Go to the following Web Site and explore. Post a reaction statement under the \"

Question

Go to the following Web Site and explore. Post a reaction statement under the "Tools of the Trade" in the discussion area.  Be specific by talking about some of these treasures and it would be more interesting if everyone selects different items. In addition compare and contrast some of the graphic design tools from the past and what you believe are the tools of today. Research is the key here about the tools of today.  Please respond to your classmates.   http://www.drawger.com/show.php?show_id=32

Explanation / Answer

The graphic design tools from the past:

The Studio Office
A typical designer’s office consisted of a huge drawing board, a T-square, a rolling cart filled with assorted production tools, a Pixar style lamp, and cabinets full of rubylith, zipatone lettering and illustration boards. There were electronics of course, like a push-button phone, a radio and a big time saving device – the electric pencil sharpener.

Creating Layouts
A good designer would typically need a week to create a detailed layout for a client and then another week or two to create “camera-ready” art for the printer. Creating a simple headline using transfer lettering or Zipatone lettering, was tedious and frustrating. Getting the letters to be in perfect alignment and kerned was an art in itself. Sometimes the letters would partially adhere to the paper or fall off. This typically happened while being presented to the client. A simple 8-page brochure layout could weigh 2 lbs. – thanks to the huge amounts of paper, rubber cement, markers, colored pencils, photos and staples to hold the book together.

Color Options
Today we have 1.6 million colors to choose from. Old school color selection was based on how many different color markers the designer had. Most designers had a huge set of pantone markers – very expensive ($250 a set) and they dried up quickly. Streaky marker layouts were replaced with color films. These solid colored films had an adhesive back to burnish onto the paper. The films were extremely expensive and if done incorrectly, large air bubbles and streaks appeared (kind of like the clear touchscreen covers for the iPhone).

Stock Images
If you think searching stock sites for the perfect photo or illustration is time consuming, think again. Back then a designer would call a large photo house such as Getty Images and request a search of photos, such as: people on the beach, ages 25-40, white, with kids, playing in the sand. Two days later, a box full of 3 x 5 film transparencies of beach images arrives. Designers then sift through hundreds of images using a lightbox and a loupe to see the image detail.

The tools of today:

Some of the most powerful tools at a graphic designer’s disposal are also the most basic. From stylistically matched icon sets to small code library to make it easier to design data-driven documents, even the smallest tools can make a job a thousand times easier. On the other end of the spectrum are the widely used, taken-for-granted, must have programs like PhotoShop, without which many designers would be out of a job.

1) Adobe Creative Suite is one of the highest-regarded programs for designers, producers, and photographers. Adobe Creative Suite is an entire portfolio of programs, ranging from Photoshop and Dreamweaver to After Effects and Encore.

2) Visual CSS Tools is a web-based visual CSS generator with features that many other web-based gradient generators do not have.

3) PicMarkr allows you to easily add a watermark to any image. This is useful for copyrighting and protecting original and important work featured online.

4) Favlcon Generator: This tool creates a favorites icon for websites that appears in bookmarks and the browser be when a website is being used. This helps increase brand awareness for users and web designers.

5) Lorem Ipsum Generator populates a field with a set number of words or characters in order to create meaningless paragraphs to fit into designs.

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