Click above for Large Image (900 x 600 px)

“Ook ook ack! Eeeeeek! OOOK!” [Trans: "My God, it's full of apps... " ]

I usually don’t repeat subjects, and I JUST reviewed the iPad2. But sometimes a marketing campaign can trod over the same raw nerve so many times before one has to spout off on it.

I don’t want to get off on a rant here but…

Apple’s overuse of the word “magical” when promoting the iPad just gets under my skin. Actually it annoys the poop out of me. Probably because it’s patently horseshit. It’s a piece of TECHNOLOGY, people, not the gorram Philosopher’s stone. We’re not a bunch of knuckle dragging homo habilis hominids howling and flinging rocks, sticks and poop at the frakkin’ monolith. Sometimes I wonder what Apple’s marketing people think of their audience. I do realize what they’re getting at, the idea of an information appliance so immediate and intuitive to use, that the actual interface disappears and you become immersed in just using the thing.

Yes, iPads are damn clever little machines. Actually, they’re right proper little slabs of electric crack, they’re so fun. Despite the absence of Flash, (and in all fairness, Flash ain’t working too well on competing Android tablets yet) I am still quite impressed with Apple’s technical (and marketing) achievement with the device. It is the user interface advances of iOS that does it, and beats down the scrambling competition. You just pick the thing up, you get it, and it just bloody works. Which if you’ve ever had to deal with computers for any length of time, Mac or PC, that feat alone is almost Nobel prize worthy. And seriously folks, this comparatively ancient Power Mac G5, with Gigabytes of RAM, an LCD display, Intuos tablet, internal RAID and Terabyte external drive is pretty frakkin’ Star Trek tech compared to the 48K Atari 800 I first mucked about with in the 80s…

And Yes, it’s been rightly proclaimed that Apple did not make iPads for Power users, guys like me, tho’ I still like the things. Nor did they build them for Tech Geeks, who heap piles of abuse on Apple for all the geeky thinks that the iPad is not, and trumpet the raw specs and “open” platform of the Android powered Competition. Geeky types actually seem to prefer their technology to be complex and challenging and glory in getting in there and tinkering and customizing their tech to their liking. But the general consensus out there is that the three significant players, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the Motorola Xoom, and the still-in-the-pipe RIM Playbook, all have their issues. The majority of the rest are still so much vaporware or decidedly crappy knock offs..

But for the most part, everyday folk, and a surprising number of professional people (outside the computer tech fields), couldn’t care less about the deep specs or getting under the hood to tinker with the OS, or manually install pirate apps (or Pr0n). Like owning a fast Italian sports car, unless you’re, as the Top Gear lot might say, a “complete motorhead”, you don’t want to spend all day “mucking about under the bonnet.” You just want to get in and DRIVE. Drive FAST. And I might add, without the motor dropping out or needing to re-build the gearbox every random 2 to 200 miles.

My son quite rightfully points out that most people haven’t the faintest idea how a semiconducting transistor works. A lot of folks don’t even know what they are, nor need to. True enough. I’m something of a technologist, as necessary being a design professional in this digital age, and my knowledge of the physics and details semiconductor technology is sketchy. But I DO have an appropriate general knowledge of how my computer works, and I am well aware that’s it’s a piece of technology. I might not be able to build one from scratch, but I probably could assemble one. I certainly maintain the one I am writing this rant on.

The iPad is a piece of technology, advanced, arguably cutting edge, but still technology. All due respect to Arthur C Clarke’s famous axiom, “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” it’s not a magical black box. We’ve been out of the trees and caves for a while now, and can even use fire and tools. I’ll thank the people at Apple to consider that we’re grown-up’s and live in a technological society and stop insulting my intelligence. No one should expect to open up an iPad and find leprechauns and unicorns drawing on the back of the screen with rainbow crayons.

That’s just my opinion, and frak ‘em if they think I’m wrong.

OK, got that out of my system. I expect to have more constructive things to say next time. B4nz41.

Oh. Apologies to Stanley Kubrik and Apple, but hey…

Apple iPad2 - in Black and White. Thinner. Lighter. Faster. FaceTime. Smart Covers. 10 Hour Battery. Original Image: Apple

Been A little while, I’ve been working, and that’s a good thing if you’re a self-employed designer. I also broke my ankle back in August while camping, so been recovering. So blogging a slightly lower priority lately, but here I am again.

I had occasion to be out and about and took the opportunity to visit my local Apple store and take a look at the just released iPad2 for my local Apple User Group. Just like it’s predecessor, it’s a very appealing little slab of electric crack. It’s also a more appealing experience than the original iPad. Apparently, a lot of people think so too, since Apple seems to have sold close to a million of the things in the first weekend of availability, selling out at most locations.

When Apple released the original iPad, they were diving out into uncharted territory. As of last year, no one had gotten a tablet computer out there that captured the public imagination till they completely redesigned the interface. Their success with the iPhone, turning the smartphone market in it’s side, suggested they were on to something. But it wasn’t till the first year of iPad, that the realized that they had something quite amazing on their hands. People are doing things with the iPad that Apple never expected.

View Apple’s iPad: Year One Video

Let’s get to some specific impressions.

It’s definitely sleeker and lighter. The reduced weight make holding the tablet one-handed more comfortable while I manipulated the interface with the other. And the removal of the side wall into the rounded back makes the interface surface seem less like an object and even more like a window into the interface. It also, with a new dual-core processor, feels faster and more responsive. I recall playing with the Google Maps application, the original iPad had problem with pulling down the map data while changing views, locations, zooming in and out and scrolling maps. The iPad2 performed  all of the above seamlessly. Videos in both the YouTube and in Mobile Safari played smoothly and cleanly. For those of you who want to know, the iPad2 comes with 512mb of RAM compared to the original’s 256mb.

“My friends, I’m telling you: just that much improvement in thinness, weight and speed transforms the experience. We’re not talking about a laptop or a TV, where you don’t notice its thickness while in use. This is a tablet. You are almost always holding it. Thin and light are unbelievably important for comfort and the overall delight. So are rounded edges, which the first iPad didn’t have.”
- David Pogue, NY Times Personal Tech.

Graphics Performance is greatly improved. I did tick at a game or two, and they run quite snappily. However a “special demo version” of Disney’s TRON Legacy game failed to load beyond the intro screens. Perhaps a glitch, bit still disappointing. On the other hand, Zen Sketch was a smooth delight to this amateur calligrapher.

I also looked at the new cameras, front and back, introduced with the iPad2. As many other reviews noted, they’re the same cameras that are on the iPod Touch, and not as good as the ones on the iPhone. What up? In fact, the rear cam produces quite decent 720p video, which looks better than the still taken with the same sensor. I will admit that mucking around in Photo Booth IS fun. When I dropped in to the photos application – I am resisting the urge to use the lingo “app” – the sample photo albums in the demo unit could not POSSIBLY have been made with the iPads cameras. And I think that is largely the point. The cameras are not intended as serious photography tools, and I think that most iPad owners will likely already have a mid-level to high-end Digital Camera, DSLR,  or an iPhone or smartphone with a quite good camera to provide a photo source to hook up to the Camera Connection Kit. The cams are there to provide casual snapshots, to give the iPad “eyes” for interactive apps, create decent video for the well received mobile version of iMovie, and to enable FaceTime video chat and calls. However, I think it’s likely that they’ll improve the cameras on the next version of the iPad.

As a web designer, I did notice that there were a lot of places where Flash Video didn’t work in Mobile Safari, but it was not too objectionable. The larger media sites were streaming some form of h.263/HTML5 video, but smaller sites often had holes. Including places in some of my sites, where clients insisted on Flash content. A couple of my sites degraded to the non-flash versions gracefully, others had holes. I know I’ll be hitting Google and the books to see about this. For the moment, it just means more work for the likes of me if my clients want rich online media, and want it to work on the rapidly growing Mobile Web. Most notable, just about EVERY inline audio solution generally available, whether it’s javascript, JQuery, or plain HTML & CSS3, uses a Flash player.

However, the amazing Apps ecosystem in iOS (40,000 plus for the iPad alone) sets the iPad and iPhone (over 300,000 apps ) apart from their Android counterparts, and makes the Flash Question a bit less of a shortcoming.

The Smart Cover is very spiffy, and very clever. “…an iPad 2 wearing a Smart Cover is considerably thinner than a naked original iPad.” - John Gruber, Daring Fireball. The covers clings to the iPad2 magnetically, and almost automatically, folds back to make either a typing stand or stand up the screen to view media. When closed, it sleeps the pad, and the iPad wakes instantly when peeled back. Until the third party case makers catch up, the Smart Cover is also largely the only game in town. The Apple Store had no other cases for the iPad2 in the shop. But I am sure there will be a flood of cases, and other accessories swiftly flooding the market before very long.

The iPad2 comes in the same wi-fi and 3G configurations and price points as the original, with the addition of white models. I prefer the black – the white seems to diminish the screen, while the black feels somehow… deeper. Just an impression. The original iPad is still available from Apple at mild discounts, in addition to refurbished models. After selling out, shipments have been easing back out to the Apple Stores and other outlets. But the shipping times for the online store have stretched to 4-5 weeks as of March 20. One other thought, due to the disaster in Japan, Apple may have some problems with availability of the more high tech parts of the iPad that are manufactured in Japan. But that will largely depend on how Apple has organized their supply chain.

Should you buy one? If you’ve been waiting for this version for your first pad, dive in. It’s a very worthy device. If you have an original iPad, the upgrade may be too incremental to drop $500 to $830 for, unless there is some specific feature you’re jonesing for, or shortcoming the upgrade address that’s making you insane. But I am with many reviewers out there that feel that a device of this caliber ought to be useful for more than a year. So next year’s iPad3 will likely offer a more impressive upgrade. Depends on your needs and gadget lust. However, if your in a household that’s fighting over the thing. It’s a nice excuse to get a new one, and pass your old model along and get the kids to leave you alone. My wife often gives me the sad eye whenever I take the Macbook Pro out on a client call or presentation.

Other tablets? If Flash is a deal-breaker for you, then there are a few other choices. The New York Times has a decent outline of the contenders you might actually be able to buy. The rest of the hundred or so announced at CES are still vaporware. The current leading contender, the Motorola Xoom, is on the expensive side. But the emerging competition should serve to keep Apple to continue to improve the iPad.

Changes at The Apple Store

Since I was in an Apple Store, I noticed a couple of things. The front counter is gone. And in most of the store you can purchase Apple gear right on the sales floor from an Apple Associate. IOS and mobile computing are absolutely the stars on Apple’s stage now. Over half the store was iOS devices, iPads, iPhones, iPod Touch. Then most of the rest was MacBooks. Other than Apple hardware, all the third party gear, peripherals,  books and software is now consigned to one section of shelving in the very back. On the other side of the quite busy Genius Bar, was another rear section with an elite selection of iPod, iPhone and iPad accessories.

There were a few iMacs along the side towards the back, and just ONE lonely Mac Pro, neglected in a corner, and it was an entry-level Xeon machine, not a more powerful Westmere Mac Pro. So it kind of shows where Apple’s attention is focused with the mall-walking audience. Note the qualifier. But if I want to look at pro gear, I’d have to haul downtown to TekServe. Just saying. But there are reasons that Pro users are feeling neglected by Apple.

But with the opening and growth of the online Mac App Store, on the same lines as the App Store, Apple is definitely leaning towards an all-digital software experience. And I do admit, that less and less of my software is coming shrink-wrapped in boxes. But for peripherals, printers, hard drives and other gear, especially pro gear, it’s still nice to be able actually look things over before slapping down the credit card. But we won’t be doing much of it at Apple stores, except for Apple kit.

Further Reading

iPad at Apple
iPad2 Features

Tablets, Compared. NY Times Interactive Feature

For a more geeky and in-depth review:
John Gruber on the iPad @ Daring Fireball

A more “regular-person” audience impression:
Appeal of iPad 2 Is a Matter of Emotions
David Pogue, NY Times Personal Tech

The current Mac Pro update disappoints actual pro users. Image: Apple Computer

Apple recently released, after over a year in waiting, an update to their Mac Pro line of tower configuration computers. They introduced the Westmere line of the Xeon workstation processors and now a version with 12 computing cores is available. But for many Apple watchers, the update was a bit of a disappointment.

For openers, while Apple has been determinedly cutting edge on their new flagship mobile products, iPhones, iPads… were notably conservative on this update. New tech such as USB 3, Firewire 1600, Litghtbridge, or even established desirable standards as eSATA were skipped. Few expected Blu-Ray support, since Steve doesn’t like Blu-Ray. The video cards options offered by Apple are decent, but somewhat mediocre by contemporary standards. But all in all, commentary in the tech blogs has negative commentary edging out positive reviews. The general consensus seemed “meh,” with a lot of dissatisfaction centering on performance versus price issues compared to alternatives on the Windows and Linux side.

The machines are pricey.

“The upgraded desktop is available in three standard options: a quad-core 2.8GHz Intel Xeon “Nehalem” processor with 3GB of RAM for $2,499; an 8-core machine with two 2.4GHz quad-core Intel Xeon “Westmere” processors and 6GB of RAM for $3,499; or a 12-core system with two 2.66GHz 6-core Intel Xeon “Westmere” processors and 6GB of RAM for $4,999.” – Apple Insider

The pricing here is without display, so add anywhere from $799 to $1800 for Apple display. The upcoming 27” LCD display will be priced at $900 and replace both the existing 24” and 30” displays and will be glossy-only.

Much of the following is taken from my  grumpy comment at Engadget. I’ve taken the liberty of cleaning up some of the unpolished language and clarifying some remarks in this version.

First off, the disclaimers, I am a Design Pro, not an IT person, gamer or semi-pro geek tinkerer. So most if this is OPINION, not hyper scrutinized lists of facts. Bear with it. I am also not going to dis down anybody’s personal choice of hardware or OS preferences. Or debate fanboyism at any level. It’s been done already. To death. Seriously.

That said, as a Graphic and Web Designer, I’ve been a Mac user for many years. I’ll say that in the day, the Mac OS offered clear advantages over window and all non-graphical OSs. And also in the day Apple hardware also offered some unique qualities unavailable in the WinTel world. But that day is PASSED. The only reason anyone should chose Mac hardware or the Mac OS is personal preference.

When Apple was releasing G4 and G5 Towers, they were cutting edge machines at the absolute top end, and provided performance that was just not available at the desktop level elsewhere. But that is clearly no longer the case. Now that Macs and PCs are essentially the same guts under the hood, there are far less differentiating qualities. For the Mac Pro, while they may be shiny, spiffy, and fairly stout machines, they are NOT the ultimate computing machines Apple would have us believe. There are comparable workstation class machines available from HP, Levono, Acer, and even *gasp* … Dell at better price points. Yes, I looked. The current lineup just manages essential parity with Windows workstation-class machines out there, and offers downright mediocre graphics cards, which have become much more important components in modern computing.

It’s been pointed out by my geekier colleagues that more powerful configurations can of course be assembled from off the shelf components for leaner budgets if that’s your thing. Some of us do like to tinker in the garage. Some of us just want to say, “give me the keys, I’d rather drive.” It should go without saying, your mileage may vary.

Are the Mac Pros overpriced for the tech level offered? I may be a bit of an Apple loyalist and I still have to say, OH HELL YES. I will offer that the overall reliability, build quality and case design is superior, even if the internal components are decent but fairly standard. And yes, while Apple has evolved the case internals to a very refined level, it’s still a seven year old overall case design. It could absolutely use a refresh.

The galling point for us Design Pros, and I am talking about Publishing, Photography, Graphics and Web Design, is that Apple has tossed us to the curb YEARS ago to the tender mercies of Adobe. Go into an Apple store and good luck finding any serious pro gear, such as an tabloid size (11″ x 17″) printer or press quality scanner. Not for the likes of us. And we’ve been crying for a mid-range Mac for frakkin’ ages. The majority of us would probably be quite comfortable with the performance range of the 27″ i7 iMac in an expandable tower configuration. The price gap between the i7 iMac nicely appointed and the Base Mac Pro and Display is enough to buy a decent laptop and the Adobe CS5 upgrade. Which I might mention is a non-trivial sum. Adobe enjoys a near monopoly in the must-have graphics applications that design pros use such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash and Actobat, and charge us accordingly. The further fact that Apple has done away with all non-glossy screens except for the BTO MacBookPro, shows their disdain for Design pros over “oooohhh shiny,” which does look spiffier in the Apple Store lighting.

The present scene now is all about Apple’s current relentless pursuit of the “consuming” computer user… hence the iPods, iPhones, iPads and the like. I feel that Apple keeps the Mac Pro remains in the lineup merely to say that they have a high end machine for the very needful (climate modeling and 3D rendering anyone?) and quite affluent users. But the Mac Pro line is no longer the champion of the Apple universe, or does it seem to have much of Steve’s attention.

Since the current Adobe CS5 Applications requires an Intel multicore processor minimum, this will retire a LOT of still working G5 machines. As design has becomes a much more marginal profession in the current economy, I expect we’ll see a lot of “downgrade upgrades” to iMac, laptops and Windows machines as design pros look at their bottom lines and budgets.

I don’t think Steve will miss us much. We complain.

Links:
Mac Pro @ Apple
Engadget
Mac Rumors
Apple Insider
Adobe Creative Suite 5

This time, takin' on the wee beasties...

Sorry I haven’t posted in some time. The Studio has been very busy with work and my personal life collided with the business. My wife suffered a dislocated and fractured shoulder at the beginning of October. So I have been taking care of her and doing a lot of housework along with trying to well… work. So not a lot of time for writing blog items. But do have a little something for you.

In early-December I posted this in my personal blog…. And to complete the Tech Fail Trifecta [ joining the failed washing machine and water heater]… My faithful Canon printer started to funk out last night. It began to print thin pale streaks in nice neat precise 3mm stripes. UH oh. After the many cycles of cleaning and test prints, and then a 40 min ride with Canon’s tech support, pretty much convinced me the print head was probably hosed. And a replacement head costs near the cost of replacing the same class printer. So will take a shot at trying to fix it N1NJ4 style before I stick a crowbar in the wallet.

Anyway, for you Geek Squad trainees…

Here’s the test print… those stripey bits are supposed to be SOLID.

This is a bit of a Color Test Document from InDesign.
Shows the CMYK color formulas… yeech. BAD printer.

And from a PDF of the  same document, what it’s pretty
much supposed to look something like.

So… that’s My grumble for today. But if we don’t get hosed on the home repairs… maybe a opportunity to upgrade to a better printer…

I posted this item in our holiday note… “And now the office [Studio] printer is getting cranky and disobedient. Kurt has been hunting the web and ebay for parts, to make the technology fail trifecta…”

I ended up replacing the Printer Head in our aging Canon Pixma iP4000, the attempt to clean it proving to no avail. So for about $50 I replaced the print head in the beastie, delivering me from temptation to buy a new printer… like a 13 x 19″ PixmaPro 9000… And of course shortly thereafter, started getting the “Waste Ink Tank is Nearly Full” error… while printing Holiday Cards. So another dive into eBay for discontinued partz. Did score replacement ink absorber pads. Woot. Mind you the “waste ink tank” is actually a nest of SPONGES that comprise most of the base of the printer. When they’re saturated, they’re pretty much done.

About two weekends ago, took the beastie apart and had at it.

EWWWWWWWUUUCCCHHHHH… NASTY.

The amount of ink the nearly dozens of pads of various sizes absorbed was just plain INSANE. Thank the gods I had latex exam gloves on hand. But a couple of very geeky hours, MANY q-tips, and a pile of Newspaper, tissues and paper towels later, I essentially had a refurbished printer. Was worth the attempt, considering how past warranty this thing is. Interesting that the major wear points of the machine wore out practically all at once. They pretty much expect you to buy a new printer by then.  HP is probably the worst in this regard, followed by Epson. Those two are the worst for this sort of thing, but Canon is certainly not immune. I imagine Brother and Lexmark are similar.

So what the heck am I about with all this tech drama?

Over the past  decade the latest things for the home office/small business computer user are photo-realistic inkjet printers, largely supplanting laser printers in the home and small office. These wondrous devices print at resolutions and print quality that was at one time reserved for very large companies. As recently as ten years ago a high resolution color laser printer cost in excess of $5000, and often required separate computers or Raster Image Processors to run efficiently. The first inkjet printer I purchased for the studio, a mid-range Epson Stylus cost under $300. It’s replacement,  the above mentioned Canon Pixma iP4000 next to my working computer cost under $200, and it produces prints as good or better as the corporate behemoths.  It’s also obsolete; I can now get a similar class device for under $100. If I buy a new computer from the right vendor, Mac or PC, I can probably get one for free or nearly free.

Why are these manufacturers nearly giving these devices away? This becomes clearer when you have printed out a few hundred pages. These printers require regular feeding of Ink Cartridges. These tiny tanks of ink, two, four, seven or even eight or more at a time, can become very costly, especially if you print many pages. If you print at maximum resolution on ( also pricey) photo or glossy paper, you will run through even more ink. Lower-end printers are absolutely sold at a loss, knowing that you will be back for ink, again and again and again, at very comfortable margins. Furthermore, the specialized papers that give you the best looking prints are not inexpensive. These media costs can drive the cost per page surprisingly high. Before you snap up that bargain in Staples or Office Depot, carefully consider your current and future printing needs.

If you are spending a great deal of money running off short runs of color documents at FedEX/Kinko’s, you can certainly use an in-house printer. But if you are printing dozens of pages or more at a time, look at the current crop of business class Color Laser Printers, basic models can be had for hundreds, and their ink/toner consumption is much more cost effective. This can also be a good solution for short runs of multipage documents such as sales presentations. Low-cost inkjet printers are also tuned for attractive color for digital photos, but are not always appropriate for color proofing.

Bear in mind that inexpensive inkjets also seem to have iffy drivers. And for the lowest cost models, two or three changes of ink, will cost the value of the printer itself.  I particularly don’t like the single Tri-color cartridges. These will give you an out of ink error if only ONE of the three colors is low or out… even if you are trying to print in BLACK. I much prefer individual ink cartridges. And it further annoys me that when I have spec’ed 100 percent yellow in a CMYK document, and the printer uses CMYK ink, why are there flecks of cyan and magenta in the yellow? And that 50% gray, has dots of all four colors? Shiny pretty? Sure. Color proof? Get REAL. But I could seriously spin a whole ‘nother rant off that topic.

Anyway…

When you get into hundreds or thousands of copies, that is the time to consider commercial printing, with the additional benefit of the printer’s expertise, broad options and professional quality. With the penetration of Digital printing into copy and small print shops, short run color printing has become much more accessible and cost effective that ever before. The ability to send documents directly to print vendors online, and the capability of many applications to output PDF files directly makes this a much easier and straightforward process than ever. And the Mac,  since the introduction of Mac OS X, has the ability to create PDF files from any application that supports the Print function. Sweet.

I could go on, and bore the everlovin’ FRAK out of you, so I’ll save it and leave you with these. Which cover many of the points rattling about in my fevered brain a lot more entertainingly.

Enjoy. Actually, I was thinking more on the lines of – *Fist pump* “YEAH!”

The Oatmeal / Why I Believe Printers Were Sent From Hell To Make Us Miserable
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers

YouTube: CollegeHumor Originals / Your Printer is a Brat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQGtucrJ8hM

Banging one out in InDesign. Yeah, I know what I'm doin'. Look! CMYK colors!

With the market shifting as rapidly as it has been in the Electronic Age – this is a question that often pops up in my dealings with clients, my colleagues, and especially potential clients.

When is it time to hire a Designer?

There was a time, it seems long ago now, when everything printed, from annual reports and catalogs, to matchbook covers and little league flyers, required the hands of creative pros – designers, draftsmen, illustrators, layout artists, darkroom technicians, typesetters, color separators, film strippers, platemakers, printers and pressmen.  But that was circa 1980, B.C. – Before Computers. In the Mid 80’s the PostScript Programming language was being developed by John Warnock of Adobe, and Steve Jobs and was developing the Apple Macintosh computers. Eventually the combination of the Macintosh, the LaserWriter II and Aldus’s ground breaking page layout program, PageMaker, changed the publishing landscape forever.

“The DTP market exploded in 1985 with the introduction in January of the Apple LaserWriter printer, and later in July with the introduction of PageMaker software from Aldus which rapidly became the DTP industry standard software.” – Wikipedia
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_Publishing ]

By the 1990s, the Desktop Publishing revolution was sweeping aside traditional “drafting table” publishing. The New Tools rose up to replace T-squares, Technical pens, x-acto knifes, rubylith, designer’s markers and drafting instruments. Names like PageMaker, Quark Xpress, PhotoShop, Illustrator, Acrobat, Freehand became buzzwords of the profession and became the Designer’s professional tools. In the current era, Adobe’s InDesign has joined the group, becoming as prominent as Quark, perhaps more so among solo freelancers and small studios.

At the beginning of the DTP R/evolution, many publishers tried to cast aside Graphic Designers and Art Directors for High School Interns,  Sales Reps or Secretaries running Macintosh SE’s and PageMaker. The results were not pretty. The years of Very Ugly Junk Mail. After a period of… what I’ll charitably call “adjustment”, Publishers turned back to having the expertise of actual Designers at the workstations and things began to look up again.

What that largely meant is that not only have Design Professionals had to embrace the digital world, the ever increasing strength of our electronic tools has significantly tightened the number of people involved in publishing projects. Compared to the legion  of specialists mentioned above, it’s often condensed down, for better or worse, to just the Designer, the Print Vendor and the Client. The force multiplier of our software allows us to take on the tasks of the typesetter, the layout artist, the color separator, the pre-press technician.  I do very much miss proofreaders in these lean times. However, this also requires us to be much more familiar with the intricacies of  the various publishing disciplines, and a competent Designer in the Information Age is as much Art Director as craftsperson. And with the advent of the Web as a publishing platform, increasingly a technician and programmer.

But something interesting has happened going into the new century. As professional class software grew in power, features and sophistication, so has everyday “civilian” software.  Simple publishing applications began to appear, and contemporary Word Processors, notably Microsoft Word and Office, now have significant page layout capability. Combined with an almost endless availability of free or inexpensive templates, clip art and stock photos, the majority of simple publishing projects can be created by end users, and sent straight on to over-the-counter printers, even Office Depot, Staples and Kinkos. ( *cringe*) Online Print services also make a lot of “everyday” printing readily available to the do-it-yourself set. So the bottom of the market, simple to moderately complex business cards, basic letterheads and 3-panel brochures, little league fliers, the pizza place menu, is no longer territory for Design Professionals. For creative pros, the market for Print Designers and Publishing Art Directors has certainly contracted.  Forever.  I’ve been hearing the comment more and more, “why do I need you expensive, artsy prima-donnas when I can do this myself in Word?” Why indeed?

So just when, exactly, do you need us?

Quite simply, when you want to look better than that.

While it is true that there is a great deal of ordinary printing and publishing you can create in word processors and inexpensive consumer level applications, or through over the counter and online print vendors. There are times when you will want to go beyond that. For starters, what is your own time worth? I certainly don’t fancy myself a Lawyer or a Concert Pianist. The little league flyer is one thing. Your annual report, perhaps quite another. When you’ve spent two hours ftuzing about in a word processor on a business card, and still are struggling with how to get the 10-up Avery template to work. When you realize the the brilliant neon RGB green prints a color that can be charitably described as “swamp water”. When you decide that that piece of clip art looks an awful lot … like clip art. Or the stock photo isn’t quite right. Or that you can’t quite get that logo you had in mind to look quite right in Powerpoint or MS Paint.  In essence, when you want to “kick it up a notch,” to look more finished, more professional … and competitive.

That’s where people like me come in. And if we’re any good, we’re probably not cheap, but we’ll provide good value. If you hire some kid in high school or your brother in law just because they have a computer and Photoshop… well, you’ll likely get what you pay for. Believe it or not, a lot of us have training and degrees in this stuff, and have devoted a lot of time to learning our craft and how to get the most out of our professional tools. And the whole purpose of specialists is that we do have expertise in our fields, freeing you to do whatever it is you do best.

When you hire creative pros, Graphic Designers, Illustrators, Art Directors, Web Designers and Developers, you are hiring people who have made good design their career and craft.  A proper designer is not a hobbyist. A creative pro brings an extra edge of professionalism and polish, and the effective impact of good design to your projects.  We also have expertise in process and production methods, so that what we send to printers comes out looking the way we planned. We understand that there is a difference between CMYK and RGB.  We might also know a thing or two about  tasteful use of typefaces beyond Times, Arial and Comic Sans. We do not fear white space.  We know a something about how ink hits paper. Can specify process and spot color and have that red look like something a fire engine would be proud to wear. We also understand and can explain to you why you cant take that postage stamp sized image off a web site and make it into a poster. And why it’s a really really really bad idea to grab a pic from someone else’s site, especially a competitor. And in the emerging age of Information, a good designer can help you navigate your documents into the digital age.  In a future post, I plan to go into the incredible explosion in electronic publishing that we call the Internet and the World Wide Web.  But that’s a whole  ‘nother topic, and worth it’s own article. Knowing our way around the print and publishing industries, and the digital word, despite our cost, hiring a pro can actually save you money by avoiding the common production errors of the novice. And your stuff will look better.

If a lot of the previous paragraph when over your head, you might just need one of us. But when you’re ready to take it to the next level, we’re here to help you and your company look your best in print or online. And a good Design Professional will be a creative partner, not a prima-donna, and will help you make your ideas shine. This final summary thought applies to not just Graphics and Design, but to any skilled profession.

Hire the Professional, we know what we’re doing.

Ancient graphic design tool. An X-Acto knife. Grab THIS end.

I had alluded to this subject in my earlier post about Adobe Creative Suite.  I did get a bit rantish about it. So I decided that I might clarify where I was coming from this time around. Now for a little background, I entered the field in 1980, yes that would be B.C. — Before Computers.  Moving right along, If someone had told me in 1989 that in a few years I would be replacing 90% of my professional tools every three to five years, I would have looked at them like they were out of their minds. Seriously, I made it a point to buy good quality pro gear and took good care of it. I had a steel t-square that I would be able to leave to my grandchildren, nearly indestructible. I had a lovely oak drafting table. A sweet little Badger airbrush and compressor. Red Sable brushes. A set of very slick and pampered technical pens. And seriously, a drafting instrument set I actually inherited from my grandfather.

Then “Desktop Publishing” happened.

The advent of the Apple Macintosh Computer, PostScript, PageMaker software, and the LaserWriter II printer changed everything. Forever. That was a weird time, when many companies tried to jettison their Agencies, Design Studios and Art Directors for low paid operators with Mac SEs. But after a few years, they decided that they needed people who actually knew some Design Principles operating the computers. So a lot of us went back to school, helloooo Continuing Ed., to learn more about this “Computer Stuff. ” A lot of good and talented people gave up and left the field, and some of us made the transition and picked up the mice, wondering, “what the f**k is this?”…

That’s the short version, this is a blog after all. So fast forward to the contemporary age, virtually ALL design, graphics and publishing, is now carried out digitally.  I have not used that T-square for anything except mat cutting in something like seven years, and I no longer even own a drafting table.  (Kinda miss it.. ) But unless you are using a computer, not only aren’t you competitive, you’re not even working. And furthermore, if you use traditional media, you’ll have to bring your work to someone with a computer to have it digitized.  The last holdouts being illustration on traditional media, and this artwork is now certainly scanned and digitized before going on press anywhere.

By 1996, advances in the technology, notably Photoshop 2.5 with CMYK capabilities, and ZIP drives storing 50 Megabytes in an easily mailable format, allowed me to create an 100% digital poster project with a digital illustration and electronic  layout, the only traditional component being the original pencil sketch. Not only that, it was done with an impossible turnaround flatly impossible with traditional media. The digital world had arrived and I was convinced.

Not to mention the online world, what they once called “New Media”. The Internet wasn’t even a gleam on the general public’s horizon in 1990, but in 1993, the Mosaic web browser was released, followed by Netscape Navigator in 1996, then summarily hammered by Internet Exploder Explorer by 1998. By that time, the World Wide Web dominated our consciousness, and this realm  of course, is 100% electric, pure digital data. Just like every word you are reading.

So you purchase a computer.

You’ll need a decent one, Mac or Window’s PC with lots of RAM and storage. Not the $295 entry level special at Staples. You’ll need a press quality scanner, and a not a bottom-end printer. You’ll  probably need an external hard drive or two.  If you like your wrists, and don’t care to draw with a bar of soap, add a graphics tablet. Maybe add a digital camera. And you’ll need stacks of DVDs to back up and archive the piles of data you’ll be generating. So you’re in to the tune of about $5000 or more.

We’re not done yet.

Next you have to have professional-class design and graphics software.  That usually means, surprise–the Adobe Creative Suite. The heavies. Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat. Possibly Quark Xpress, if you be kickin’ it “old-school”. If you do web design work, you also might be using Dreamweaver, and you are going to be asked to do Flash.  You will also need Microsoft Office, to interact with teh biznezz pepulz. You may prefer to work with the open source Open Office, or iWork.. but you need to DEAL with MS Office. Period. The end. You’ll need FONTS, lots of ‘em unless you really like Papyrus and Comic Sans. And you’ll need some System Maintenance stuff. And if you’re on the PC side, you need a RAFT of security stuff to keep the ick and nasty off your hard drive. So let’s say getting up towards another $5000. Oh, don’t forget the cost of the high speed internet connection.

After you buy that mid-range to high-end computer and load of pro-class software.  In about six months, you’ll have to upgrade something. Over time you’ll have to upgrade just about all of it. Then the next upgrade won’t run on your now-three to five year old once-spiffy, but now ancient, machine, and then it’s time for the next computer. And so the cycle starts again—new computer, upgrade, upgrade, upgrade, new computer, upgrade, upgrade, upgrade, new computer…  And just a for instance, the very word processor I am using to type this, Appleworks, is an obsolete, dead product, no longer offered by Apple.  It will not even run on my next computer. But when the time comes, Adobe Creative Suite 4, a must-have, with all my core apps, will.

I set up my original studio in the 80’s for about $2000, and from time to time picked up additional pro gear as needed. Most of my expenses were for media.  Paper, ink, board, paint, subway fare, that sort of thing. But now, it’s around $5000-$10,000 just to get set up. And that’s  still sitting the thing on the box it shipped in, and putting your own ass on a milk crate. IKEA is your friend. The fun part? You can get used to the idea that you’ll drop that 5 to 10K every three to five years, through your career, if you’re a working Designer and want to have your own gear. So instead of making a capital investment once, you will be buying virtually all your gear over and over, again and again. Welcome to the Information Age.

I have an old T-square hanging in my hall closet. It’s getting dusty.  And while I don’t need them as much in the digital age, I still want me some nice flat files. And you know what? Those damn things will still cost you through your butt!

That much hasn’t changed.

Well, I went down into NYC for an Adobe Creative Suite 4 Launch Tour seminar last Friday. And got a reminder of why I took the bus when I had a NYC day job… it was 50 min inbound at 7:00-8:00 yesterday… but over TWO hours outbound at the height of the evening Rush Hour. Left the Javits Center at around 5:30… pulled into the driveway between 7:30 and 8:00.. OUCH. But the very evil part was walking the block or so from the parking lot to the Javits Center into the wind off the River… AIEEEEEEE!!!!! Oh my FACE! So you can see why I was less that excited about walking down from Port Authority in the Artctic Blast. Which put me rather out on hiking off to 8th or 9th avenue for lunch. So I ended up having very overpriced very blah and ordinary concession food at the center. FEH. On the other hand, I scored an $14 Early Bird rate at a lot LESS than a half mile from the Javits, so I think I’ll call it even and move on.

That said, Creative Suite 4 is pretty frakkin’ awesome, with lots of clever enhancements, with many peeves addressed and wish list items suggested by users added. This is of course a FAR superior approach than Microsoft, that just DOES STUFF to their apps, usually Office or Windows itself, and then shoves the “enhancements” down your throat. Often this breaks things that might have actually worked well in some of their products. So yes, I WANT IT. Very shiny. As Tim Taylor once said.. “More POWER! Utt! Utt! Utt!”

I did end up choosing the Web Design Track – Fireworks / Flash / Dreamweaver over the Print Design Track – Photoshop / Illustrator / InDesign – in the afternoon, since there is a bit more Web Design volume in the Studio these days than Print. I have a LOT less experience in the moving target that is the very technical side of web site production than I do in Print production and Prepress, where I am a frakkin’ NINJA. I’ve been designing for print since 1980.

But seriously, WTF people? There seems to be some impression that Web and Print Designers are these two separate and warring tribes. And seems like seminars ALWAYS have the Web and Print sessions on two tracks in direct conflict. But the reality of the current marketplace is that you HAVE to have Print AND Web skillz if you are going to survive as a solo freelancer or small studio. Or if you’re hired as some small company’s ENTIRE ART DEPARTMENT… where you are doing all of their print, managing the web site, making PowerPoint presentations, answering the phones and running the network server. So hell yes, I needed to attend both tracks. I use all SIX applications regularly. So why do hey ALWAYS do this crap???

But of course, this is the version of The Adobe products that will BREAK G4 macs and PCs under 2 GHz processors… And seriously, Adobe’s apps EAT RAM and Hard Drive space.
Go ahead, look it up: www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/design/systemreqs/

Does your system measure up?

So all things considered, I am planning on digging in my heels, and holding out till a client or vendor sends me an InDesign CS4 or .fla file that I can’t open … then cough up the $600 that costs Me from somewhere between $2500-$5000…*cringes*  Glad I am fairly booked.

The studio vs. household budget in these trying economic times will more likely dictate an iMac, but when the time comes will most likely go for the big 24″ screen version. Graphic Designers DO need some screen real estate! I’d DIE if I had to go back to a 17″ Display… I hadn’t been keeping up with the notebooks as I am more of a desktop person. But in doing the math it DID occur to me that I could get a 2.4 Ghz Macbook Pro AND a 24″ iMac for about the same cost of the mid-range 3 GHz Mac Pro with a  20 ” Display!  Course I COULD get a piece of crap, plastic case Dell or Acer, or E-Machines PC for $799 at Office Depot… but the service life of a PC is distressingly short, and I’d have probably gone through 3 of the damn things since 2001… Seriously, the IRS only allows 3 years depreciation for a PC, while you can take 5 years for a #&^%$ CHAIR. Plus the usual security issues beating off Viruses, Spams, Scams, Worms, Trojans, spyware, adware, phishing and random hackers … and the utterly screwed color calibration… yadda yadda… you’ve probably hear all the trash talk before.

I do like Apple and their machines a lot, they just WORK. They just DO what they’re asked for the most part.. and the OS (mostly) stays the frak out of my face, and sometimes even helps out. But I am a little narked off that they really don’t offer a good machine at the Mid-range level. Up your soft parts, Steve. But will holding off sticking a crowbar into the IRA till I absolutely HAVE to.

Your milege may, of course, vary.

Find out more at www.adobe.com/creativesuite