Hello everyone, we have moved the blog to http://allgraphicdesign.com/graphicsblog/ … We will now be posting at least 3 times per week. Archives can still be read here but new articles will be posted on allgraphicdesign.com. Thank you.
Creating a New Logo Design
by Phil Barnhart
A new logo design is the visual substance of what your business represents. When you look at the Coca-Cola swoosh or the bite in the Apple Corporation logo, these symbols encompass the idea behind these individual companies. However, many companies insist on ignoring the importance of identity design for themselves.
A great company logo design can entice possible customers and is the ultimate “first impression” for your business. A great logo creates loyalty from your customers, brings your business credibility, and upholds your identity within the logo itself.
There are three types of logo designs:
Font-based logos, which consists mainly of “type”, logos that literally show what the company does(such as Burger King), and abstract logos. An abstract logo really doesn’t associate with a company until the company shows its customers what they are about… then the symbol becomes apparent! Ultimately, your customers should be able to tell what you do just by seeing your logo!
Start Designing your New Logo Design
There are some basic methods for creating a logo design…
1. Observe the logos of your competitors. Think about the type of image that they convey, and how you would like your logo to be different from these.
2. Decide on the message that you would like to convey about your business. Does your business have its own personality, and what makes it different from your competition?
3. Your logo design should be clean, and should be easily legible on business cards and other printed materials. Also, consider if the logo looks good in black-and-white so it can be photocopied or faxed.
4. Consider your color choices: Be careful, although a colorful logo may be beautiful to look at, the cost of getting the logo printed may not be cost affective. Two to three color choices should be a strong consideration for the production of your new logo design.
5. There are several logo design sites available on the Internet. The most effective way of choosing a logo company is to find one that suits your needs is to see that company’s logo portfolio. These company logo samples should have logo design samples, as well as examples of logo design in various formats. Be sure that the company that you have chosen can create the needed design.
6. Protect your new logo design by applying for a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site. Once you have trademarked your new design, you may use it anywhere you mention your company name.
Creating a logo isn’t always easy. Remember your customers and the type of business that you have, when creating your new logo design!
http://www.surelogos.com/ … All Graphic Design Directory … Tutorials Directory
How to Get the Photo Quality Custom Printing that your Competitors Have
By Michael Joseph, E-commerce Manager, My1Stop (www.my1stop.com)
Your competitors’ custom printing projects have it - their marketing materials are vibrant, photo quality works of art. Even your smaller competitors with smaller marketing budgets have it. Their presentation folders and brochures, even their business cards are photo-sharp. How can they afford the photo quality results they get? Do they have a better marketing team?
Guess what — they probably just know things you don’t. They know more about emerging photo quality commercial printing than you do.
Can you get the same quality? Sure. But it comes from print vendors you might not expect –and it doesn’t have to cost more. In fact, if you find the right vendors, photo quality custom printing can cost less than traditional color printing.
How do you find these vendors and keep costs in-line? Let’s get up-to-speed on photo-quality printing. Then, I’ll offer a few tips to get you started.
What You Should Know
Photo quality custom printing is easy to understand. Printing done with a resolution of 2400 dpi or better is high photo quality. True 2400 dpi printing is what’s giving your competitor the edge. The competitor’s brochures that you envy were not printed at 1200 dpi then enhanced with software to look like 2400 dpi printing. No way. Your competitor knows better. Here are five things that your competitors know:
1. True photo quality printing is reproduction of actual images
2. Not all digital printing is true photo quality
3. Very few print vendors have true photo quality
4. Lots of print vendors “fake” photo quality
5. Most photo quality commercial printing is done on a press – not a copier
Photo Quality Printing Can Save Money
So-called photo quality printing of the past was done on digital presses, copiers and printers. These devices often require special toners, papers and press materials. Special materials mean higher costs. Enter the new era of digital presses. They print on almost any substrate and they use commonly available inks. Waterless inks are used in some digital presses which results in better ink hold out. Using common materials lowers cost. Your competitor has found vendors with these new presses.
Right now, your competitor gets better printing and pays less than you do. Here’s what you can do.
Find a Photo Quality Commercial Printing Partner
Here are some quick tips for finding a photo quality commercial printer.
1. Search the Web for “2400 dpi printing companies” – not “photo quality printing companies”
2. Learn about the presses
3. Ask the press manufacture for their customer list
4. Compare the difference of a hard copy proof versus a soft copy proof
5. Compare pricing – does photo quality cost less or the same?
6. Talk to photo quality printing press manufacturers, and ask for a list of potential vendors
Use the list above and you’ll find true photo quality print vendors who print in true photo quality output.
Get Free Samples from Vendors
Once you do find a vendor, be sure to ask for samples. Do you see the difference in quality or more depth? If a vendor won’t give you free samples, move on to the next vendor. And take the photo quality edge away from your competitors.
About the Author
Michael Joseph is E-commerce Manager for My1Stop (www.my1stop.com), a commercial printing company that provides a complete range of custom printing for presentation folders, brochures, booklets, full color labels and many other products. My1Stop utilizes time-tested print manufacturing as well as the latest digital printing equipment and processes. From spot color printing to better than photo-quality digital printing, My1Stop has a printing solution for any need.
My1Stop, 408 East 23rd Street, Fort Scott, KS 66701, Phone: 800-691-7867
Wise Business Decision Making: Outsourcing your Logo Design
You’ve been in business for more than a couple of years. You’ve enjoyed moderate success through positive word of mouth and by delivering top-level quality of service, but your industry is becoming more and more competitive and the need for a more professional look is becoming imperative. Sound familiar? The truth is that in today’s market even the best companies need to sell its image and brand in order to succeed. This is achieved primarily via the company logo as it is associated with all of the company media: letterhead, envelopes, websites, business cards, brochures and advertising campaigns.
Many companies will choose to have their logo designed internally. This has the potential of producing good results, but it can depend on the talents of the individuals involved. Often times, it will be hard to come up with a high-quality logo this way. The time and resources spent on the efforts will simply not be worth it. Problems designing a logo in-house stem from the fact that it is often difficult to picture an effective marketing image when one is too closely tied to the business itself, and is all too familiar with the details and inner-workings of the company. This will often complicate the image that is attempting to be portrayed rather than clarify. Remember, a good logo design needs to be simple and eye-catching, yet unique to the company’s core mission.
The question then becomes: why not outsource to a company that specializes in logo design?
There are many companies that now focus their efforts solely on logo design. There are a variety of benefits to choosing this path:
• Cost Savings: Outsourcing your design will cost you a fraction of what it would hiring an independent designer or using in-house staff.
• Faster Turnaround Time: Logo design companies will make your project a priority and have a thorough understanding of the design process.
• Fresh Perspectives: Having someone look at your ideas and concepts from a fresh point of view is always a good idea in logo design.
One of the key benefits to outsourcing your design is often you will have a team of designers work on your project. At LogoBee.com, a team of at least 4-5 professional designers will work on any one project to ensure that the client gets a variety of variations and styles to choose from. In addition, the process is customer-centric so the client is never feeling left out of the picture. Changes to the designs can be requested at any time and are guaranteed to be completed within 24 hours.
Ultimately, the main advantage of working with a logo design company is that it allows you to focus on the most important thing: your core business. The next time you decide to launch a new product line, start a new business or re-brand your company, try it with the help of logo design professionals. The decision could determine the success or failure of your project.
Russell Arsenault is the Director of Marketing and Public Relations for LogoBee, Inc. For further information on logo design and branding visit the articles section on www.logobee.com.
info@logobee.com
Business Card Ideas
The Simplest Business Card Ideas Are Always The Best
Innovative business card ideas are often misunderstood. The key message intended for prospective customers becomes lost in radical attempts at originality. These attempts at originality can in fact have a negative effect on prospective customers, invoking a deeper discussion about the actual design and presentation of your business card, rather than how your business can actually help others succeed. The last thing you want to encourage when handing out your business card are more questions about what your business does, or why you chose such an idea for your business card in the first place. Many design and communication firms will attempt to awe and inspire others with radical and non traditional business card designs. Ironically, these companies exist to help you better communicate a clear message.
To develop your business card ideas, start by creating a simple business tag line. Grab a piece of paper and pen and start to develop a tag line that either captures the essence of your business, or at the very least, is a broad statement of your business vision, your goal, or something which convinces people that you are a leader in your industry. Sometimes called a “motto”, or in more professional circles, a “competency statement”, your tag line should be short, to the point, sometimes catchy, but always memorable. As an example, this tag line, belonging to an enormously successful Canadian mattress manufacturer, “Why Buy a Mattress Anywhere Else”, is clear and to the point and the tag line is an integral part of their larger marketing campaign, used across mediums including print, television, radio and the Internet. Other tag lines are more abstract, but memorable, such as the McDonald’s campaign, “I’m Loving It!”. A tag line can be simple, as long as it can be used to help build trust in the customer. For example, Jim Smith, Certified Programmer, or, Eric Gibson, Professional Photographer. There is no rule for the tag line, just keep it tasteful, positive, clear, and to the point.
Photo business card images are gaining momentum among business card designs, because people have a tendency to remember visuals over text. For example, if you are a wedding planner, even subtle, full color imagery can be effective to communicate a message without words and can create a lasting first impression. You may utilize a background image of a couple in love at the alter, a detailed and elaborate wedding hall, or a bride in reflection decked in her bridal gown. The right image selection can visually communicate your industry or area of expertise, and then encourage the card holder to read the details.
Professor Print’s free online business card maker can help you develop your business card ideas and experiment with language and presentation using point and click web-based tools. Before you commit to going to print, you can forward your ideas to friends and colleagues in order to solicit their feedback and ensure your business card is one that will not be thrown away.
Retouching people - by: rami b.a. lady-beetle
No, we are not going to touch anybody, no one will be physically harmed. We are just discussing retouching people’s photos in Photoshop. This one of the most commonly used actions, when people’s photos are incorporated into a graphic design.
In many cases the photos are taken with a home camera, or a digital camera with a low optical quality or low resolution, and people just don’t look as pretty as they should. In this tutorial we will go over one of the techniques for general retouching and improving the overall look. This is a simple, quick, and easy technique, to comprehend and to use.
abstract:
There are many techniques for processing and retouching photos in general and people’s photos in particular. You can reach high levels of picture processing and bring the models to a very high level, even if they are not that beautiful in real life, or that the photo itself is problematic. In this tutorial we will use a very simple technique for retouching portraits. of course you can use this method for different kinds of photos and receive interesting effects.
creating the new file:
we shall begin by opening the picture file, and for your results to come out similar to the ones on this tutorial, you should use the same definitions as we did.
file name: retouching
file size: 400 x 400 pixels
resolution: 300 dpi
lets first look at the original photo.
and now the final result…
We can continue and improve the photo even further, by additional proceesing actions, but in this tutorial we will limit ourselves to the simple technique and let go of the professional methods.
So how was it done?…
For the sake of order we will name this picture layer MyImage.
Now we will duplicate the MyImage layer by selecting the layer and activating the command:
Layer -> Duplicate Layer
Confused? To this new layer we will call ImageEffect and we will define it’s blending mode as Screen.
Good. Now that the new layer ImageEffect is selected, we will activate a blur filter on the layer.
Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur
The filter’s dialog box will appear, where we will choose a radius of 5 pixels (expanding or reducing the radius will affect the blur intensity).
and there… we’re done…
Of course you can go on and proscess the photo in various differnt techniques. here’s the final result again:
“But I have a degree” - Is it really enough?
There may have been a time when having a bachelor’s degree guaranteed you a comfy design position at your dream firm. By now most of us know, or have found out the hard way, this is far from true. When I began college, you could say that all of the design students were in the top 10 of their major (largely because there were only 10 of us). After a recent visit to my alma mater last month, I found that there are now 58 kids in the program. That is a considerable growth! Unfortunately, there are not enough local jobs to support these bright-eyed, future grads. My challenge to these students was to “go beyond the classroom”. I actually began learning Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver as a junior in high school. While not everyone has this advantage, there are several things you can do to set yourself apart from the rest of your peers.
1. STAY ON TOP OF TRENDS.
a. Magazines. There are plenty of great magazines you or maybe even your department can subscribe to. Some of these include Print, HOW Design, and Dynamic Graphics.
b. Newsletters. There are a plethora of sites that offer a daily or weekly tip. My personal favorite is the daily tip from www.layersmagazine.com. They are short and almost always very helpful.
2. FREELANCE
a. This can be intimidating to students starting out, but shouldn’t faze you juniors and seniors. I would consider doing several pro bono projects in the beginning. Doing these help take the pressure off of you and your client, and it’s a great way to build your portfolio. Freelancing is a exciting experience and it will show a potential employer that you have had the ever-famous “real world” experience. In addition, if you have built good relationships with clients that may come in handy when you begin job hunting.
3. BE MORE THAN A DESIGNER
a. I work for a company that requires the skills I learned outside of design classes almost as much as the ones I learned in them. I have used math, marketing, even a little chemistry, but most importantly communication skills. While I believe that a portfolio is important, my boss told me that it only counted for 20% of my interview. He was more interested in my ability to communicate with others. If you aren’t required to take speech in college, I would certainly recommend choosing it as an elective.
4. LOVE WHAT YOU DO
a. This is most important of all. It is almost always obvious when a designer is passionate and driven to be a success. If you have caught yourself saying “Why did they use a font like Arial on that sign?” or “Oooh, look at that sweet logo” while staring at a box of detergent, you are well on your way. And don’t worry; they make fun of me too.
Separate yourself from the norm. Give them a reason to hire YOU over the other 25 people you are graduating with.
Visual Branding Keys To Make Your Graphic Design Business Memorable
By Karen Saunders
Have you ever asked yourself why a competitor’s business gets more attention than yours? The answer just may have to do with the elements that go into how memorable the business is. And that has to do with branding.
But exactly what is branding, anyway? Think of branding as predefining what a company is all about in the minds of its clients. Good branding differentiates your products and services in a positive way that really sticks in the minds of potential customers.
Let’s say you are getting ready to run errands on a busy Saturday morning, thinking about the groceries that need to be bought, the dry cleaning that needs to be picked up, and the packages that must get to the post office before noon. The trip to the post office reminds you that your favorite aunt’s birthday is next Wednesday. You need to add buying and mailing a birthday card to your list of things to do. Without a moment’s hesitation, you know exactly where you will buy the card: the local Hallmark store. Why did you think Hallmark?
The answer to that question has everything to do with Hallmark’s branding and two key elements of that branding are:
* An attractive, easy to read, and memorable logo;
* and a great tag line.
Assuming your own product is fabulous, it all comes down to image. Graphic design can play a huge part in that image. But what are some key things to consider?
A great logo is key.
You have given a great deal of attention to your company name and believe it speaks to who you are and what you do. Great! Now you need to wrap a graphic image around that name to carve out a prime piece of real estate in your target customer’s mind. That is exactly what a great logo can do.
Keep in mind that a powerful logo:
* has a strong, balanced image with no little extras that clutter its look;
* is distinctive and bold in design, making it easy to see at a glance;
* has graphic imagery that looks appropriate for your business;
* works well with your company name;
* is done in an easy to read font;
* communicates your business clearly; and
* looks good in black and white, as well as in color.
Hallmark’s memorable crown logo is one of the reasons that Hallmark comes to mind so quickly when you need to buy a greeting card. It is simple, bold, looks good in either color or black and white, and bespeaks the quality required for something to be stamped with a hallmark, so it works well with the company name. While the image might not have communicated the nature of the business when it was first created, it certainly does now!
A distinctive tag line is key.
A tag line is a 3 to 7 word phrase that accompanies your logo. It expresses your company’s most important benefits and/or what you want your customers to remember about working with you. Think of it as the words you want to linger in your target customer’s mind about you and what you have to offer.
Great tag lines appear to be effortlessly created because they just seem to flow. In fact, creating and refining one takes time, just like designing a great logo. The benefits of taking the time to craft a great tag line lie with the tag line’s stickiness. Great tag lines stick in your memory.
The Hallmark tag line, “When you care enough to send the very best,” appeals to the human desire to be viewed as having good taste and an appreciation for luxury. If greeting cards are a commodity, then Hallmark has found a way to differentiate itself as the choice for quality.
The Hallmark company was founded by J. C. Hall, so the name Hallmark was a natural. It was also brilliant from a marketing standpoint. Hallmarks have been used for centuries as a stamp to denote quality, purity, and genuineness. Could there be a better way to attach the image of quality to a product? The tag line capitalizes on that image well with words that stick in the mind and exemplify good taste.
Creating a great logo and distinctive tag line are critical in creating a brand that provides the perfect image for your company and great ones just might be memorable enough to give your company the beach front property in the minds of your customers that leaves them thinking only of you.
(c) Karen Saunders 2006
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karen Saunders, the author of “Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools!” Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! FREE audio classes, articles and an eCourse on design and marketing tips are available at http://www.macgraphics.net
Designers know the right colors when they see it.
Ever wonder why there are so many awful color combinations on the web? One might think it is because there are so many bad web designers out there.
Well, they might not be.
They may be using on of the many color matching software’s out there, and trusting it blindly to find the colors they need. Even designers with a good taste of colors may be tempted to use a “safe” match from the color wheel. The truth is the color wheel do not give you the colors you really want, and in end leaves out much of the creativity that should be present in a designer’s world.
As the painter Frank Bruno puts it, “Color harmony was thrown out years ago, as restrictive chains were broken forming my free style.”
People working with color know this, but since there are no alternative except extraordinary good taste, the color wheel has been the trusted choice. The problem with RGB is that is was developed for displaying colors in a computer screen. The sensitivities of the eye are different to the RGB system. Equal steps in RGB, results in unequal steps in human perception. Color scientists are aware of this problem, and developed the LAB system to overcome it. LAB works on human perception instead of the technicalities of color measurements.
When selling a product, one should consider color choice just as important as shape.
Psychologists have found out that color impression can account for 60% of the acceptance or rejection of that product or service. It is therefore crucial for a designer to pick the right colors to influence and illustrates the message, mood, and
flavor off their product.
Speaking to designers it was clear that color theory was too simplistic, resulting in highly saturated schemes. Instead of tools that would prescribe the “right” color, they wanted tools to explore. GenoPal was developed to fulfill this need, since designers know the right colors when they see it.
About Genometri Pte Ltd:
Genometri has developed patented color and generative design technology. The company is a spin off company from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and was established in 2004. The company sells software products and provides generative design services.
Genometri Pte Ltd.
No 14 Prince George’s Park Road
Singapore 118412
Phone: +65 67789456
Email: marketing@genometri.com
About Flash Templates & The Benefit of Flash Templates in Web Design
It can be hard to stay on top of the constantly shifting world of website design. New technologies are being developed daily, and the websites found throughout the internet reflect this. One of the latest technologies to be commonly integrated into websites is interactivity, or as it is more commonly known, flash. Flash is a process by which a user can modify or click on elements of an image and obtain a response. An entire site can be designed exclusively in Flash.
Although the Flash technology has been circulating the internet for some time, perhaps the simplest way to integrate the tool into a website is through Flash templates. Flash templates are available in great quantities through hundreds of websites and online companies. Much like traditional web templates, Flash templates provide a simplified framework for a user that includes Flash elements.
Although actually creating Flash can be relatively pain-free for professionals with significant knowledge of programming and design, for most individuals, however, this is not the case. It is far simpler to use the services of a company in the business of proving Flash templates along with excellent support and customization. Most providers offer customization as a part of obtaining that company’s Flash templates.
For example, an individual would purchase a template from a reliable online source, and before delivery, that online source would input the relevant company information, such as the company name, slogan, original content, or even a logo into the Flash design. Even with this customization, a Flash template is significantly less expensive than creating an original design through a professional. It also takes considerably less time.
Once the interactive portion of the Flash template has been customized, the buyer would simple modify any remaining portion of the template using simple commands and often without needing any knowledge of HTML coding. Once the template is complete with all relevant content, it is uploaded and the Flash portion will be live.
While these templates might seem more complex than a traditional design template, an individual would actually complete the same type of modification for both. The Flash is already integrated into Flash templates before a customer even receives the framework to modify. Thus, there is no additional work, but the added benefit of the Flash template to a respective website could be significant.
Autor’s Bio:
This article was written by Hasan Saleem sponsored by http://www.templatesfactory.net.
Reproductions of this article must include a link pointing back to http://www.templatesfactory.net.
Summary: Whether you’re a PR consultant, a web developer or graphic designer, chances are you’ve experienced the time-intensive quest for the perfect image. And I’d be willing to bet that you’ve also experienced the angst that accompanies the quest. Will you find the right image in time? And will it blow your budget? Here’s a fantastic, low-cost solution — high-quality stock photography ….
Stock Photography — Stock photos offer quality, choice, and savings in time, budget and client satisfaction
by Bryan Zmijewski
Whether you’re a PR consultant, a web developer or graphic designer, chances are you’ve experienced the time-intensive quest for the perfect image. And I’d be willing to bet that you’ve also experienced the angst that accompanies the quest. Will you find the right image in time? And will it blow your budget?
Despite your mega Microsoft clip art library, and the vast (and depending on your use, illegal) repository known as Google Images, the just-right image, art or photo has eluded you. Meanwhile, the deadline is fast approaching … and along with budget constraints, there’s no time to hire a professional, and taking the shot yourself doesn’t yield the expert quality you need.
Consider the plethora of images and variety available through low-cost, royalty-free stock photography. Stock photos provide quick access and speedy delivery, superb quality and a broad selection, usually categorized by descriptive keywords or found quickly with a searchable database. With high-quality stock photos starting as low as a buck each, the price just can’t be beat.
Advantages of Using Stock Photography
Save time - Stock galleries provide a way to move quickly from an abstract concept straight to the presentation. Thousands of images and photos are readily available and quickly downloadable via the Internet, so the designer, developer or marketer can leap from the work plan to the storyboard, PowerPoint, brochure or web page.
You’ll no longer need days to set up a photo assignment, or spend the hours it used to take perusing clip art books, graphic files or endless CD-ROM galleries. With most online stock photo providers, you can create an account and download samples or purchase the perfect image in a matter of minutes.
Excellent range of selection & choice - Stock photography provides an unbeatable selection. Just imagine the advantage of having hundreds of photographers, models or designers on staff — along with hundreds of artistic styles and expressions. Stock libraries and galleries allow you to choose descriptive keywords, or combine keywords to get even more specific search results. Do a quick Search at LuckyOliver to see what we mean. And while you’re at it, go ahead and test-drive (or grab a comp of) one of LuckyOliver’s watermarked images — there’s no purchase required for that!
It guarantees a level of quality - Sure, there are plenty of free photo web sites–and many of them are filled with all kinds of garbage, like junky low-resolution photos, animated gif files and other stuff that may not have anything to do with what you need. You can expect remarkable quality from microstock libraries since the providers have high standards for accepting and approving any photo and art submissions.
It’s legal and ethical - Buying stock photos helps you avoid any legal issues associated with copyright. At stock photo suppliers such as LuckyOliver, you don’t have to worry about collecting and filing model releases. You simply make the purchase and use the photo, hassle-free. LuckyOliver and other stock phto galleries compensate the photographer–which saves you time and money once again, with less forms to sign and fewer checks to write.
It’s affordable - Some stock photos are inexpensive, but not cheap looking–though prices do vary. While some stock providers charge a lot — or whatever their market will bear — there’s oftentime little artistic difference between the high-dollar finds and the less expensive stuff.
For use of most stock photographs, prices range from $1 to $12 per photo, with discounts available for bulk purchases. Affiliate programs may also be available, and could prove worthwhile for web developers who offer custom templates to customers or for advertising agencies, marketers and PR firms with clients who want to choose their own images and photos.
About the Author Bryan Zmijewski is the fearless leader of stock photography provider LuckyOliver. After graduating as valedictorian of his high school class and not doing too shabby at Stanford, he started ZURB, a customer experience firm. Not content having one successful business and being a designer/photographer himself, he grabbed another cup of coffee and started LuckyOliver, a place where artists and photographers buy and sell photos and images for as low as $1. Contact him at feedback@luckyoliver.com or visit www.LuckyOliver.com.
The PDF standard in my line of work (publishing/prepress) has for the last 5 years been a God-send. I have been more than a proponent, I’ve been a pundit. When Adobe Acrobat 4 came out clearing up so many of the fatal flaws that Acrobat 3 was all about, I spearheaded a campaign in my corporation to move as much workflow as possible to PDF. I embraced Enfocus as an arsenal, with its software Pitstop, and I decided never again to send out our work in its native application files.
In my eyes Adobe could do no wrong. With Adobe, there were so few problems with final PDF files and if there were problems, these problems could then be cleared up in minutes. This freed up my work life and gave me the time I needed to investigate other technological areas. There was no question, when Acrobat 5 came out that we would upgrade to it. Then Acrobat 6 came out and once more I recommended that we should shell out the dollars for our hundreds of users. Everyone was using PDFs and everyone was using Acrobat. Nothing was more important to Adobe than making sure everyone everywhere could work in PDF format. It was integrated into everything. It was the time of opensource software. It seemed natural to integrate the PDF into software and Adobe implied that as the standard it was fine, like with so many other standards to have PDF capabillities in everything. Then came Acrobat 7.
When Acrobat 7 came out, I pulled out my corporate purchasing card, but before I called my software vendor I stopped to think. “Wait, does everyone really need this?” I shocked even myself with this question. As long as I have Acrobat 7, everyone can mark up this document with Adobe reader. If someone needs to send me a PDF, and they have OS X, or Quark, or Office, or so many other programs, they can create a PDF themselves. Sure, my layout people will need it for final files, but other than that I can shave thousands of dollars off of my software budget now.
So, was I surprised when I saw that Adobe isn’t letting Microsoft use PDFs in the next version of Office? Well, yes actually I was. But I shouldn’t have been. Adobe implied that everyone could embed PDFs and we all fell for it and inferred that it could be used in everything without further licensing. Further, I think Adobe even believed that it was going to let everyone continue to use it; however, when it came down to their plans for Acrobat 8 (which should be coming out towards the later part of this year), they realized that their bottom line was going to drop even more than sales did with Acrobat 7, and they realized that they had to test the waters further.
That is what this Microsoft situation is all about, Adobe putting a toe in the water to test public reaction. If Adobe threatened a small vendor using PDFs, they know the design world would show its fury. But Microsoft, everyone hates the big M. People will laugh and cheer us on. Then we will have precedent and we won’t need to sue the others, we will just send them bills to license the PDF, or they will pull PDF out of their software on their own. We won’t need to make waves and we won’t get blamed by the public.
The companies we love will suffer (big ones like Apple and all the little ones that depend on PDFs). The companies we love to hate will suffer too (Microsoft and Quark). Most of all, though we will suffer, we will lose our gains in efficiency, we will lose our time, we will lose what was a wonderful standard. It sucks, but this is just the beginning.
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