The last two sessions of our spring Creative Transitions Seminar Series begin in Madison on March 23, with a session bound to get the attention of anyone using the web to generate leads, sales or revenue:
Web Design & Content that Delivers ROI.

We changed the Milwaukee date for this session to April 13.

C2 has enlisted Jeff Larche, a leading expert in analytics and marketing technology ROI, to help our clients identify best practices in both developing and quantifying an investment in a web site, landing page or social media campaign.

• CTSS 3 – Web Design & Content that Delivers ROI
• CTSS 4 – Web Analytics that Clients LOVE!

Jeff, a prolific researcher and writer on the topic of digital ROI, has explored this subject repeatedly in his blog, Digital Solid. We’ve attached a few of our favorite posts to tease and intrigue you. Sign up today to see Jeff LIVE in Madison or Milwaukee, so he can help you take advantage of the incredible technological evolution impacting in our industry.

–WHAT BUSINESSES ARE VALUING–

–OVERALL APPROACHES TO DIGITAL ROI–

–FINDING “HIDDEN” ROI–

Announcement:

We’ve reviewed YOUR feedback from the spring CTSS events and are thrilled to announce the dates and topics for the fall series!

We kick-off in Madison on Tuesday, Sept. 7, from 1-4 pm followed by a happy hour in which you can further explore the topic with your instructor and fellow participants.

Save the DATES:

September 7 (Mad) & 21 (Mke): Content Management Systems

October 5 (Mad) & 19 (Mke) 9 am to 4 pm: SuperUsers Unite! Masters Techniques in Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign

November 9 (Mad) & 16 (Mke): Mobile & Web Application Design & Development

December 7 (Mad) & 14 (Mke): Intermediate Web Development

Details on pricing, curriculum, and venues coming SOON!

Well, sort of. Adobe Illustrator’s multiple artboards at least created a solution for a long standing issue – creating a PDF from a layered Illustrator file.

Imagine you’ve created an Illustrator design using layers with multiple versions on said layers. Now you want to end up with these designs as a multiple page PDF. In previous versions, you would have to change the visibility (and turn the layer to non-printing) and save each layer as a separate PDF. Then combine them all back inside of Acrobat – IF you had Acrobat Pro, that is.

Well, now you can save yourself a lot of time and trouble using the multiple artboards feature in Illustrator. Here’s how:

Take your design and turn on the appropriate layers for a version.

Then select your Artboard Tool (shift+O), making sure the “Move/Copy Artwork with Artboard” button is turned on.

Hold down the Alt/Opt key and drag your artboard to duplicate the artboard. Only the visible layers will duplicate! Leave the original objects on the board – do not delete, we can ignore Artboard 1 when we save. Repeat each step, activating layers and duplicating out from Artboard 1.

When you are finished, Save As a PDF, selecting which artboards you wish to include (ignoring Artboard 1) and you are all set!

I was approached after Acrobash with a question by an attendee: “Why do I care about attending a user group? Isn’t it geared towards new users and hobbyists?” The answer couldn’t be further from it.

I’m speaking in general terms, not of one specific group. User groups and other networking events are indispensable in today’s market. They are your link to other like-minded individuals and potential employers in an informal and comfortable setting.

Networking is what you make of it. When you attend a meeting or event, if you become shy or avoid contact with others, then you are missing out on a lot of opportunities. The person sitting quietly in the corner goes unnoticed, while the person introducing themselves and engaging in conversations is remembered.

Part of the process that may not be understood is that while attending these events will not guarantee you a job, it does not hurt your chances either. It gets your name out there, puts you in front of people who can either hire you or point you to a new opportunity. The more you are active and placing yourself out there the sooner people will take note of you.

Think of it as marketing a brand – you. If you do not advertise yourself, you are only keeping yourself anonymous in the eyes of employers.

Speaking from personal experience, when I moved to Milwaukee I felt like a little fish in a big pond. I’m sure many graduates or people new on the market can feel the same way. However, attending user groups and networking events – even non-industry related ones – helped introduce me to the players in the community and establish me as a resource. Trust me, I’m not comfortable just introducing myself to a person I don’t know, but it is necessary at times to start a relationship. Someone has to do it.

If you want to find out about upcoming industry events and user group meetings, check out our pipeline and user groups listings. For more insight and ideas on how to network effectively, check out our friend, Maryl Petrie’s latest Profit Pros Newsletter here.

Get out there and join in.

When you place anything into Adobe InDesign (text, graphic or table) a commonly overlooked feature is import options. It is located in the lower left hand corner of the place dialog box.

If you choose to click import options you will be greeted with a plethora of information regarding your file that will help choose how the file will be imported (content and/or formatting).

Microsoft Word Import Options

Word’s options let you choose the formatting options of text, importing of inline graphics/tables or even map Word styles to InDesign styles.

*If you want to remove Word’s formatting, but keep local changes (like bold and italic) don’t forget to click “preserve local overrides”

Microsoft Excel Import Option

Excel’s import lets you select the sheet you would like to import and/or formatting options.

Image Import Options

Placing a layered .psd file with import options allows you to choose the visibility of individual layers or even pick from a Photoshop layer comp. Be sure to save .psd files with maximum compatibility to ensure proper importing into InDesign. Other options include activating the clipping path and changing the color profile.

PDF/AI/INDD Import Options

If you are placing a PDF, Adobe Illustrator file (.ai) or even another InDesign file (.indd) you can choose which page range, transparent background, layer and cropping options.

The Shift Key

The problem with choosing the import options check-box is that it remembers that you have checked it and it will remain checked for every subsequent item that you place. A workaround this problem is to hold down the Shift Key as you place the file(s) that you would like to see with the import options box. The shift key will allow those particular items to bring up their respective import options, but the check-box will remain off in the subsequent item placements.

Every month the offering of professional development meet ups, lunches and seminars seems to grow, and so does the diversity and quality of opportunties.  I’ve highlighted a couple things we think may be pretty cool, made cooler, of course, by YOUR participation.

3/8  SEO Meet Up

3/9  PHP Meet Up

3/11 Creativity Works! Focus Group

3/16 Leave Smarter! J.B. Kenehan User Group

3/16 WPPC 2010 Publishing Suppliers Expo

Dramatic title, huh?  Well, I recently read an article outlining four major shifts in the traditional business model the advertising industry faces over the course of the next few years, titled:

IBM Study: The end of advertising as we know it

That makes my headline look tame. The results, while not as dramatic as the article’s title, should be heeded.  Of the four changes, one stood out:

“Measurement – Advertisers are demanding more individual-specific and involvement- based measurements, putting pressure on the traditional mass-market model.”

While this is an area direct marketers have explored for several years, new techniques, models and approaches for measuring and reporting surface daily. Keeping up with best practices can be daunting. We enlisted Jeff Larche, from Digital Solid and HarQen, a leading expert in analytics and web content development, to help our clients to help theirs.  Join us for the last two segments of the Creative Transitions Seminar Series (CTSS) in which Jeff will facilitate 2 workshops:

• CTSS – Web Design & Content that Delivers ROI
• CTSS – Web Analytics that Clients LOVE!

Jeff, a prolific researcher and writer on the topic of digital ROI, has attacked this subject repeatedly in his blog, Digital Solid. We’ve attached a few of our favorite posts to tease and intrigue you.  Sign up today to see Jeff LIVE in Madison or Milwaukee, so he can help you take advantage of the changing climate in our industry.

–WHAT BUSINESSES ARE VALUING–

–OVERALL APPROACHES TO DIGITAL ROI–

–FINDING “HIDDEN” ROI–

Coming down off the buzz from the 20th Anniversary of Adobe Photoshop, I thought a good transitional post would be to show what is coming down the road for Photoshop.

The Official Adobe Photoshop Facebook page is a great asset for Photoshop enthusiasts. Posts include upcoming events worldwide, tips and tricks, and more importantly, sneak peeks at “future technologies being developed by Adobe Systems that may or may not be featured in an upcoming release.” (Thanks Sandee Cohen!)

Here are some featured sneak peeks for you.

Content Aware Fill:

Advanced Selections/Refine Edge:

Painting Enhancements:

The Question I’m getting: Is it time start using HTML5?

The Answer I’m giving: It depends.

(and that answer doesn’t get a lot of applause)

HTML5 is the next (proposed) version of the underlying language of the web, bringing with it some great features like plug-in-less video and audio, a pixel-based drawing and animating canvas, local storage of data, and additional semantic tags that more accurately reflect the kind of content web developers create on a daily basis.

HTML5 will (along with the improvements in Javascript, Javascript libraries, CSS3 and SVG) allow web developers to create powerful online web applications in addition to more capable web pages.

HTML5 is coming to a browser near you soon. As a matter of fact, depending on which browser you’re using, you may already have an almost full complement of HTML5 capabilities. And there’s the rub: standards-based web development requires that our content accommodate the least capable of browsers – we don’t lock people out from our content because of their choice of browsers. Which means we generally don’t use a new web technology until all common browsers can use it.

So if you’re asking “should I start coding all my sites in HTML5 today?” – the answer is “of course not.”

If you’re asking “can I start enhancing my sites with strategically-used parts of HTML5 using progressive enhancement techniques that allow modern browsers to enjoy the full experience while still providing essential information to everyone?” –  then I say go for it, there are wonderful things to be built with this new technology.

For a great overview of what parts of HTML5 are currently supported by each major browser go to http://a.deveria.com/caniuse/

With Photoshop’s 20th Anniversary coming up on February 19, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the splash screens and some trivia/tricks from the past 20 years. This is the most complete collection of splash screens and alternate/easter eggs I could gather. Enjoy!

This is the first icon from Adobe Photoshop (v.087!). It was known as “Photo Hut”. Go figure.

Here is version 1.0.7 the first edition of Adobe Photoshop  February 19, 1990

Version 2.0.1 “Fast Eddy” 1991

Version 2.5 Alternate Splash Screen – “Merlin” (who is still with us today – see below) 1992

Version 3.0 1994

Version 3.0 Alternate Splash Screen – “Taking Tiger Mountain”

Version 4.0 – 1996

Version 4.0 Alternate Splash Screen – “Big Electric Cat” – The most popular codename.

Version 5.0 – 1998

Version 5.0 Alternate Splash Screen – “Strange Cargo” – SUPER SECRET EASTER EGG -If you held down the option/alt key, and went to About (under help menu) you got the splash screen. But then if you typed the word “burp” the crate would open and the cat would look out. Then, type in the cats name “Udo” and it would meow!

Version 6.0 – 2000

Version 6.0 Alternate Splash Screen – “Venus in Furs”. The Big Electric Cat is back! Very, very odd…

Version 7.0 – 2002

Version 7.0 Alternate Splash Screen – “Liquid Sky” – Note Big Electric Cat in the lower left corner of the window.

Version 8.0 (CS) – 2003

CS Alternate Splash Screen – “Dark Matter” – B.E. Cat is now behind the name.

Version 9.0 (CS2) – 2005

CS2 Alternate Splash Screen – “Space Monkey” – B.E. Cat in space.

Version 10 (CS3) – 2007

CS3 Alternate Splash Screen – “Red Pill” – Rumor was Illustrator was to be the “Blue Pill” which never came to be. B.E. Cat is reflected in the pill.

CS3 Alternate Splash Screen – EASER EGG – If you take a screenshot of the alternate splash screen and then run Levels, adjust the shadow sliders all the way to the right, you will see a memorial of Bruce Fraser.

Bruce was a well-known author, Photoshop innovator and the very first recipient of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

Version 11.0 (CS4) – 2008

CS4 Alternate Splash Screen – “Stonehenge”.

And finally a bonus easter egg. I bet you didn’t realize that Merlin has stuck with us all along. If you go to your Layers Panel Menu, hold down opt./alt and select Panel Options. Ta Da! Merlin appears!

Happy Birthday Photoshop and many more to come!

The Adobe Creative Suite has a variety of options for switching between screen modes. If you are going to be showing a client a design on your screen, it can be distracting for them to see all of your panels and menus. To hide your panels, press the tab key and they will disappear until you press the tab key again. The following showcases the features of each program’s view settings.

InDesign

You can change the visibility of the document window using the Mode buttons at the bottom of the toolbox or by choosing commands from the View > Screen Mode menu. When the toolbox is displayed in a single column, you can select view modes by clicking the current mode button and selecting a different mode from the menu that appears.

• Normal Mode  – Displays artwork in a standard window with all visible grids and guides showing, non-printing objects showing, and a white pasteboard.
• Preview Mode - Displays artwork as if it were output, with all non-printing elements suppressed (grids, guides, non-printing objects), and the pasteboard set to the preview background color defined in Preferences.
• Bleed Mode  – Displays artwork as if it were output, with all non-printing elements suppressed (grids, guides, non-printing objects), the pasteboard set to the preview background color defined in Preferences, and any printing elements within the document’s bleed area (defined in Document Setup) showing.
• Slug Mode  – Displays artwork as if it were output, with all non-printing elements suppressed (grids, guides, non-printing objects), the pasteboard set to the preview background color defined in Preferences, and any printing elements within the document’s slug area (defined in Document Setup) showing.
• You can also tap the letter “w” on your keyboard to switch between Normal and Preview, Bleed or Slug (depending on what was chosen last.

Acrobat

• Enter Full Screen – Cmd (ctrl) + L
• View menu > Enter Full Screen

Photoshop

• To display the default mode (menu bar at the top and scroll bars on the side), choose View > Screen Mode > Standard Screen Mode. Or, click the Screen Mode button  in the Application bar, and select Standard Screen Mode from the pop-up menu.
• To display a full-screen window with a menu bar and a 50% gray background, but no title bar or scroll bars, choose View > Screen Mode > Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar. Or, click the Screen Mode button in the Application bar, and select Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar from the pop-up menu.
• To display a full-screen window with only a black background (no title bar, menu bar, or scroll bars), choose View > Screen Mode > Full Screen Mode. Or, click the Screen Mode button in the Application bar, and select Full Screen Mode from the pop-up menu.
• You can also tap the letter “f” on your keyboard to switch between these various modes.

Illustrator

You can change the visibility of the illustration window and menu bar using the mode options at the bottom of the Tools panel. To access panels when in Full Screen Mode, position the cursor at the left or right edge of the screen and the panels will pop up. If you’ve moved them from their default locations, you can access them from the Window menu.

• Normal Screen Mode  displays artwork in a standard window, with a menu bar at the top and scroll bars on the sides.
• Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar  displays artwork in a full-screen window, with a menu bar at the top and scroll bars.
• Full Screen Mode  displays artwork in a full-screen window, with no title bar or menu bar.
• You can also tap the letter “f” on your keyboard to switch between these various modes.

We Love Snow Leopard! How About You?

Snow Leopard launched in October. If you haven’t upgraded yet, now is your chance to see it in action and decide if this is the right time for you.

Two meet and greets will be held at the following locations:

TONIGHT! Monday February 15th: 4pm to 6pm
C2 Graphics Productivity Solutions
222 E Erie Street, Suite 330, Milwaukee, WI 53202

414-431-0062

Tuesday February 16th: 6pm to 8pm
MC Services
N27 W23921 Paul Road, Suite A, Pewaukee, WI 53072

262-522-6950

About MC Services
MC Services offers a full scope of support services, including Mac and PC Integration, FileMaker Development, Hosting and Co-Location, Apple and Windows Consulting, Backup and Preventative Solutions, and our new Apple Rental System. We have certifications in Apple, FileMaker, Microsoft, and Cisco Technologies.

MC Services is the only Apple Certified IT Training Center in Wisconsin and offers a full slate of certification classes taught by our Apple Certified Trainers. We also offer all Apple IT Certification Exams (with or without taking the course).

MC Services is also an Apple Authorized Service Provider and can handle all your warranty and non-warranty repair and upgrade needs.

This month, Adobe Photoshop will be turning 20 years old. For the first time in 18 years founders Thomas and John Knoll, along with Steve Guttman and Russell Brown, gather at NBC Bay Area studios for an impromptu interview during a photo shoot.

Check out the video here:

Photoshop Founders

Be sure to check out the Milwaukee Adobe Users Group meeting on Feb. 24 for the full celebration including a look back, a look ahead and of course birthday cake. Join the group or find out more here.

Join C2’s own James Fritz, the world’s top InDesign experts and members of the Adobe InDesign team, May 12-14 in Seattle for the InDesign event of the year! Find answers and valuable insight on the topics publishing for eBooks, print, interactive documents and more. Be inspired by fresh ideas and new products! Plus, if you use the discount code below, you get a $50 discount on your registration!

Topics include:

• InDesign CS “X”*: What to Expect
• Boosting efficiency with InDesign’s automation
  features
• Best practices for a cross-media workflow
• Creating and managing ePub and Kindle documents
• Working with Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver,
  and Flash
• XML, XSL and You

*Note that Adobe has not yet announced the next release of InDesign, but the new version is widely expected sometime in late Spring, 2010. During the conference, we will include as much information as we can (that Adobe has made public).

Speakers include:

• David Blatner
• Anne-Marie Concepción
• Russell Viers
• Rufus Deuchler
• Mordy Golding
• Michael Ninness, Group Product Manager, Creative Suite
• Chris Kitchener, Senior Product Manager, InDesign
• Olav Martin Kvern
• Branislav Milic
• Diane Burns
• Keith Gilbert
• Jim Maivald
• Steve Werner
• Mike Rankin
• David Creamer
• Gabriel Powell
• Colin Fleming
• Will Eisley, Director, Digital Publishing Division, Adobe Systems
• Pariah S. Burke
• James Fritz
• James Wamser
• Members of the Adobe Engineering Team

Registration Information

1. Visit: http://indesignsecretslive.com/conference.html
2. Click Register online here
3. On the first page of the registration form, type C2PEPSEA into the Discount Code field and save $50!

On Wednesday, four panelists spoke at the The Eisner American Museum of Advertising & Design about the broad topics of Web, Interactive and Motion Graphics. I was lucky enough to be one of the participating panelists and it was an exciting opportunity to talk with people in the community about the options, future, and general information concerning these areas of the creative world.

We had a good turnout of about 50 people. Most of the attendees were students at MIAD and MATC, not surprising since the event was part of the College Lecture Series, but there were also some professionals from the community there.

It was an interesting time as the four panelists had a great variety of experiences and focus that they brought to the discussion. The panelists were Micah Eberman of Fullhouse Interactive, Jason Evans of GS Design, Nick Waraska of Blend Studios, and me (Alexander Lucas of C2 Graphics and Stamm Media). The experiences touted included: high-end broadcast motion graphics, interactive websites, iPhone apps, trade show displays, and flash applications.

The panel agreed for the most part on the prepared questions concerning whether you need to continue to educate yourself, where to find the sites, and the importance of knowing broad skills but also specializing in a specific skill.

One topic brought up at the panel, of no great surprise, was the question of the future with the iPad and other tablet computers. There was again mostly consensus on this issue that while the iPad does not support Flash that it would not be an instant Flash killer and that it will take a long lumbering time for the internet to fully embrace HTML 5.

The two biggest questions which split the panel, however, concerned the role of social media and the future of the web/interactive/motion graphics space. Some of the panelists saw social media as being of the most importance and something that is the wave of future revenue and expression, while others admitting not really having a firm grip on where to proceed in this realm and what to do with it.

The only main consensus in the future debate: a sense of uncertainty of exactly what will happen. But that is what makes the future so interesting. We can still be surprised and be creative with emerging technologies.

If you have not already read Jim Conway’s great post on why the iPad is the way it is, check it out here. After reading a lot on the pros and cons of the Apple iPad I thought I’d share some of my wishes (geek speak = “Feature Requests”) for the next “big thing.” To reiterate what Jim stated, the iPad was built for a particular audience. Apple has made that point clear, but who says you can’t ask for something new based on the technology of the iPad?

Here’s my wish list for the next Apple touchscreen über geek device:

1. A built in iSight Camera. Hopefully they have it face the user like a MacBook, not on the back of the product like an iPhone. Think of how cool it would be to  Skype or video iChat live on this.

2. Have true DVI output. It is already there, but it is really a dock adapter and not something that you can just plug and play. You have to buy another part. A mini DVI output would be great.  Also support higher than 480p video.

3. Include GPS technology. It seems today that everything else has it.

4. More Ports. DVI, USB, Firewire, Micro/Mini USB – anything. Give me some way to connect to this with my peripherals.

5. Optical drive – While I’m not saying install a DVD Drive into the side of this, the issue is already solved by your own wireless technology/software solution (Remote Disk).

6. The Operating System. Please include an option to run in a normal Mac OSX operating environment. While I love my iPod Touch and can’t imagine a day without it, the OS is limiting and I accept that due to its portability. With the über geek device I desire, it would be nice to be able to load and run full applications.

7. A pen stylus. I love the touch interfaces, but drawing with my shaky finger is remedial at best. This was very evident at the Apple Store this weekend. I had to try and sign my name on their touch interface with my finger, and let me tell you, it was messy (lol).

A valid argument against designing a new über geeky device is that Apple already solved these issues with the Macbook Air. And while that product is great, it does not have a full screen touch/tablet experience with it. It is still just a laptop. A new device is the answer – a marriage of the Air and iPad. Power and portability.

Can you imagine taking a device like this to a client for a presentation? You could  have Photoshop loaded, plug it directly into the projector and use it as a substitute Wacom tablet? Awesome. You would only need the machine,  a DVI adapter and a Power cord (maybe). Huzzah, bring on the future and bring it on quickly!

Every year C2 staff enjoys participating in the Wisconsin Student Portfolio Review held at the Eisner Museum of Advertising & Design in partnership with MIAD.  Watch for the date in next month’s C2 News You Can Use.

The first evening at the Eisner provides time for informal networking, followed by a panel of Creative experts sharing their insights about joining and staying current in the fields of advertising and design.  Saturday, students have the opportunity to meet with Senior Level creative staff from a broad cross-section of companies – ad agencies, design firms, corporate communications staff and more. These experts share their time and knowledge to interview and coach soon-to-be graduates in print, web and video.  Students receive feedback on their portfolios, tricks and tips to strengthen their work and great interviewing experience.

Stay tuned next month for the official dates for WSPR 2010!

Outbound email marketing is no longer a novelty, it’s part of most businesses’ strategic or tactical marketing mix. But the penetration of HTML emails doesn’t mean they’re any easier to build. The proliferation of online and desktop email clients can make deliverability a challenge, in addition to poor CSS and semantic code support. Keeping up with the best techniques for building, troubleshooting and ultimately mastering HTML email design and development is our passion – let us share it with you!

If you’re ready to become a Creative Email Supergenius, join us for our next Creative Transitions Seminar in our series: Best Practices in HTML Emails. Offered in Milwaukee 2/9 and Madison 2/23.  Join us!

User groups foster community and professional development among local designers and developers, without the structure of a professional organization or the associated fees. Locally, Madison and Milwaukee boast some ROBUST groups that we think deserve your attention. Participation in these groups can extend your network, help you expand your skill set, connect you with potential projects or partners and can be a good face-to-face resource for troubleshooting challenges.

C2 supports a number of user groups by hosting the meetings, providing food and beverages, allocating staff time to coordinate or co-coordinate groups, and working hard to source expert presenters and interesting topics for the meetings.

February is filling fast with user group and meet up events for both Madison and Milwaukee. We’ve highlighted a few here, and check our User Group page for all the links.

February 9: PHP Meet Up: Topic details coming soon, pizza and beer supplied by C2

February 11: InDesign User Group: a celebration of paper and InDesign’s 10th birthday!  6 pm at WCTC

February 16: 3rd Ward Interactive Luncheon: Women in technology, 12 pm at Riverfront Pizzeria

February 16: Madison Adobe User Group: Demo of a database-driven Flex-based website and the technologies under the hood. 5:30 pm at American Family Insurance

February 17: Madison Web Design & Developer Meet Up: iPhone application design and development 6 pm at C2 Madison

February 17: Milwaukee Drupal Meetup: 6 pm at C2 Milwaukee

February 24: Milwaukee Adobe Users Group: Photoshop celebrates 20 years – what’s next? 6 pm, location TBA

The Month of Love
February is Cupid’s month (and Lincoln and Washington’s). The month of love, romance and valentines. February is also Chocolate Lovers Month and National Condom Month. Who knew and what a combination!?! Let C2 help you find time for some lovin’ with our Hot Talent – in print, web, video, art direction, experiential marketing, SEO and more!

Milwaukee Talent

Art Director with the Bomb-diggidy

Dan P. is a senior art director with years of great experience. He tested solid in both Illustrator and InDesign and exceptional in Photoshop. A strategic, conceptual thinker who has worked with Fortune 500 companies producing integrated campaigns with media consisting of print, television, interactive (websites and online ads), collateral, corporate identity and event marketing. Dan’s work has won numerous local Addy’s including Best of Show. His work has also appeared in U.S. Ad Review.

Art Director Who Turns Out the Best

Lonnie T. is an internationally award winning designer and illustrator with solid experience in the creative direction for a 400,000 circulation publication. She understands how to balance the needs of the organization with it’s creative vision, and brings a fresh, smart perspective to her work. Her portfolio includes multiple redesigns for a major publication, posters, signage, and Flash interactive design.  Lonnie is available full- or part-time on a project, temporary, temp to hire or direct hire basis.

One of a Kind Production Artist

Rachel K. is a graphic designer and talented production artist with a clean, fresh,smart eye for design. She tested as exceptional in InDesign and as professional in both Illustrator and Photoshop.  Her portfolio showed examples of identity, catalogs, labels and brochures. She is creative, solving problems or meeting client needs. Rachel has a thorough understanding of design aesthetics, typography, and color, with extensive layout and design experience in InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. She excels at creating innovative designs and juggling multiple projects while meeting deadlines and works well with others. Rachel is available full or part-time for projects, temporary assignments, temp to hire, or a direct hire basis.

Madison Talent

Exceptional Artist With a Wry Sense of Design

Aaron P is a brilliant senior-level designer/art director who can do it all!! He has an exceptional book, demonstrating his savvy, witty eye for good design along with strong technical skills.  He tested at the professional level in Photoshop, professional+ in Illustrator and exceptional in InDesign.  Aaron excels at concepting and ideation, web design, typesetting. He has directed free lancers and photo shoots, established brand standards. An experienced Fireworks user, he is currently learning Flash and Dreamweaver.  Aaron is available full or part-time, for projects, temp to hire, or direct hire.

Her Brand is Clean and Fresh

Mary B is a seasoned graphic designer with an outstanding portfolio of corporate marketing materials, catalogs, training manuals, user reference guides and large format/trade show materials, to name a few. She tested solidly in Illustrator and InDesign, and solid+ in Photoshop.  Mary has excellent interpersonal skills and enjoys working collaboratively with others. She is a great listener, and asks the right questions to to really hear what a client needs and interpret what a project should look like. She also understands and appreciates that communication is paramount on global, multi-disciplinary /multi-location teams.  She is available on a full or part-time basis, for projects only. Mary’s portfolio is available at http://www.marybrandesign.com

Here are a few tips for Illustrator users to really up your game:

Scale Stroke and Effects – most people are aware of this feature in the Preferences (cmd+k mac, ctrl+k pc) but did you know you can easily toggle this on and off in your Transform panel menu?

Global Colors – When setting up a new swatch, be sure to check the Global color box in your swatch options. This will allow you to edit and change this color across multiple objects at the same time.

Document Raster Effects Settings (found under the Effects menu) – be sure to set your working resolution for your raster effects to 72 dpi either when you create a new document or open an existing. This will save you time with redraws and renderings. When finished, you can always change it back to your optimum resolution*.

Finally – cleanliness is next to professionalism. Before you save out your document and pass it down the food chain, clean it up. Remove unused colors, brushes, styles, etc. and add used colors, symbols, gradients, etc. Never submit a document with “rogue” colors – colors created in your document but not found in the swatches panel. This can cause headaches if an errant RGB color or worse, Spot color shows up unexpectedly when it gets to prepress.

*Optimum resolution may not be always be 300 ppi – it could even be higher depending on your type of printer. Always ask or read the manual!

This post was inspired by my attendance at 3 events in 2 days: the Wisconsin Publishers’ Production Club meeting, the Creative Coalition reception and attendance at a speech by Chris Brogan.

Hearing someone identify a concept or trend as a “game changer” always results in a feeling of awe and excitement (sometimes mingled with fear, but with these, it’s more a feeling that adventure is on the horizon!). I’m hoping you’ll share my sentiment.

1. A new paradigm for publishers. At the WPPC meeting, Dick Ryan from Publisher’s Press talked about the evolution of publishing, indicating the future isn’t print OR digital, it’s print AND digital. This “AND” concept, one in which print and digital work side-by-side, complementing and supporting the other isn’t groundbreaking, but the technology and tools companies are using to build, manage, monetize and measure are. Keep your eye on mobile technologies and the Apple iPad for industry trends in action.

2. Milwaukee’s creative industry will have a significantly more powerful voice by 2011. GOOSEBUMPS! I was thrilled to meet the consultants who have accepted the challenge to inventory Milwaukee’s cultural assets and assess the economic impact of our 7 county region’s for and non-profit creative institutions. How much more powerful individual artists and companies will be when we can quantify the actual revenue, employment and educational influence our work has on the region. Learn more about the Creative Coalition at http://www.creativecoalitionmke.com/

3. Social media and social networks are here to stay. I saw Chris Brogan speak today (Thanks to RiverRun & B+L). He succinctly confirmed what many of us already suspected, social media, social networks and social media marketing are not fads, they’re radically changing the face of advertising, marketing and communications. He tossed out nugget after nugget of brilliance, I’ll share one:  Every employee is in sales and customer service. If you’re not adding sales and CS to your job description, you’re probably unemployed. Hear! Hear!

Are you READY for all the opportunities coming our way? I’m talking to YOU, creative industry members. This is just a peek at things to come, let’s all think about how we can take advantage of the potential wows coming our way.

Please my geeky brethren, calm down.

Apple has finally, after 34 years, actually delivered on its promise of a computer “for the rest of us”.

It’s just not for “us”.

And sure, that stings a little. I know you’re hyperventilating about lack of Flash support, no ports, no file system access, no camera, no multitasking. IT DOESN’T RUN PHOTOSHOP!!!!

To which my mother replies “what the hell is multitasking? and stop using all caps – it’s rude.”

Let’s not begrudge an easy to use, fast, reliable computer for people who don’t earn their living sitting in front of one. There is a huge segment of the population that just wants to listen to their music, surf the web, read a book and check their email. Maybe watch a movie or play a game.

No, really.

They want a computer that “just works”.

Yes, yes, yes, I’ve heard your mutterings about netbooks (cheaper, full featured, “real” OS, does everything the iPad does and more)

But if I may be so bold, you have completely missed the point. I forgive you for glossing over “easy to use”, the term has been reduced to almost meaningless by decades of misuse. I don’t mean “easy to use” in the current marketing sense of the phrase, I’m going totally old school on this and using the phrase as originally intended. As in power it up, start using it and never, ever, read a manual.

Not just easy to use, intuitive and obvious to use.

We saw it first with the iPhone, you simply hand it to someone and in moments, without a word of instruction they press the one available button on the face of the phone and it reacts by immediately lighting up and showing a button with an arrow and the simple instruction “slide to unlock”. Then you are dropped into an interface that is clear, playful, responsive, forgiving and intuitive.

And you say “it’s just a big iPod Touch” like that’s a bad thing.

Recently I had a question regarding a Cannon 5D Mark 2 camera and Photoshop CS3. The Raw files from this camera would not open in CS3. Adobe stopped supporting CS3 after the launch of CS4 and there were no more updates available for the Camera Raw feature. However, Adobe does offer a DNG converter which is a great work around for this. It will take your new files and convert them to DNG which can be opened by earlier versions of Photoshop, namely CS3.

For a listing of all (at date) 275 cameras supported click here.

To download the converter click here: MAC or Windows

Last week I was lucky enough to present at the Twin Cities Adobe InDesign User group. I had a wonderful time presenting to a large enthusiastic crowd.

Meeting Summary

133 InDesign users turned out for our January meeting to help celebrate the 10th birthday of Adobe InDesign. Those who came a few minutes early were treated to Birthday cake provided by Adobe Systems. Leslie Dimond decorated the cake, complete with a text frame, a nice serif typeface (properly kerned), hidden characters displayed and an overset text indicator! (Yes, it was photographed — see below.)

The first presentation of the evening was by James Fritz from C2 Graphics Productivity Solutions in Milwaukee. James gave a content-packed, fast-paced tutorial on tricks for working with long documents. In just over an hour, he covered how and why to use the Book panel, how to create and update an automatic Table of Contents, tons of Style formatting tips, how to work with section markers, how and why to use Object Styles, and neat trick for automatically inserting Anchored Frames in text, and much more. It was a fantastic presentation that covered a lot of territory, and everyone learned something they could take home to make their work more efficient.

The second presentation was by Keith Gilbert of Gilbert Consulting. He explain how the little-understood “Balance Ragged Lines” feature works, and when you would want to use it for long documents. He explained how it works with Paragraph Styles, and then explained how to use a free script that he’s written that provides additional options for working with the Balance Ragged Lines command.

The evening concluded lots of great giveaways: books, software, iTunes gift cards, and more provided by Central Coast Solutions, Peachpit Press and Adobe Systems.

Thank You

Once again, the facility fee for the evening was generously underwritten by MCAD and Central Coast Solutions. Their support is why the Twin Cities InDesign User Group meetings continue to be completely free for registered members.

Comments from the evaluation sheets

• My head is spinning from all the tips from Fritz. Great!!
• Amazing! A ton of info.
• Fritz is a very good presenter and was full of good information. Keith knows how to explain complex topics in an easy-to-understand way.
• This was one of the best ones yet! Thanks!
• Tonight was pretty cool. It was great to learn some new tricks. Wow…Styles…What hell have I been living through…I need to convert.
• Fritz is an energetic and entertaining speaker. The long document topic is helpful. Loved Keith’s exposure of an obscure command. I’m to busy to explore all those. Now I can use it.
• Thank you for providing this opportunity! Excellent presenters and good info. It’s great to have this resource close to home.
• That was great info. I am not dreading my next catalog as much.
• Great workshops. Can’t wait to use the tricks! Thanks.
• James Fritz was wonderful! Very entertaining and super informative and squeezed in hints and shortcuts and was amazing with his automation! Makes long documents sound more than manageable and I couldn’t believe the efficiency that’s out there! Can save a ton of time and money!
• I am so glad I made attending the priority I did…EXCELLENT tips!
• Very valuable!…Yummy Cake!…Awesome!…A+
• A huge amount of info in a short time.
• I learned more about style sheets in an hour than I did in 2 years with Quark.
• Fritz rocks! I learned so much! I couldn’t write things down fast enough!
• Information packed and practical. I am recommending this to my peers. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. Thank you for your willingness to put these sessions on. I grew today! Yeah!
• Many excellent tips! (Can’t believe all the time I’ve wasted doing things the hard way!)

Today I received wonderful news – I have been chosen to join the Adobe Community Professionals program. I am one of only 15 professionals in the world representing Adobe Photoshop.

The Adobe Community Professional’s mission is to provide high caliber peer-to-peer communication educating and improving the product skills of Adobe customers worldwide.

This means that you can expect a lot more Photoshop-savvy information from me this year. I plan to bring you new updates on advancing technologies via the blog, present more at area groups and lend my insight to publications both locally and nationally.

The main thing I can promise you besides all the hoopla and geekery coming from me is my accessibility.  Your questions and comments both in the classroom and via email (kevin@c2gps.com) keeps myself and all of our instructors at C2 sharp as well as inspires us to become better teachers.

I leave you with this – use Photoshop everyday. Practice responsible and ethical uses of the app, learn a new keyboard shortcut, explore a panel that you have avoided and always remember– no matter how wrong things go, there is always the History Brush.