Nerd

I apologize for how extremely nerdy the last post was. If you are not not a designer or a complete software dork, you might as well skip that one. It will make you yawn.

CS 5.5

I discovered something today that grinds my gears. As much a I love Adobe products, I stumbled accross a software decision that is more that just a little bit annoying. I use Adobe CS5 at work every single day. When I heard about the the release of CS5.5 I was a bit confused. After briefly looking at the specs, it seemed like it was just CS5 with a few more tools, brushes and plug-ins. (especially in indesign — for ePub design)  I later discovered that an inDesign CS5.5 file cannot be opened with CS5. Since CS5 is far more popular (and the current industry standard) I find this annoying. I would expect this sort of thing from Apple, but not you Adobe. Luckily, there is a work around. (as with most things) You can same the CS5.5 document as an inDesign Markup file. (.idml) About half the time you have to re-link all of your images and fonts, but at least it works.


I just had to rant. Really all that I am trying to say is don't spend the extra money to get CS5.5. Stick with the equally-useful but more compatible CS5 unless you have a specific reason for needing the few new features in 5.5.

Crowdsourcing

A couple months ago, I wrote an article about the dangers of "crowdsourcing" in the design world. It seems that both the AIGA and HOWdesign have recently jumped all over this topic.

Read The AIGA article

D.O.E.T

I have started reading The Design of Everyday Things. (Origianlly Titled The Philosophy of Everyday Things) Thanks to JBU professor Dave Andrus and fellow designer Anna Carol Brymer for kindly urging me to read this book. I plan on enjoying it and learning from it.

7.4.11

Happy 4th of July! I am very proud to live and work in the USA.

Dr. Alex Website

That's right —Totally Web 2.0, I went there. Unlike other designers, I refuse to get stuck there. Its funny how "web 2.0"  went from a new set of technologies to being a design aesthetic. Though I use the most current web standards. I will use this style only when it makes sense. Some web designers only know how to go "2.0" and find silly reasons to go CSS crazy.

HDR

I am sure a lot of you designers, artists, and photographers have heard of, or use HDR imaging. (High Dynamic Range imaging) It is typically done by merging multiple exposures of a photo to gain massive amounts of color information. The result can really amplify the color and detail of photographs and illustrations. Some software can now create Psuedo-HDR images, by applying filters to a single exposure. I have used this before, and sometimes it looks great. However the fact that "HDR toning" is now an adjustment option in Photoshop CS5 does make me a little nervous. It is so easy now, that I am afraid it could become the next pointless trend. Photographers may start apply it, not because of what it actually does stylistically, but because it is an easy and dramatic option. Trends like this tend to destroy the original purpose of the effect and frustrate legitimate artists. (Comic Sans, "Outer Glow," and "Hipstamatic" to name a few prolific and annoying examples)

 


Above is an HDR toning edit I made in about 30 seconds. It is so easy now in CS5 that this style could become way overused. So, here is my message to artists, designers, and photographers out there: If you want to use HDR toning, please have a good reason for it, and don't over do it.