Fogot to use Illustrator

[jens g.r. benthien]

Gary, you are right. It has its uses like FreeHand which I use 2 or 3 times a year. But something in me is reluctant to learn everything of FreeHand - it appears far too complicated to me. In Xara everything is a snap, it's like playing with your creativity without limits. Xara is really interactive.

Over the last months I've decided to do the graphics with Xara, export them to *.eps or *.pdf, do the layouts, export them to *.eps or *.pdf, pack the text into a plain text file and send all the stuff to a subcontractor or a printer who will assemble all elements according to my specs and his needs. So I don't have to care if he is working in a RGB or CMYK space, or how he converts the files.

If the big blame will start rolling, it always rolls down the hill, where I am as the designer. So I can send the client my pdf file and prove that everything on my end was perfect. Then the ball will roll uphill to where it belongs: the printer.

Works excellent for me.

Don't forget: in the past theses tricky tasks have been provided by printers or some specialists, not the designer. I tried my best - just to discover that I'll be the fool if problems arise. The client doesn't pay me for color seps etc, so why go through all the hassle? It means additional work which I have to give away for free to the client. Does it make sense? No, not to me, not any longer.

I do the same with my photography: if the client wants chromes, he will get some duplicates. If he wants files, he will get files. But I don't integrated a color space profile anymore or do the seps - that's the task of the printer or whoever will laser/print/sep the material. If a client insists that I have to deliver this work without paying the extra time, I just kiss him good bye because I can't afford to waste time on jobs I don't get paid for, just to give the client a better chance to get something for free.

just a new and better workflow for me.

[Albacore]

Thats just to deep for me Jen's! I think that there is a big place for Illy, in some ways it gives me more freedom than Xara with its great brushes, text engine but then it bites back with its terrible "pen tool" but then again it breathes life into my drawings when I take it to the printers.

Its a tool, you use tools to get to where you want to be. You say, "no thank you, I don't feel comfortable using that tool", and you don't use it its all swings and round abouts. I slog at least 6 hrs a day using Illy and have grown just about comfortable with this software and can appreciate its strengths and weakenesses and yes i feel more at ease the Xara but Illy has alot of strengths and should be never ignored even though you feel that you are above the need to see your work taken through the printing stage. Well me I think that it is part of my job to make sure that "My Work" goes through from the design stage right through to the print stage and it is not just left to the printr to sort out.

[jens g.r. benthien]

Albacore,

it's just that I don't want to invest more time into yet another tool. Nobody will give me a compensation (=cash) for this effort, work, the software and time. I won't be as good as anyone else with Illustrator, that's a fact.

2D design is just a side line for me. So I prefer my new workflow, it's easier for me to focus on my core competence and subcontract everything else as long as I know it will be done professionally. Sure, I give away some turnover, but I can live on a markup or even without a markup, because I have far less hassle and conflicts to solve.

It's the same as with web design: someday you realize that you can't keep pace with all updates, new software, new languages or even variants. So instead of coding everything I just do the layout and design and hand it over to a script kiddy to do the rest. Much more efficient, and I don't spend 16 hours glued to the dreamweaver or whatever it's called today, just because I have to figure out a new command or consider the different browser engines and how they might distort the result.

I learned to 'share' the work and focus on my capabilities. That's all. If you would tell me: hey, there is a new hyperillustrator that can do this and that, I'd say 'fine, send me the details for the data xchange and I'll send you the files to finish the project', so that I can continue with what I can do best.

In product design I send the files to a service company with 5 axis mills to generate a real life sample - nor more foam cutting for me, no more painting, spraying, glueing etc - that took a large burden off of my shoulders. The client will pay for it - no matter who did the job.

It just gives me back more freedom for creative work.

[Albacore]

Yes you are right! I do not take my work right to the end, I get someone to print it, cut it, and package it out of the door. Supposedly these are not my skills or job and i get someone to do this.