) to present data and information with symbols, icons and pictures, rather than text. Graphics are one of the five key elements of multimedia technology.
3D graphics became more popular in the 1990s in gaming, multimedia and animation. In 1996, Quake, one of the first fully 3D games, was released. In 1995, Toy Story, the first full-length computer-generated animation film, was released in cinemas worldwide. Since then, computer graphics have become more accurate and detailed, due to more advanced computers and better 3D modelling software applications, such as Cinema 4D.
Another use of computer graphics is screensavers, originally intended to preventing the layout of much-used GUIs from 'burning into' the computer screen. They have since evolved into true pieces of art, their practical purpose obsolete; modern screens are not susceptible to such burn in artifacts.
[edit] Web graphics Signature art used on web forumsIn the 1990s, Internet speeds increased, and Internet browsers capable of viewing images were released, the first being Mosaic. Websites began to use the GIF format to display small graphics, such as banners, advertisements and navigation buttons, on web pages. Modern web browsers can now display JPEG, PNG and increasingly, SVG images in addition to GIFs on web pages. SVG, and to some extent VML, support in some modern web browsers have made it possible to display vector graphics that are clear at any size. Plugins expand the web browser functions to display animated, interactive and 3-D graphics contained within file formats such as SWF and X3D.
Most modern web graphics are made with either Adobe Photoshop, the GIMP, or Corel Paint Shop Pro.[citation needed] However, users of Microsoft Windows mostly have MS Paint, which many find to be lacking in features.
Numerous platforms and websites have been created to cater to web graphics artists and to host their communities. A growing number of people use create internet forum signatures — generally appearing after a user's post — and other digital artwork, such as photo manipulations and large graphics.
UseGraphics are visual elements often used to point readers and viewers to particular information. They are also used to supplement text in an effort to aid readers in their understanding of a particular concept or make the concept more clear or interesting. Popular magazines, such as TIME, Wired and Newsweek, usually contain graphic material in abundance to attract readers, unlike the majority of scholarly journals. In computing, they are used to create a graphical interface for the user; and graphics are one of the five key elements of multimedia technology. Graphics are among the primary ways of advertising the sale of goods or services.
[edit] BusinessGraphics are commonly used in business and economics to create financial charts and tables. The term Business Graphics came into use in the late 1970s, when personal computers became capable of drawing graphs and charts instead of using a tabular format. Business Graphics can be used to highlight changes over a period of time.
Advertising
Advertising is one of the most profitable uses of graphics; artists often do advertising work or take advertising potential into account when creating art, to increase the chances of selling the artwork.
Political
The use of graphics for overtly political purposes - cartoons, graffiti, poster art, flag design, etc - is a centuries old practice which thrives today in every part of the world. The Northern Irish murals are one such example.
EducationGraphics are heavily used in textbooks, especially those concerning subjects such as geography, science and mathematics, in order to illustrate theories and concepts, such as the human anatomy. Diagrams are also used to label photographs and pictures.
Educational animation is an important emerging field of graphics. Animated graphics have obvious advantages over static graphics when explaining subject matter that changes over time.
The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary uses graphics and technical illustrations to make reading material more interesting and easier to understand. In an encyclopedia, graphics are used to illustrate concepts and show examples of the particular topic being discussed.
In order for a graphic to function effectively as an educational aid, the learner must be able to interpret it successfully. This interpretative capacity is one aspect of graphicacy.
[edit] Film and animationComputer graphics are often used in the majority of new feature films, especially those with a large budget. Films that heavily use computer graphics include Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Harry Potter films, Spider-Man and War of the Worlds.
Graphics educationThe majority of schools, colleges and universities around the world educate students on the subject of graphics and art.
The subject is taught in a broad variety of ways, each course teaching its own distinctive balance of craft skills and intellectual response to the client's needs.
Some graphics courses prioritize traditional craft skills - drawing, printmaking and typography - over modern craft skills. Other courses may place an emphasis on teaching digital craft skills. Stilllother courses may downplay the crafts entirely, concentrating on training students to generate novel intellectual responses that engage with the brief. Despite these apparent differences in training and curriculum, the staff and students on any of these courses will generally consider themselves to be graphic designers.
The typical pedagogy of a graphic design (or graphic communication, visual communication, graphic arts or any number of synonymous course titles) will be broadly based on the teaching models developed in the Bauhaus school in Germany or VKhUTEMAS in Soviet Russia. The teaching model will tend to expose students to a variety of craft skills (currently everything from drawing to motion capture), combined with an effort to engage the student with the world of visual culture.
Famous graphic designers
Aldus Manutius designed the first Italic type style which is often used in desktop publishing and graphic design. April Greiman is known for her influential poster design. Paul Rand is well known as a design pioneer for designing many popular corporate logos, including the logo for IBM, NeXT and UPS. William Caslon, during the mid-18th century, designed many typefaces, including ITC Founder's Caslon, ITC Founder's Caslon Ornaments, Caslon Graphique, ITC Caslon No. 224, Caslon Old Face and Big Caslon.
ExamplesPhotograph Drawing Drawing
See alsoLook up graphics inWiktionary, the free dictionary.Center for the Study of Political
Graphics Editorial cartoon
External linksWikimedia Commons has media related to: GraphicsTimeline Computer Graphics An Historical Timeline of Computer Graphics and Animation
References[hide]v • d • eMajor fields of technology Applied science Artificial intelligence · Ceramic engineering · Computing technology · Electronics · Energy · Energy storage · Engineering physics · Environmental technology · Fisheries science · Materials science and engineering · Microtechnology · Nanotechnology · Nuclear technology · Optics · Zoography Information Communication · Graphics · Music technology · Speech recognition · Visual technology Industry Construction · Financial engineering · Manufacturing · Machinery · Mining · Business informatics Military Ammunition · Bombs · Guns · Military technology and equipment · Naval engineering Domestic Educational technology · Domestic appliances · Domestic technology · Food technology Engineering Aerospace · Agricultural · Architectural · Audio · Automotive · Biological · Biochemical · Biomedical · Broadcast · Ceramic · Chemical · Civil · Computer ·
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