Customer Rating: 
Summary: More people should know about this book
Comment: Many software manuals are poorly designed or written. Many attempt to cover every obscure function of a program, an approach that is outmoded with extensive online help resources. Worse yet, many teach through step-by-step execution of lifeless projects that may teach the software but also exemplify bad design.
This book takes a sane and refreshing approach: teach the essentials only, but teach them well and clearly. Being a book about design software, the fact that it is well-designed teaches by example (something which is utterly lacking in the design software manual marketplace.)
Gatter makes the sophisticated Adobe Creative Suite applications (and Quark Xpress) accessible to anyone, not just designers. Many designers use the same basic 20% of an application's functionality over and over. That is the focus of this book. Yes, it covers Photoshop and Illustrator and InDesign, etc in about 50 pages each and yes that is enough to get anyone comfortable with the applications. If you need to know more there are many advanced books out there.
This is not a dumbed-down instruction manual. It is a carefully focused one.
Good structure + good writing + good examples + good design + brevity = a great book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great resource!
Comment: This book has been a valuable tool for learning new tricks for the programs I know and for learning the basics of the programs I don't know. Highly recommend!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great book at a great price
Comment: This book is a fantastic survey of 2D graphic design programs. It is well written and has a ton of full color pictures that guide you. Covering the most popular programs, it will surely give you a great foundation for graphic design. The CD included complements the book very well and has many helpful, short, and easily understood tutorials for each chapter. And at this amazing price it's the greatest $20 book purchase I've ever made.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Helps you answer how-to questions you encounter on the job
Comment: Mark Gatter, the author of Software Essentials for Graphic Designers, assumes that as a graphic designer, you may specialize in one of four areas of design which are website design, vector graphics, image editing and page layout. Therefore, you will probably concentrate on those software programs that will help you in your area. But eventually, you may take on a project that will require you to use some of those other software programs that you may have just glanced at in the past. So where do you turn? This quick reference book will help you answer those basic how-to questions you encounter on the job.
Gatter chose to concentrate on the seven most popular 2D graphic software programs; Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash, Acrobat and Quark QuartXPress. Each program is given its own chapter which begins with an overview of the program, what jobs it can be used for and how it differs from other design programs. The author tries to make the rest of the chapter as version independent as possible, which works to the readers advantage. Instead of concentrating on the new bells and whistles included in the latest version, he concentrates on the basic features which are included in any version. He hopes that by only teaching these basics skills, which are usually the skills you will need on most design projects, his readers will not be overwhelmed with information. Basically, he teaches you the skills you need to accomplish simple tasks with each of the seven software programs and gives you enough knowledge of the software to be ready to learn more advanced skills.
The CD contains the files used in the book and video tutorials that reinforce what you have learned. Mark Gatter has extensive experience in graphic design, web and print production and shares several tips throughout the book. He is also an instructor and the author of Getting It Right In Print: A Guide for Graphic Designers.
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