The Adobe Trifecta (Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign) in a Nutshell
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Perfect for new or aspiring graphic designers, these infographic posters tell you everything you need to know about Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign; each applications main purpose, how you’ll use it most often, advantages and disadvantages, and associated file types. There’s even a fun fact that I bet you didn’t know (I sure didn’t)!
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As a graphic artist, I use three Adobe software programs daily, and often in concert, to create work across the entire design spectrum. I call these the Adobe trifecta, and they are Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. In this discussion I will summarize the key purposes of each application and tell you why it matters.
Let’s start with Photoshop, the ubiquitous photo manipulation software that changed the world of graphic design. This powerful application has three main purposes;
Photoshop Strengths
1. To edit photos and raster images
2. To color correct and enhance raster images
3. To paint and draw digital raster images
When you open an image in Photoshop, you can alter it to become absolutely anything. Want to edit out the stranger in the background of your family photo? Done. Want to add a charming ambience to your wedding photos via lighting effects and a subtle color tone. Easy-peasy. You can also start with a blank document and create your own illustrations and paintings using its myriad brushes with unlimited customization options. And if you’re feeling especially creative, you can paste that stranger in the background of your family photo into your wedding photos and have him running in terror from your Godzilla drawing (or your mother-in-law). By using the magic of layers, you can collage together just about anything.
One caveat to Photoshop is that it is a raster image editor, meaning the graphics you produce cannot be enlarged without getting pixelated (losing quality), and therefore, larger images can create very large file sizes unsuitable for some end-uses. That’s where our second program in the trifecta comes in, Adobe Illustrator.
Illustrator is, in my experience, a bit of a misnomer in that it’s not necessarily an intuitive illustration application. As someone who got into the arts because I love to draw, when I began working with Illustrator, I realized that it was more of an illustration building application, where shapes can be constructed and combined, and the pen tool with its Beziers curves felt extremely awkward – at first. However, with much practice, Illustrator’s vector-based drawings prove to be highly effective in many ways.
Illustrator Strengths
1. To create precision graphics that can retain sharp detail at any size
2. To manipulate text into any size, shape, or orientation
3. To create cut-lines for production processes
When it comes to logo design, for example, it’s important to create an image that balances simplicity and uniqueness. Something that is instantly recognizable whether it’s on a business card or a billboard. Illustrator excels at this with its mathematical approach to graphic creation. By utilizing geometry, and the ability to adjust lines point-by-point, the artist can ensure a visually pleasing, clean, and high-quality graphic across all media.
Despite Illustrators’ strength in creating bold typography, it is not ideal when it comes to text-heavy publications. That’s where InDesign, the last (but certainly not the least) program in the trifecta, comes into play.
Adobe InDesign is the industry standard when it comes to the layout for print products of all sorts, books, magazines, business cards, post cards, stationary, etc. When it’s time to combine your beautifully edited Photoshop images with your company logo and make your business stationary, brochure, and how-to book, InDesign is where you can bring it all together. With InDesign you can…
InDesign Strengths
1. Layout documents precisely for printing
2. Flow large amounts of text into visually pleasing (and easy to read) formats
3. Manage multiple assets to create stunning publications
InDesign is a great collaboration tool in the printing industry. You can create templates, plug in high-quality photos, add stunning typography, create multi-document files called “books” for easy editing, and export entire project packages that zip up all the assets, including fonts, for easy sharing to anyone else who may need to edit that document. It’s also the most WYSIWIG (what you see is what you get) application when it comes to taking what’s on your computer screen and spitting it out as a tangible product of the size, shape and color output you’re hoping for (at least when it comes to paper products).
All together, these three applications are the graphic artists’ indispensable toolkit. They can be used individually, but when combined, they empower artists to create any type of media imaginable. With practice, patience and persistence anyone can master the Adobe trifecta and go on to make their creative dreams into realities.