Adobe Creative Suite 4

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