Future for Graphic Designers

[matty_c]

To All,

I am one of the thousands of budding graphic designers. What is your opinion about the future of graphic designers, especially, those having an inclination for animation.


Thank You

[nyc_skater]

It's all going down the tubes, just click here (http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/default.mspx) and see for yourself

[EC]

It's all going down the tubes, just click here (http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/default.mspx) and see for yourself

:eek:

[LittleBlu]

It's all going down the tubes, just click here (http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/default.mspx) and see for yourself

NO!!! ...Microsoft is actually releasing that crap?! Is this the end of the world?! Can I go back to Oz now Toto?

F***. Ignorance really is bliss.

[PrintDriver]

I am SOOOooo glad I don't do normal prepress...

Has anybody downloaded the free trial to see what it saves as?

[reuber1]

You've got to be joking. I hate Microsoft with a passion.

[PrintDriver]

Bet you don't hate MS more than guys like Rickself and Jimking will.

[mojoprime]

ouch. i had forgotten about that. i bet it only exports to .wmf and .bmp.

i wonder if that has anything to do with the ongoing spat between adobe and microsoft. now watch -- they'll release it at like $150 or even less, and it'll propagate like frelling IE did with no regard for standards or existing platforms.

i bet it has more submenus and buried features than Word. Did you guys look at all the palettes? it looks incredibly hard to find anything. i mean, there's a reason why Illustrator and Freehand borrowed so heavily from each other, and even Quark and Indesign, and for that matter, Photoshop and Painter -- *years and years* of versions, testing, feedback from the real hard-core users leading to refinement of features, UI and stability.

F***ing microsoft. Even Apple didn't cannibalize their own market that bad with Pages, Keynote, Aperture and Final Cut Pro. They picked out distinct niches that needed to be filled, not creating their own versions of Illustrator, Photoshop and Flash.

Whew. Sorry for the rant.

[mojoprime]

by the by, i figure that much venom spewed was worthy of post #100. ;)

[urstwile]

http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/confused/confused0001.gif When does the Mac version come out, anyone know?

Edit: :p

[PrintDriver]

Under the FAQ it says
Will there be a Macintosh version of Expression Graphic Designer?

No. Expression Graphic Designer will not available on the Macintosh platform.

^that's verbatim btw, typo and all.
There's something oddly satisfying in the fact that MS isn't even gonna bother trying to push this one over onto the Mac. Guess they have no respect for the GDs who use PCs...

[urstwile]

ROFLMAO. I'm amazed you took the time to dig that up, PD. I was joking, ya know. ;)

[mojoprime]

oh man, that's surely the end for us now. next thing you know, they'll pull development of office for mac. ;)

[PrintDriver]

Urstwhile I dug through that whole heap looking for what formats the stupid program exports as. Couldn't find it. You just know someday soon someone is gonna say, "Can I send that to you in Expression?"

[mojoprime]

it's RIP-tastic!

[urstwile]

You know it!

[mojoprime]

seriously. i mean, i don't know how anyone else honestly feels, but when i look a .wmf files in illustrator, they always look like, i dunno, hack jobs. could this be along the same lines?

[PrintDriver]

Vector! Bitmap! It doesn't care!

I can see it now. "Why does my doggy poster look like a bunch of big color squares?"

You're talking about wmf clipart. It's all crap. Please do NOT even consider taking that crap up larger than a paperclip.

[urstwile]

Even the paperclips are crap. ;)

[PrintDriver]

Oh, I don't know. That little animated paperclip dude in the Excel wizard is pretty neat.
:P

[urstwile]

Excel! :eek: That program makes my computer feel dirty every time I have to launch it.

[PrintDriver]

Actually Excel is quite handy.
I use a lot of spreadsheets when doing bids or handling image intensive multi-panel museum jobs. I'd be hard put to find a better ware for what I want to do with it (yes, I know about Filemaker).

I only wish Excel wasn't so old-school VisiCalc-like in it's manipulation equations.

[PrintDriver]

Oh, and I finally found this
What file formats does Expression Graphic Designer support?

Expression Graphic Designer can import the following formats: .tif, .psd, .jpg, .bmp, .png, .gif files. Graphic Designer can export the following formats: .tif, .psd, .jpg, .bmp, .png, .gif, .ai, .eps, .pdf, .xaml. Additionally there is support for copy/paste to Microsoft® Office, export to HTML for integration into Web-site UI, and export to XAML for incorporation into Windows Vista using Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly code-named "Avalon").

<it doesn't import eps files???>

Why doesn't knowing that make me feel any better?

[urstwile]

Actually Excel is quite handy.
I use a lot of spreadsheets when doing bids or handling image intensive multi-panel museum jobs. I'd be hard put to find a better ware for what I want to do with it (yes, I know about Filemaker).

I only wish Excel wasn't so old-school VisiCalc-like in it's manipulation equations.

Well, yeah, I have to confess that I know very little about Excel. It just scares me to see the way some of the charts come out when account people and media people send me stuff to incorporate into presentations.

How do you use it for the image intensive multi-panel museum jobs you mentioned?

I really don't do database stuff at all, so forgive my cluelessness.

As to your post about file formats, at least it exports to compatible formats, but yeah, it doesn't make things better.

[Logo-Mechanix]

I have had some potentially new clients balk at my price for a logo and say well I looked at so and so and they were this much less. My reply is always, hey if that is the route you would like to go, thats your decision. Just so you know there may be a thousand other people out there with that logo template, so if you want your identity to match those other 999 people go for it. If not this is my price for a unique logo that no one else will have.

[urstwile]

Do they usually fall for that Logo? :p

No, but seriously, I hope that they're smart enough to see that you get what you pay for, and choose you to do the work.

[Ned]

Oh, and I finally found this


<it doesn't import eps files???>

Why doesn't knowing that make me feel any better?

So... It imports ONLY raster files, yet it can export to .ai and .eps? How does that work?

[Logo-Mechanix]

[QUOTE=urstwile]Do they usually fall for that Logo? :p

Gets 'em every time.

Honestlt, its about half and half and thats sad.

[Broacher]

I was one of those who actually downloaded the Expression free trial about a year ago, installed it, and gave it a run. I was impressed. This is NOT MS Office stuff-- it's a whole different set of engineers and yep, they're talking prepress quality here.

It looks like MS is going to try and recover the graphics market territory in Windows that Corel once held. A competitive alternative to Adobe. What will established 'pros' and Mac users think? They won't. Heck, I've yet to meet any beside myself who have even been willing to seriously give it a look. Afterall, it's MS.

And realistically, I don't think that's going to matter too much to MS plans-- they're after newer, younger market. Personally, I think some MS/Adobe competition in the longrun is gonna mean something much better than just a continual Adobe monopoly. The fallout for the working designer will not be in what this suite can do, or how, but more so who will be using it. Think of the average CorelDraw user and you'll see what I mean.

And the blurring between vector and raster? That's what the unique features are built around, and if anyone else here has played with it, they'll know what I mean.

[urstwile]

[QUOTE=urstwile]Do they usually fall for that Logo? :p

Gets 'em every time.

Honestlt, its about half and half and thats sad.

Sorry to hear that Logo.

You know, there are some things it's okay to buy at the 99 cent store but logos aren't one of them.

[Ned]

I was one of those who actually downloaded the Expression free trial about a year ago, installed it, and gave it a run. I was impressed. This is NOT MS Office stuff-- it's a whole different set of engineers and yep, they're talking prepress quality here.

And realistically, I don't think that's going to matter too much to MS plans-- they're after newer, younger market. Personally, I think some MS/Adobe competition in the longrun is gonna mean something much better than just a continual Adobe monopoly. The fallout for the working designer will not be in what this suite can do, or how, but more so who will be using it. Think of the average CorelDraw user and you'll see what I mean.


Y'know, Broacher... When you think about it, this could actually be a really good thing. Just think, when your clients can now send you files in a way that you might actually USE it, rather than an MS Word or Publisher file that you just look at, delete, and start afresh with... Hey, all the more power to Expressions!

[orkaknos12]

http://static.flickr.com/35/97934523_f567fdb25a_o.jpg

-Jon

[The_Black_Knight]

Can just a photo be a QOTW? Because I nominate the post above. I think that one wins the thread, hands down.

[PrintDriver]

If it only imports raster images, given the average cluelessness of some of the users who will be utilizing this, I can just see what kind of 'professional' output they will get when using their .gif files... LOL!

It must embed the images when going to Illustrator formats (bad for applying profiles) and if you can edit the images within the program well...you gets wot you gets when printed.

I'm sure in the hands of someone like Broacher this can problably do barrel rolls. But the average user is not going to be a seasoned designer in most cases. Pity the prepress guys.