 1
A is for April... and the Arts
2 DESIGNING WOMEN Opens in DT&G
3 Pick up DT&G PDF Edition
4 60 Seconds... Top Ten Signs You're About to be RIPPED OFF
5 Spring (fonts) have sprung
6 Photoshop Technique: NOISE... by Dr. D'Lynn Waldron
7 Speaking of Photoshop
8 Top Ten Photoshop Books
9 April Reader Web Site Submissions
10 &Else -- New & Cool Stuff for you April Fun
11 "Universal" ZEN of the PEN
* Editor's Last Words: Who wants a book?
* Last Month's Editor's Column
.
APRIL IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE COLOR BLUE
(Note the new feature in the Editor's Page online)
.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
.
- 1 A is for April... and the Arts
- April is a special month for celebrating the literary arts -- National Poetry
Month ( www.poets.org), National
Humor Month, Reading is Fun Week (3rd week) and National Library Week (3rd week --
www.ala.org.) April also celebrates
our natural outdoors as National Lawn & Garden Month, and Earth Day.
___ During April we’ll ask that you take your secretary
to lunch during "Professional Secretaries Week", the 16th, ( www.iaap-hq.org) and then everyone is encouraged to observe "Take
Our Daughters To Work Day." This is part of the national education campaign
sponsored by the MS Foundation For Women where girls from 9 to 19 should accompany
a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or friend to work. ( www.worklifemontgomery.org/)
___ For all you desktop publishers out there, April
is particularly monumental because on April 23, 1994 physicists at the Department
of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory discovered the existence of a subatomic
particle called "The Top Quark." Wha??? Yup, the last undiscovered of the
six predicted to exist some three decades earlier.
___ April is also a major religious month for many people
around the world, April 15, Easter Sunday, commemorates the resurrection of Christ
-- the most joyous festival of the Christian world. It’s interesting to note that
the actual day is derived from the lunar calendar; the first Sunday following the
first full moon, or after the vernal equinox -- always between March 22 and April
25.
___ Thomas Jefferson, one of my all-time favorite heros,
third president of the United States, author of the Declaration of American Independence
was born very near here in Albemarle County on April 13, 1743.
.
"I like the dreams of the future
___ better than the history
of the past." ... Thomas Jefferson
.
So, during April we’ll celebrate the life of Thomas Jefferson in Charlottesville
Virginia, along with those wacky guys from the Publishers Warehouse.
.
Hope you enjoy April, and come to see us in the
Design & Publishing Center
* http://www.graphic-design.com/news/index.html
.
- 2 DESIGNING WOMEN Opens in DT&G
- ___ March was “Working Women’s Month” and it turned
out to be a lot of fun, with better outcomes than we thought. As you remember we
promised a free FOLIO to women designers who supplied samples and were selected for
showing. WOW! What came next was a really wonderful gathering of talent from all
around the world. The results is so good, in fact, we’re planning to keep the program
running all year long!
___ We’re very pleased to introduce Heather Bellanca
as our first Designing Woman. Over the weeks to come, we’ll be opening Folios for
nearly a dozen others who's work represents some of the most outstanding creative
arts, and layout design in the world.
___ Heather makes her debut in the DT&G
PDF Edition ONLY until after next week when the official web site opens!
.
- 3 Pick up DT&G PDF Edition
- * News & Review: Designing Women,
* Designing Women: Meet Heather Bellanca
* Technique: Using NOISE in Photo Retouching
* Technique: Transparent GIFs over Pattern Backgrounds!
* Letters@: * Feathering in Quark. * Blurring Edges in PS
* &TYPE: Spring Font Fun... cool new fonts!
* Prizes for your Shareware ideas: - YUM!
DOWNLOAD IT AND ENJOY IT.
* http://www.graphic-design.com/PubWarehouse/DTG-Library.html
.
- 4 60 Seconds... Top Ten Signs You're About to be RIPPED OFF
- Fred tracks the illusive spammer! With the influx of thousands of new UCEs ('Unsolicited
Commercial Email" -- aka: SPAM) hitting the Graphic Design Network servers,
our spam-hunting team decided to track a few of these low-lifes down, and find out
where it's all coming from.
___ What we found was rather alarming, and out of more
than 7,000 UCEs gathered since January 1st -- so far -- we haven't found but ONE
honest person. But we've found lots of them who would sell their mother for a quarter,
or stab you in the back for a nickel. Not a pretty sight.
___ So, here's the Top Ten things to do with your email.
A short version
in this month's PDF Edition ... a 3-minute version is at:
* http://www.60-Seconds.com/articles/130a.html
.
- 5 Spring (fonts) have sprung
- Yes, it's that time of year again... fresh, new Fonts for a friendly springtime
look in all your publications. This month we also introduce TWO additional Antique
fonts, at a reader's request, and we convert some old favorites to Windows -- also
at readers' request.
.
Harrington Font
___ Aside from being a wonderful font, I don't know
what the excitement is -- however nearly a third of the requests we get are either
for the Loading Dock directions to Harrington, or for a Windows version of Harrington.
People just love that font. So, now a Windows version has been posted.
___ We've become BETA testers for a fantastic new product
called TransType Pro 2, and we've converted a number of fonts to the Windows format.
(TTF) If you do download any of the new Windows versions, and have trouble with them,
please let us know.
___ The Spring Fonts Festival is highlighted in the
PDF Edition,
and there are a number of new font pages in the Typography Department in the Design
Center.
* http://www.graphic-design.com/Type/index.html
.
(Coming to Knowledge Base soon: the MEGA FONTS links list)
...and you can download them at the Loading Dock!
* http://www.graphic-design.com/PubWarehouse/index.html
.
- 6 Photoshop Technique: NOISE... by Dr. D'Lynn Waldron
- A real treat for Photo imagers, and retouchers out there is a fantastic column
from Dr. Waldron this month: how to use NOISE in Photoshop to enhance your Photos!
___ This one's in the PDF
Edition ONLY, folks.
.
- 7 Speaking of Photoshop
- This month's Editor's Choice Books are two wonderfully fun and easy Photoshop
books for those of you just beginning to delve into the deep waters of Photoshop.
Dr. D'Lynn pointed them out and has send in a great review of both -- complete with
screens of interior pages.
* http://www.graphic-design.com/DTG/Reviews/Editors.html
.
- 8 Top Ten Photoshop Books
- Following Design Cafe discussions to start a "Design & Publishing Book
Club for bulk purchases, I decided to have a look at the top Photoshop books published
in the past several months. I've published the list at:
* http://www.Design-Bookshelf.com/Editors.html
___ If you think you might be interested in getting
books at 20% to 35% UNDER Amazon.com prices, join the CAFE,
and let us know.
.
- 9 April Reader Web Site Submissions
- All the reader web site submissions have been posted in the Web Design &
Review department... nearly 3 dozen!
___ * Asyart, an online print framing company; The Glass
Menagerie site to promote a College play; Uomini Nuovi, exploring the use of portraits
in digital arts; Baltimore's and Washington's B'nai Mitzvah; Clear Creek Rafting,
outdoor adventures; Dazed & Confused, the London arts magazine; Digitalmove,
office supplies and appliances; Historical Artifact's of Etech Stone Tiles; lovelines,
a dating link site; Simply Aromatics, aromatherapy shop; Caritas Shatin M.F. Secondary
School, in Hong Kong and two dozen others...
___ These were all submitted by peer readers, to get
YOUR opinion! Give'em a read
* http://www.graphic-design.com/Web/Reviews/NEW.html
.
- 10 &Else -- New & Cool Stuff for you April Fun
- Dangerous New Linux Worm * MSPs: IT's New Baby Sitter * Bryce Workshop with Susan
Kitchens * New Color Solution for QuarkXPress Users * Opera Web Browser Now Has Ultimate
Guide * New Image Grabber, Viewer, Editor for Windows * Do you suffer from Mouse
injuries? * Get better security with LockOut (Mac) * Apple firms up firmware (complete
with download links!) * Are you ready for a Corrugated Box Dieline Generator, for
graphic designers?
___ Each month a new batch of interesting items that
have crossed our desk.
* http://www.graphic-design.com/news/else/index.html
.
- 11 "Universal" ZEN of the PEN
- Dozens of people have written to ask "What is Zen of the Pen?" The
answer is simple: it's Sharon Sterer’s Off-Line Seminar that walks you through the
use of the vectoring tool in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Fireworks, and Freehand.
Luckily, both Adobe and Macromedia have adopted similar functionality in the most
powerful drawing tools in the world... luckily we have Sharon Sterer, author of the
immensely popular "Illustrator WOW" books to show us the way.
___ In "Universal ZEN of the PEN" you take
a series of one-hour lessons that first introduce you to the actions involved in
high- precision drawing... then helps you as you develop the skills to make that
pen do exactly what you want it to.
___ Throughout the course, you're treated to QuickTime
videos of the actual pen motions, accompanied by Sharon's own voice. If you use the
pen... you need the Zen!
* http://www.design-u.org/~zen/index.html
.
- * Editor's Last Words: Who wants a book?
- Are'ya still reading?
___ Last month I opened the door for the first 12 Working
Women to join the new "Designing Women" promotion. We quickly filled the
12 seats.
___ I continue the offer to get in touch with samples
and a story of your creative professional talents. Throughout the year we will will
give away more complimentary PARTNER FOLIOs in the Graphic Design Network, it's a
$99 value, and if you think you're up to it, just let me know.
.
#2 Somebody help me get rid of some books.
___ As you know we get at least a book a day from publishers
wanting us to review their latest and greatest. Everyone wants the Photoshop books
-- literally hundreds of requests each month -- but they only send us ONE copy of
each book.
___ I am now looking for people with knowledge or experience
in the following topics to receive a book, and do a review:
.
[__] Macromedia DreamWeaver Ultra Dev 4
[__] 3D Studio Viz (many versions available)
[__] LightWave (many versions available)
[__] XHTML, DHTML, CCS, ... dozens of titles
[__] Bryce 4 (other versions available)
[__] Windows 2000 Applications Developers (YIKES!)
[__] MSCE (Explorer in the Corporate environment)
[__] MS Project 2000
[__] Macromedia FLASH (dozens of titles)
[__] Macromedia Fireworks (all versions)
[__] Macromedia Director
[__] Adobe InDesign
[__] Corel Photo Paint
[__] Corel Draw
.
...and 300 others. I had thought about selling them at the next computer fair...
but I'll be in LA. I had thought about selling them here in the bookshelf, but too
much trouble.
___ If you feel you can spend some time with the book,
and relate back to our readers in a timely fashion, with 250 to 400 words and perhaps
some screens, I'm happy to send the book out to you.
___ Please, US residents ONLY, unless you're willing
to help out with the shipping. Also, it's not much use in sending out to Europe,
or Asia, since the book would be out of date by the time it gets there. Sorry.
.
FINALLY: THE BAD NEWS
- At some point this spring, ALL Photoshop Tips & Tricks, and a WEEKLY PHOTOSHOP
TRAINING SERIES will move to subscription based delivery. It simply takes too much
time, and effort to continue giving away. We expect to loose a lot of readers, however,
we believe those who are serious will stay on board, and reap the benefits. (A printed
publication is also under discussions.)
- Somtime this spring the Desktop Publishing Jumpstation will close. It's long
outlived it's usefulness, and both interest and attendance has dropped to virtually
zero. If anyone is interested, I'll discuss turning www.DTP-Jumpstation.com over
to you.
- .
And that's it for the April Newsletter.
Here's to YOU, for your happiest April ever, we wish you all the best.
.
Fred
.
Fred Showker, your lowly editor -- showker at graphic-design.com
-------------------------- POSTSCRIPT -----------------------------
* Design-U Associate Program Brings You Cash -- If you think YOUR site has sufficient
traffic of people who would benefit from the Design University seminars, why not
become a Design University Extension Campus. This allows you to offer D-U courses
to your visitors, and earn a 15% commission for every Seminar your readers buy! Contact:
Admissions at Design-U.org for details
How to contact us?
http://www.graphic-design.com/contact.html
Photo Retouching Seminar .. http://www.design-U.org/Photoshop.html
The Designers'Bookshelf ......... http://www.design-bookshelf.com/
News Serve Net, news & stuff........... http://www.news-serve.net/
60-Second Windows, Editorials ......... http://www.60-Seconds.com/
The User Group Network ............... http://www.user-groups.net/
The Rumor Manager ....... http://www.user-groups.net/RumorManager/
The Resource Manager ....... http://www.user-groups.net/resources/
Mac Shareware .... http://www.user-groups.net/shareware/index.html
Folks, we can’t help you if you don’t
cooperate...
Each month accesses (looking for that new EPS clip art disk) and prize registrations
are denied in the Publishers’Warehouse.
__ Why? Because the email address keyed into the Loading
Dock request was incorrect, or no longer in use. I find it hard to believe that people
would register for something and then drop the address.
__ Remember: no spaces, correct spelling. Dozens
of AOL users didn't put in "@aol.com" -- remember: name@aol.com, no spaces.
(We assume they were AOL since they had no "@" indicator.)
__ Remember too, that the loading dock changes locations
each month. You'll find the clue you need to the new location in each issue of this
column.
.
.
.
.
Contents Copyright (c) 2001, Reproduction or reuse of parts or all of this manuscript
without prior written permission is expressly forbidden.
|