Customer Reviews

Design Essentials (Professional Studio Techniques)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As someone who's come to Photoshop and Illustrator from a tech background (I started out using them to design graphics for websites I was coding, and I'm now moving into using them purely for their own sake) I bought this expecting something high-brow and fairly abstract. Still, the reviews of past editions were good, so it must be worth a read...

However, on actually reading the book I was very pleasantly surprised to find...a recipe book. Lots of nice, step-by-step, two or three page descriptions of interesting graphical techniques you can apply, either to spruce up something you've already done, or as inspiration for something new altogether. Many of them are applicable to both Photoshop and Illustrator, and where appropriate instructions are given for both applications.

The techniques illustrated cover a wide range of subjects, from applying filters to photos to get a more painterly appearance to the creation of seamless textures, image compositing and the creation of semi-transparent object shadows in Illustrator. You'll almost certainly have seen some of them before (or arrived at your own ways to achieve similar effects) but there's enough in this book that you're sure to find something you'll want to add to your own list of techniques.

In a way this is "Photoshop 7 Down And Dirty Tricks" polite sister. The basic idea's the same (like I said, a recipe book) but the aim's slightly higher (i.e. improving your art, rather than impressing your boss). There's even some overlap in the techniques presented, although generally this book favours aesthetic results over flashy impact.

The book goes through different techniques suchs as Cast Shadows, Texture patterns, and 3-D packages. There is not too much reading involved; you could just look and the pictures and read the one line step of what to do next. This book is a perfect supplement to other Photoshop/Illustrator books.

I had been looking for a book like this and was very disappionted and frustrated after trying to do the first chapter. I got to the point where you create the corner piece and ran into a brick wall. There was nothing telling you how to proceed. The adobe class room in a book are so much better at giving step by step instructions.

Luanne Cohen has a gift for making difficult Photoshop and Illustrator concepts easy to understand. This lavishly illustrated book will make you aware of a wide variety of fantastic techniques you would NEVER stumble into otherwise. And as a bonus, it's completely reworked from previous versions.

This book is a great sidekick to Adobe vis. software users. It offers quick reference to some great ideas and useful tips while you work away at that digital project. Bravo!

It is an interesting book if you happen not to have the previous edition.
There are not too many new examples, these are added to most that appeared on 3rd edition. Sadly a compact narrow book format has replaced a more suited wide desktop size.
Techniques have not either got to far or up, is still somewhat basic and does not cover transparencies or other Illustrator 9/10 features.
A pity I went on holidays and could not return it on time. If you have have earlier book, look elsewhere.

I'm not a professional graphic designer. But as a graphics enthusiast, and webmaster by profession, i take my occasional graphic design work quite seriously. As someone who is always searching for ways to use PhotoShop in better, more efficient ways, I found this book to be both helpful and inspiring.

Design Essentials is a very hands-on book, providing basic, short instructions, which familiarize the beginner and novice PhotoShop user with all the little tricks that transform an image from "nice" to "great", as well as providing the necessary explanations and "how-to" information on those tools beginners like myself still need to discover and maximize the full potential of.

Personally, i had a lot of fun both reading the book, and experimenting with its tutorials. I just wish I had a copy of Adobe Illustrator, since it seems like a wonderful tool.

This book doesn't tell the reader where any of the controls, palettes, or windows are located or how to use them. Its title states "Professional Studio Techniques" and it means that. The book is written for PhotoShop v.5 and Illustrator v.8 and should easily provide inspiration beyond the current v.6 and v.10 of the two programs. Often the technical methods and processes discussed are relevant to achieving visual effects that express a particular mood appropriate for certain image types. Testing the methods in an experimental fashions to images of my own I have always achieve something of a satisfying innovative nature. In one sense the brevity of the authors explanations forces one to experiment and the nature of the illustrative art is meant to suggest creative possibilities. I came back to the book's web page in search of a newer edition I could purchase. Naught, so instead I wrote this review.

This book, along with its companion book, Web Design Essentials, is amazingly good at showing you what can be done with the program. While some of the descriptions are a little sparse, it opens the program up for exploration. True, not everything is spoon-fed to you, but it allows you to make decisions and go your own way. I use several of the techniques described almost daily in my own work, while others are just waiting to be explored and put to good use. A must read for almost anyone.

In Italy this book is considered as one of the best graphic design "bible", is used in every graphic institute to teach & learn essential tutorials that everyone who wants to become a graphic designer must know.