With in the  Print Design and Production Art field as well as among those working as InHouse Designers there has been a debate for years as to which layout program was better, Adobe InDesign or Quark/Quark Express. Having used both pieces of software before I decided to break down the argument into 4 parts: Tools and Capabilities, Ease of Use, Cost and Workflow.

As Desktop Publishing tools both  InDesign and Quark have established themselves as industry standards, though Quark has the longer run. As a result  older Art Directors and some Senior Designers have a tendency to favor it because it what they are used to. Aside from preserving older legacy work, which in many cases could easily be transferred over to InDesign, I’ve never felt this is a good enough reason to  keep Quark in the mix.

Tools and Capabilities. InDesign: 9 Quark:7
As layout programs both Quark and Indesign fit most of the needs of desktop publishing. Indesign has an advantage when it come to typography. For one thing the tools associated with controlling the typesetting are more intuitive overall, not to mention InDesign has several workspaces preconfigured that you can select based on the type of work you are doing. InDesign also will allow you to import color swatches saved from other Adobe Programs, or websites such as ColourLovers or Kuler.

However while both also have Digital Publishing features and can produce EPUB format documents for tablets and mobile the edge goes to InDesign based on its superior ability to handle dynamic audio and video as well as  alternate and fluid layouts. Indesign also has superior control with regard to page  breaks, spacing and objects. I’ve heard the argument made that Quark has superior web design capabilities but the very notion of someone using a desktop publishing application to build a website or webpage is just plain ignorant, its like trying to put a nail in a wall with a screwdriver. If you want to build a website without coding you could just use a tool intended for that, Adobe Muse.

Ease of Use. InDesign: 10 Quark: 6
While Quark Express is not that difficult to use overall the system is not very intuitive for a user that is used to programs like Adobe Photoshop, which represent the majority of graphic designers across multiple fields. The shortcut commands are dramatically different as are the wording used for certain features and menus. The ability to edit the page layout sizes and margins right in the top of the menu screen is also convenient.  Ultimately controlling text boxes seems to be easier in Indesign. I actually have not come up with a single task that is easier in Quark than Indesign, and not for a lack of trying. It’s not that Quark is “hard” to use, it just is less intuitive and straightforward than InDesign.

Cost. InDesign 10 Quark: 5
Quark folks won’t entirely understand this rating because the difference in the raw prices of the software is Indesign $699 Quark $799. However what they need to take into consideration is nobody just buys Quark and InDesign, they usually are atleast buying Adobe Design Standard at $1299 which gets them Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Acrobat Pro. Also now their is Adobe Creative Cloud Subscriptions in which they get Adobe Master Collection for $59 per month. So in order to use Quark as an Ad Agency, Design Studio or Print Designer that does more than just text and layout, you are effectively paying $799 for a preference when you don’t need to.

Workflow. InDesign 10 Quark: 5
While Quark can import Photoshop Files and EPS files and has made headway in its compatibility in linking to files generated in Adobe Programs, it is not without its issues. It’s not surprise that Adobe Indesign integrates much more easily with its companion software, making it fit much better into the Adobe production workflow.

The Winner is Adobe Indesign. But if you have points to contribute or feel differently feel free to post that opinion in the comments below.

3D Typography Poster By Roberto Blake

I designed this poster in a very short period of time using Adobe Photoshop. It had been a while since I had a reason to do much with the new 3D typography tools in Photoshop and I wanted to do some images that would allow me to experiment. This just happens to be one of many pieces of typographic artwork that I have in mind to produce over the next few weeks and share with the design community. I have several other ideas that also use 3D typography and a few of them will actually be featured on tshirts through my zazzle account.

Many professionals and design professors frown on the use of Free Fonts, I am not one of them.  Fonts are merely a tool, and while in some cases the quality of the tool is proportionate to its cost, its not a rule that is set in stone. A good tool like a good idea can come from anywhere, and some of the best tools we use today, particularly in technology are in fact FREE.

The important thing is to make the most of what fonts you have available to you and use them wisely, by understanding what makes them appropriate and being able to determine their quality.

The reason many designers and teachers frown upon using these because the majority of them don’t meet their standards or are an imitation of a paid font they already have acquired. If you’re client or supervisor has a design background they may scrutinize your usage of certain fonts, however most clients are not nor ever will be designers and therefore will only care about the result, and if you’ve done your job correctly you can make a design work with a font that cost nothing, just as well as a font you paid $250 for.

Results and execution are what are important. There will be “Purist” that will argue the point, they already have established themselves and have the means to access any resources that suit their point of view. They have the luxury of being elitist or “typography snobs”.

With any decision make in design, just be prepared to defend the reasoning behind each and every pixel in a logical argument if necessary. A fundamental understanding of the importance of typography and the role it plays in design will help you make strong font choices, no matter how large or small your font library may be.

Best Sites for Free Fonts:
http://www.fontspring.com/free
http://www.dafont.com

Photo Manipulation: The Umaking of Her
This photo manipulation was done primarily using the istockphoto.com free photo of the week, something I think I may do every week as a personal challenge. As part of a new presentation format I actually sized this one to the dimensions of and aspect ration of HD video, so that later I can put together a video reel of digital artwork made for the HD screen.

Ultimately I wanted to create an image that I could tie to the emotion I felt looking at the original photograph. It conveyed to me a sense of being under strain or stress,  of being worn down. I wanted to contrast those feelings rather than take the easy route of a stark, harsh depressing or dark image. I wanted to convey a wistful feeling of slowly being worn away over time, and being pushed or blown in different directions. I feel it is representative of the feelings most people experience in everyday life when under pressure.

Techniques and Inspiration
I used a lot of freehand brush work for this piece with my Wacom Intuos3 tablet. I’ve been debating and upgrade for some time now but have been hearing mixed reviews about the Intuos5, so until I try one out for myself or talk to some designers whose opinion I trust I will be sticking with the Intuos3, which is still even now an amazing tool, if you don’t use one in your digital art and photo editing you really should.

The initial retouching I did for this image was very straightforward. It was a black and white photography so one of the first things I did was adjust to tonal range using a combination of Curves Adjustment Layer, and Hue and Saturation. I decided that I wanted this image to convey a warm feeling but also one of age. Finally to really make the model stand out against the background I had in mind, I did some creative dodging and burning.

One of the next things I worked on was choosing colors for the background and doing the initial brush work and highlight flares. After that I went though several images I had to begin building out the overall scene, I knew I wanted it to have an almost mystical “OZ” like quality. I actually took a lot of inspiration for this image from the film: The Vision of Escaflowne, there was a line that kept repeating in the movie, “Just Fade Away…” I know that feeling, and also that alot of people identify with it.

In this Photoshop CS6 Tutorial I will show you how to Change Hair Color in Photoshop using Non Destructive Editing. The tools we’ll be using are Quick Mask Selection (Using a Wacom Tablet), Layer Masking and Adjustment Layers as well as Layer Blend Modes.

This is one of the best, cleanest and fastest methods for selecting hair in Photoshop and being able to easily control and change the hair color without damaging the original picture in any way.

http://youtu.be/C7d1YGWmAzg

First Select the Hair using a soft brush and the quick mask edit mode, painting all the hair that you want to alter. Once you have finished exit quick mask mode, and invert your selection.

Second, use an Adjustment Layer for Hue and Saturation. It should create a Layer Mask that has your hair selected. Now your sliders will allow you to manipulate the hair color as you see fit. This is the easiest way (in my opinion) to Change Hair Color in Photoshop. This is how I prefer for example to change hair color in a brunette to a blonde or vise versa.’

If you apply this same technique to Eyes and Lips you are well on your way to be able to completely control the look of your models and becoming a beauty retouching pro.

Why Adobe Muse is the Future

If you are professional Web Designer who has handcoded over 50+ websties, you probably won’t be impressed with, or recommend Adobe Muse. Ultimately this is because Adobe Muse was not developed with you in mind. I know this because I learned HTML by coding notepad 15 years ago, and I understand: what MUSE is, who it was meant for, what it can’t do, what it does well, and what Adobe intended it for, and whom. As a hand coder, and a print designer I still advocate and support the use of Adobe Muse.

Adobe Muse, much like its print counterpart Adobe InDesign was meant to address a specific group of people. Small Design Shops and Ad Agencies of any size. Adobe Muse answers an age old question, “how to quickly build a website or web page that is consistent with the rest of a markeing campaign that is already established, and keep it low in turn around time and cost?”

Who Adobe Muse Was Meant For:

• Small Design Shops that take simple projects and sites under 10 pages.
• Ad Agencies and Design Boutiques that need quick turn around, keep small staffs, and produce microsites, product pages and landing pages.
• Freelancers who deal in small businesses, advertising, mircosites and landing pages, that have little to no functionality, less than 10 pages and prioritize “look and feel”.
• PSD TO HTML Designers, Website Template Designers, Email Campaign Designers
• InHouse Designers who have to design and maintain a large a mount of small websites 10-15 pages in size, and keep the consistent with changing visuals or very specific brand guidelines, or who work under Creative Directors with a Print or Typography Background.
• Print Designers who have been tasked with also providing a corresponding web design.

Even the most experienced handcoder will have a problem turning around a well designed website that is consistent in most browsers, looks aesthetically perfect and uses all the fonts and branding conventions of the existing advertisement, and turn it around in only a day, or less than a few hours. Much less convert a PSD to and HTML equivalent in that time frame. Adobe Muse was meant to solve this problem and furthermore allow nearly everyone to take the web into their hands and build a presence there, not just the “handcoding elite”.

Adobe MUSE Addresses the Time/Speed Agencies Need to Stay Profitable

Adobe Muse allows that someone with limited experience or no experience handcoding, that still understands the web and has a strong sense of design and can use Photoshop and/or InDesign, will be able to turn around an aesthetically pleasing, functional, feature rich site in between 3-5 Hours and be able to showcase it immediately for revisions and approval.

This is ideal the workflow of say an Ad Agency or Small Business, and if the billing model is hourly it will be cheaper, if not will still be cheaper because it means that less time was taken away from other projects or that a specialist didn’t have to get involved.

Smaller design shops, and ad agencies that don’t have staff that specialize only in web design, have a hard time handling website projects based on the turn around time. The nature of their business is that they do not usually do one project at a time, and the more time they spend on any one thing, the less time they are acquiring or delivering on more paying work.

They have to be able to move quickly. This is why content management systems like Wordpess and Joomla are popular solutions among them. However they fail to address another issue, consistency with the existing campaign or marketing materials.

Adobe MUSE Allows Designers to Focus on Design

As handcoder origianlly, and someone who has worked with them closely, I know for a FACT that their values and priorities are different from thoses of marketers and advertisers. The problem is that in terms of a result the priorities of marketers, advertisers and designers are more closely aligned to the clients expectations.

Form USUALLY FOLLOWS Function, but for todays user, as Apple has shown us, FORM IS FUNCTION sometimes, in the world of Advertising this couldn’t be more true. Adobe Muse allows the web designer to focus on typesetting, layout, margins, spacing and layering much in the same way they would when designing a print advertisement in Adobe InDesign.

The expectations of most clients in this world is an interactive component that compliments their billboards and print ads, and translates across desktops, laptops and mobile devices. They are not concerned with semantic markup, they want it to look appropriate in all conditions and match the advertising, and for any special functionality or lead generation/lead capturing aspects to work as intended. That is the extent of their requirements.

From a cost perspective, agencies will not have to divide the resources and time of their staff. Handcoders can be used for more involved projects that require PHP, ASP or Custom CMS Development or actual programming. Where as Graphic Designers and Production Artist can at least make functional prototypes if not outrightly design the entire site for smaller projects like, landing pages and microsites. That is the value of Adobe Muse. It also does not prohibit SEO, or even modifying the code in Adobe Dreamweaver later.

Responsive Design and Custom Mobile Experiences
Responsive Web Design is a major priority now for several reasons. Adobe Muse allows that to be addressed visually in a very straightforward way. However it also addresses one of the failings of a traditional responsive approach: you can tailor the experience of the site to be different yet appropriate to the device rather than just scaling down or repositioning or restyling the elements. You present image galleries in a way that makes sense for that device or eliminate information that wouldn’t be relevant or a priority for someone using a handset for example. This process would take considerable effort, time and planning if being done via handcoding, where as with Adobe Muse the entire process takes mere minutes from thougth to execution, not mention the time saved in being able to see the results immediately before having to fully commit to them.

What Adobe Muse Is Not:

• And End All, Be All Solution to Web Design
• A Content Management System
• A Substitute for Good Design Principles and Understanding of Web Standards
• A Way to Become a Talented Web Designer
• A Solution for Large and Complex Websites.

Conclusions:
Adobe Muse will and has changed the landscape of design. It’s leveled the playing field orginally only reserved for those who dared to learn the ins and outs HTML and CSS and their rules, which frankly many cannot do in a timely fashion.

Adobe Muse is no substitute for undestanding web design standards, terminology or handcoding for that fact. Adobe Muse is a great solution and time saver for creating simple web presences necessary to achieve marketing, media and information based objectives.

Muse like any other Adobe product is a great tool, a smart tool, that has its proper place and time in a designers workflow, and deserves a lot more respect that its been given, it just hasn’t been viewed in the proper context. Most of this can be attributed into some elitism within the webdesign and webdevelopment community, and the fact that many web designers view print as a dead medium and don’t have a proper respect for the mindset and values of print design

(I’m speaking from experience as this was my own view in 2002 when in college I proclaimed newspaper advertising would be dead or dying within a decade and that we should be learning more about web design).

Adobe Muse is part of a trend I see Adobe pushing forward with; make things more accessible and inclusive within the industry and grow the solutions available for creative problem solving.

The Nikon D40 is arguably one of the best DSLR camera’s Nikon has ever made. It’s light weight and compact size make it convenient for anyone to use and easily adapt for a dual battery kit or other accessories that usually add more weight to the camera.

You can pay more for camera’s with fancier features, menu’s screens and dialogues, but this is probably the best entry level DSLR on the market other than the Nikon D3200

The Nikon D40 is a 6.1 Megapixel DSLR, but in truth that is all you need for 8×10 photo’s, look up the mexapixel myth for more information backing this up. It is capable of ISO100-6400 and if you are shooting with a F 1.8 lens you see little grain at ISO 3200 in low light.

The automatic settings allow the uninitiated to take great photos right out of the box. However those more comfortable with manual settings won’t be hindered by this camera. The light way makes it deal for capturing images in the moment. I particularly like this for event and macro photography for this reason. The focus on this camera is remarkably fast and sharp. I shoot with it mostly in complete manual mode with spot metering. My lens of choice for this camera is the  35mm F 1.8 G Series Lens. It has a good autofocus however, I shoot with manual focus due to my own preference and how I use depth of field and reverse depth of field.

In terms of cost you can by a Used Nikon D40 for $150.00 or less. That is a grea Tt bargain for this DSLR camera especially if you already have the glass for it. This by far my favorite all around shooting camera to use in nearly any situation.

The only reason I got the D3200 was for its video capabilities, not because I thought it could produce better photos, although the live view and the extra megapixels on that camera were great I primarily use it for video and use it for photos as a matter of convenience. This camera is still the one I shoot with strictly for photos, the light weight also helps me out considerably when I need to shoot all day long. I recommend the D7000 ($900) if you want to keep shooting with your DX lenses but want a weather sealed body and better access to controls and buttons but not a huge price jump from a D3200 or D5100 ($600). If you want to go FX format and take it seriously and shoot both photo and video I recommend the Nikon D600 ($1900) but will also recommend you get FX Glass for it, which will get somewhat expensive.

I prefer to shoot with my Nikon D40 and its still just as comfortable as when I bought in 2008. It has more than made its return on investment for paid photography over the years, in fact I think it managed to do so within its first month of purchase including the extra lenses I bought for it. So again I highly recommend this whether you’re a beginner or pro, if you’re a pro this is a great second camera and a great travel camera due to its weight.

Nikon D40 Photography Samples

You can view 30+ full size samples here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjDH9SXk

How to Become a Graphic Designer

http://youtu.be/Cxxh8aEfkrE

I’ve come to realize that much the information that young people today hoping to begin a career in graphic design is outdated or not communicated very clearly. It’s actually one of the reasons I started blogging in the first place. It’s 2013 and the most popular videos on graphic design and career advice surrounding it is nearly 10 years old…

So much of graphic design has changed over the years, even in the last 2-3 years the scope of what people in the visual arts field do has grown and evolved. I’ll be creating more videos to cover these topics but I wanted to create a basic video to introduce most of the direct questions I’m frequently asked both on Youtube and through this blog.

h2>What Does a Graphic Designer Actually Do?

Graphic Designers do quite a bit, or at least they can. Graphic Designers do everything from create the key art for movie posters and album covers, to designing packaging, logos, print advertisements, billboards and the artwork and banner advertisements for websites, but this is not the limit to what graphic designers do by any means.

What Skills Do Graphic Designers Need Most?

• Photo Editing and Retouching
• Page Layout
• Digital Print Production/Pre Press
• Typography and Logo Design
• Basic Web Design/ HTML/CSS/Javascript

What Software Do Graphic Designers Need to Learn

While its important to learn standard Microsoft Office Applications, its important to know about some other software like FTP, and online storage and backups. You also need a general understanding of certain computer hardware and accessories as well like: Desktop, Laptops, Tablets, External Hard Drives, UBS Flash Drives, Digital Cameras/Camcorders, Laserjet printers and Digital Drawing Tablets.

As for Design related software the primary programs to learn are Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe Illustrator as well as Adobe Acrobat. Adobe Photoshop will be your main go to program for creating key art, banner advertisements, background elements, 3D typography and other assets. Its the most common program used by designers. If you will be working more with Print, Packaging, or Multi-page documents like Magazines, Books or Newspapers, you will be combining Photoshop with InDesign, Adobe’s page layout and Digital Pre Press program. If you are primarily and Illustrator or Logo Designer, then it is no surprise that you will be using Adobe Illustrator, Adobe’s vector artwork application.

There are alternatives to using the Adobe Applications but they are the industry standard for a reason and have recently been made more accessible thanks to the Adobe Creative Cloud Subscription program.

Do I Need To Go To School to Become a Graphic Designer?

The honest answer is…maybe. There are a lot of advantages to getting a design education, even if you do not get a degree in Graphic Design. If you decide pursue a different degree like Fine Arts, or some other related field you can fill a lot of your credits with Graphic Design courses and still leave your options open. Many great designers forgo schooling all together and are still very successful. I depends on your situation, skills, and learning style.

If you have more questions feel free to leave them in the comments below or comment on my Youtube video.

In this video I will show you How To Make Better Youtube Videos using affordable equipment. I will cover Camera’s, Lighting, and Audio Equipment. You can get most of this stuff off Amazon fairly cheaply and put together an amazing Youtube Studio for a few hundred bucks.

Youtube Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZGa-NxVLbU

Camera’s to Make Better Youtube Videos:
I use a Nikon D3200 ($600) http://tinyurl.com/bgzvlws

I recommend the following Camera’s:
Sony HD Bloggie $89 http://tinyurl.com/agtu5u5
Canon Rebel T3i http://tinyurl.com/3r3vwj3
Samsung Galaxy S3
iPhone5 or iPhone5s

Lighting Kits to help you Improve Your Youtube Videos:
Square Perfect Professional 2000 Watt Lighting Kit ($130)

http://tinyurl.com/aynphop

Square Perfect Lighting Kit I use:

http://tinyurl.com/arwys4n

Digital Recorders to Improve Your Youtube Audio in Videos:
Zoom H1 (I used this): http://tinyurl.com/4jfkypg
Zoom H4n (Used by HISHE): http://tinyurl.com/mvbc8z

Don’t forget to subscribe!
You can also follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/robertoblake
Read my blog at: http://robertoblake.com/blog

I recently just purchased a Nikon D3200 DSLR. This camera has a great live view display, stereo audio, full HD video (1080P) and shoots 24 Mega Pixel images. If you’re looking for a great and affordable entry level DSLR or just a really easy to use light weight camera for professional shooting, this is definitely an option you should consider.

Nikon D3200 an the Mega Pixel Myth
You’ve heard it before “Mega Pixels Don’t Matter”, this is only a half truth. For general shooting and prints, they don’t matter. However if you are a graphic designer or video effects editor planning to do composites, photo manipulation or retouching, those mega pixels can be pretty convenient, especially when working with green screen “clean plates”, and isolating figures as stills for an effect later.

Improved Audio on the Nikon D3200
This Nikon has made several strides when it comes to Audio quality. In addition to an in menu system for controlling mic sensitivity, it features an external microphone jack that you can use with a boom kit or hot shoe shotgun microphone. I recommend using a boom kit and a splitter for headphones with it.

Nikon D3200 as Video DSLR
The D3200  is extremely impressive as far as the quality video it produces. Even with the automatic settings and kit lens right out of the box, its a performer. One of the first things I noticed was the light weight, very important for those moments when you don’t have a tripod and need to be able to steady the camera over time. This camera can shoot at Full HD 1080P at 24 and 30 FPS, and can shoot 720P at 60FPS if you’re interested in slow motion or action.

Nikon D3200 Photo Samples

Nikon D3200 Video Sample
Video Sample with kit lens
Nikon D3200 Video Test Sample. 1080P 24FPS ISO 200 Shutter Speed 1/60 F5, using Kit VR Lens. No tripod.

Conclusions
The Nikon D3200 is an amazing all around camera for photo enthusiast as well as those starting photography as a small business. It also is great for documentary film making, cinematography and interview style videos and has fantastic quality for the average youtube producer.

If you have any questions about this camera, leave a comment and I will get back to you, you can ask about setting, request more test videos and sample images or even ask questions about lenses and other accessories.

The Google Nexus 10 is here, and just in time since I was going to finally buy the Nexus7. This device seems like the mostly likely candidate to challenge Apple, just as it made a 7inch Tablet of its own to compete with the price umbrella and success of the Nexus7 and Kindle Fire HD.

Raw Power of a Samsung Processor
The processor is 1.7Ghz Dual Core and made by Samsung. This interesting because a lot of commentary from the Apple community implied (mostly on twitter and allthingsd.com) that Apple moving away from its relationship with Samsung would mean a lot of Samsung’s jobs would disappear. The whole reason Apple looked to Samsung as a supplier was its “capacity”. Samsung didn’t built it self up after a relationship with Apple, it already had the means to meet Apples’ goals, and deliver quality components, same reasons Google utilizes them…

2GB of Ram, OVERKILL
Personally I’m a huge fan of overkill, in fact I have the OVERKILL ACHIEVEMENT in GuildWars2 but I would happily give that badge of honor to the Google Nexus 10. 2GB of Ram is more than most people need, but not me as I plan to run Adobe Touch Apps like most designers and stream HD video.

QuadCore GPU, OVERKILL X2
Quad Core GPU? In a tablet? Again, more than we may initially need, but goes a long way toward saying this tablet may be future proof. This is great if you want to Use Adobe Touch Apps or AutoDesk Apps. It will also be fun or the casual gamer and anyone who wants to enjoy Full HD Videos on the go. Also with Miricast you can transmit video to any wireless TV if you don’t feel like using the onboard miniHDMI connector.

A Display that beats the Almighty Retina
For the uninitiated, Apple’s game changer with the iPad3/New iPad as well as its line up of Mac’s for 2012 was the “Almighty Retina Display”. Well the rest of the world particularly Android partners stood up and took notice. The Nexus 10 isn’t the first device to beat the Retina Display, simply the latest and greatest (for the moment). Apples current Retina Display is 240ppi your traditional laptop has 72-96ppi, the Nexus 10 brings 300ppi to the table, bringing you over 4MILLION pixels!

And all for $100 less than the iPad. That is going to be the real rub here for the holiday shopping dollars in my opinion. The Nexus 10 goes on sale November 13. As soon as I can I will put together an inforgraphic comparing the Nexus 10 and iPad.

Personally I think the Nexus 10 is going to be amazing, I’ve enjoyed my experience playing with the Nexus7 and I think that Google has a homerun in the making here to start taking some of the Tablet MarketShare especially if they deepen their relationship with Samsung and learn from their mistakes. But this is just my opinion and I would love to hear from any of you out there. Let me know what you think with your comments below!

Photoshop is the primary tool in Graphic Design and Advertising for a reason. It has amazing features that allow you to produce fantastic images and composites. One the main techniques necessary to do the high end design work featured in advertisements, movie posters and book covers, requires you to remove images from their background and combine them seamlessly with other images and backgrounds. In this tutorial I’m going to demonstrate one of the most accurate techniques for extracting images from backgrounds.

Please watch the video below or use this link to watch the video on Youtube: http://youtu.be/rexOe9tTAgE?hd=1