Customer Reviews

Interface Design With Photoshop

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

 

 

Yes, it's me again. I am writing to a response to both the author and my own last review. 10 second review? Yes it was. My first review was based upon what I was looking for, and this book was not it. My first mistake was to not notice that it was published in 1996. I saw Photoshop interface, read all the great reviews and jumped before looking. Mr. Hamlin's techniques are geared toward Photoshop 3.04 users. Today, I'm using Photoshop 5.0 and will soon be in 5.5! Most of the techniques covered in this book use Eye Candy and now can be done within Photoshop's filters that come with the program.

I am by no means a book critique and I by NO MEANS, want to discredit the author. I was truely disappointed when I received the book, looking forward to enhance my knowledge on creating interfaces solely with Photoshop. The only mention in Amazon's book write up is that it's for Photoshop user's, not Photoshop 3.0 user's! This book would be great for new user's who can't afford to upgrade or their computer simply couldn't handle it. When I said first and second generation this was true, but in 1996 this was probably top of line stuff! Now, it just simply isn't so. So to Photoshop 3 and 4 user's this book get's a 4 star. To those in 5.0 my first review stands at 1 star simply becuase I believe you will be disappointed.

I am an avid Photoshop user and a day does not pass that I don't open it up to do something. I promote anything Photoshop related, so to my first response; do I think some of the textures are ugly? Yes, but I thought that of all textures back in the day and I also happen to hate embossed buttons and chrome also. If you look at Mr. Hamlin's sketches before he fills them in with color they are magnificent. He is an excellent artist and I thought his sketches were the best part of the book!

In closing my final note is this. I'm not telling anybody to buy this book or not buy this book. I simply want to say this book was not written for Photoshop 5.0 user's. Just be aware of this!

D. Michael Ramirez

First Step Creations

Within 10 seconds of opening this book I realized that I should have first looked at it in the bookstore before buying it online.

Most of the designs are just aweful looking with a first and second generational web site approach. I was very much looking forward to using Photoshop for advanced interfaces but this is not the book.

If you want to create embossed buttons and ugly textures then by all means buy it! For those people actually looking to design an interface keep on looking.

i found this book to be an ideal introduction to the special considerations that make interface design an art unto itself. Lots of handy tips and examples with easy to follow step by step instructions on different methods and techniques. On the downside, you really need to have to have the eye candy plug-in.

Wow, I guess I should have looked at the publish date on this book. 1996! The graphics in the book are almost laughable...they certainly echo the time. I'll probably still look through the book since the basics are probably still the same, but since i'm using CS3, I imagine the bulk of this book will be pointless. I think I only paid a penny for it, though, so I guess I didn't lose much.

Trying to learn how to break free of the traditional, dull interface is difficult. Learning to think creatively, implement the techniques programmatically and learn a complex package such as Photoshop is a daunting task.

This book is the best source of ideas and examples that I have seen todate, but it is not tailored for the beginner. This is contrary to the rating on the back of the book, which states it's audience is "All Users". When I first got the book, I was unable to understand much in it. As the months go by and I get better with Photoshop, I am able to understand much more, but it is still very difficult. I have a very difficult time following the steps. For example, the figures, often have four screen shots in them, with little explanation of their individual meanings. To make things worse, I was expecting only two screen shots, leaving me thoroughly confused. The steps often gloss right over key details, and I am simply unable to complete them. Channels are a large source of the confusion for me, as I still don't have a good understanding of them.

I would love to see another book from Scott, updated to use Photoshop 5 techniques and also providing more detail on the steps. Experienced users could skip much of the detail, while the rest of us would finally be able to use them!

Finally, I was very disappointed that no cd was supplied, containing all the examples from the book. He shows many interesting and attractive patterns, and I would have liked to be able to use them. Even allowing them to be downloaded from the publisher's site would be an acceptable alternative.

The more I read the book in the begining, the more I thought that its title is misgiuding. But later on, things started to form a whole, and the title was justified. The only drawback, perhaps, is that it doesn't cater for all sorts of interfaces. it tells you how to make on from scratch based on what you've learned. It is very important to know your target audience before starting out an interface. This book has helped better develop my own interfaces for multimedia/web design. After all, I do this for a living, and i would have been the first to catch it if this book was poor in contents. I still think it's great and should be read by every interface designer wannabe, wether for multimedia, web, software, or palmtops, or camera LCD screens... a must.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it to be technically informative as well as void of the snobbery found in such hyped and pretentious books as Killer Web Sites. It was refreshingly informative, and although I debated between purchasing this book or the WOW book, I chose this one primarily because it was more in-depth than the WOW book, which does just that -- WOWs you briefly with quick fix type applications.

I read this book in one sitting and the next day began to apply the techniques. I followed the author's instructions and within 8-10 hours had reworked one of the books interfaces into a custom one, easily adapted for each of two of my clients.

I make my living developing intuitive, interactive interfaces for the Web and have an assortment of clients who are corporate, academic and personal. I especially like the colorful visual examples this book offers as well as the step-by-step procedures, which apparently were developed by someone who has more free time than I do.

Although one or two steps left me questioning a procedure or two, I was able to work around these steps, was able to further advance my skill level with Photoshop into a region I had not previously spent too much time -- channels -- and found some of the techniques for making textures quite nice alternatives to applying Kai's Power Tools textures without having to think about them. I did find the application of textures via channels somewhat difficult to accomplish with my own interface designs and had to abandon the methods momentarily, but hope to resume and achieve full mastery over these processes at a later date.

Another small negative on the book is its emphasis on Photoshop. While some of the procedures cross over to other competitive graphic programs, many do not, and appear to be proprietary procedures to Photoshop. Since one buys the book already knowing this premise this should not really be an issue. Tasking between graphic programs was only a small inconvenience, considering the breadth of overall development one acquires in valuable creative processes here.

I'm not cheap, but frugal. If I cough up $40 for a book it needs to be helpful for that amount. Then again, the $10 rebate through 1.31.98 provided further incentive. I know I'll be referring to this book again and again for helpful design tips that have substance, and not the fluff of so many pretentious publications out there which are perhaps better marketed, yet only restating what their authors have said over and over again with nothing to back them as experts except their egos. Scott Hamlin's book tends to be more humble yet fresh and practically relevant, which may be what makes it ultimately so attractive.

While it provides a few good insights into the specifics of designing for the online world, copies of "The Photoshop W0W! Book" (for Photoshop techniques) and "Creating Killer Web Sites" (for the idiosynchracies of online design) will give you more of what you need to know. The problem with this book is that it is filled with techniques for creating drop-shadowed, KPT-textured, faux-3D "chartjunk" (to borrow a phrase from Edward Tufte). While I use many of these techniques from time to time, they must be applied carefully and for well thought-out reasons, not just to 'look cool.' Mr. Hamlin gives no guidelines in this area and, judging by the designs he showcases, I wonder if he even uses any himself. For games and entertainment titles, no doubt Mr. Hamlin's style is appropriate. For anyone doing serious information design, PLEASE read Tufte's "Envisioning Informaton" before applying any of these techniques. I only wish to God the designers of the Windows interface had.

Chris Kaminski
Web Developer
SyForce, Inc.

     Successful Web development requires a number of elements that when brought together form a fully functional and productive online presence. One key element is the effective design of user interfaces that are attractive, functional, easy to understand, and easily navigable. Because first impressions can be lasting ones online, Website interface design will determine how successfully most sites communicate their messages.      J. Scott Hamlin has written Interface Design With Photoshop to provide essential interface design techniques necessary for creating work a cut above the competition that will get noticed! This heavily illustrated design book offers readers many stunning and exciting attention-getting Web graphics ideas that can be created using Photoshop, as well as other programs such as Painter and Paint Shop Pro. The use of Alien Skin's Eye Candy is highly recommended if you don't have Photoshop on hand.      More than just a "how-to" book, the author provides a course on basic design principles followed up by some of the most breathtaking graphics work in the business. Many of the projects in the book were created from scratch and are easy to create. Step-by-step instructions and illustrations will provide many enjoyable learning experiences that even beginners can handle. Readers are encouraged to experiment by creating variations of their work with special effects to breath new life into their interface designing.      Readers are invited to thumb through this book for a number of fresh and creative interface design ideas they can put to immediate use. There's a lot of competition for designing good Websites today. Some of us need all the help we can get. The author provides plenty in this beautifully illustrated book. Highly recommended!