My 2001 tax report stated thirty five percent of my total income was for PDF file preparation. I use Enfocus Pitsop, pdfInspektor by Callas and Adobe Acrobat. I fell into this line of specialization by accident and now can rely on two accounts that keep me busy.
In some situations the learning curve for me was higher than expected though.
The PDF has received attention after our penny pinching IT veterans saw an article on money saving, the PDF, and printing. I work in the Graphics & Printing dept. and quickly saw the money savings coming from fine printing equipment rather than the PDF. With many discussions and e-mails, I am still not sure they understand PDF is not a magic cure all. We can easily share color and files with PDF but we still must print on a press. We've no other color printing capability (aside from a desk jet). I have a love hate relationship with the PDF. I love that it makes the lay-folk happy, and hate that it's not what they think... and that varies wildly from person to person.
I read this article with interest and a wry smile. As Applications Development Manager at ControlP (and previously a designer myself), I have been working on our flagship product, edit2print, for some 18 months. As this is not a sales pitch, if you would like to have a look please visit www.controlp.co.uk.
In essence we have been developing an online tool that has been designed specifically to allow people with no design background to edit, proof and send a range of marketing collateral to print online. All design credentials e.g. layout, style etc are maintained. In other words a brand can be maintained whilst allowing the non-skilled end user to edit selected areas of content.
The product manipulates PDF files online and to the best of my belief the technology is unique - it takes PDF editing to a new level.
Yet we meet with much resistance from designers involved in the rollout to our corporate users. The product is perceived as a threat in much the same way that DTP was 15 years ago.
The next big thing (we're already in it!) in our business is going to be secure brand delivery to the brand user-base. Couple this with the ability to personalise on demand using the web as a conduit and it all adds up to quite a deal worth looking at.
And here's the crux: its an alluring proposition to the corporate customers commissioning design and print and one that they are jumping at.
Its just a shame that for once the process can't be driven from the design and print industries, who could embrace these opportunities and sell them (yes, revenue!) as a service now, rather than later, when the corporates start demanding it as a given.
Single programs cannot be compared to the invention of the telephone.
Quark did not exist when designers were changing over from the use of the T-square. How many of you remember Ventura Publisher?
E-books? For text books, where content tends to change over time, the weight of paper pages is greater and your market still has good vision, e-books may be useful. Other than that one market, I see no use for e-books. In fact, this may be why I do not embrace .pdf files. As manuals are more and more frequently presented on CD, fewer and fewer of us are actually reading about the programs we use.
The lowest common denominator approach. Acrobat Reader users don't need any special skills and that is what is so appealing about .pdf files. Unfortunately this type of consumer-based software lowers the bar on design and production, quality and professionalism.
As a design professional, I do not want to get involved in:
"electronic forms creation"
"interactive and multimedia ebooks and documents"
"incorporating tagged and structured information into documents"
"'accessible' PDF file creation (making PDF files that address criteria of Section 508)"
"electronic alternatives to paper-based workflows."
Sounds more like a lazy writer's wish list. Maybe there will be a whole new industry based on "electronic printing" to do the things you are suggesting. But for now, this is engineering/secretarial/editorial work.
It is not just about money. No one becomes a Graphic Designer to get rich. To get truly rich, Microsoft rich, you have to invent a piece of software that everyone needs, make it an industry standard and then overcharge for it while constantly updating.
closed doors
I think the writer was trying to open doors for educators and Creative Professionals and this story is does that.
Strongly agree
My 2001 tax report stated thirty five percent of my total income was for PDF file preparation. I use Enfocus Pitsop, pdfInspektor by Callas and Adobe Acrobat. I fell into this line of specialization by accident and now can rely on two accounts that keep me busy.
In some situations the learning curve for me was higher than expected though.
PDF looks different depending on where you see it from.
The PDF has received attention after our penny pinching IT veterans saw an article on money saving, the PDF, and printing. I work in the Graphics & Printing dept. and quickly saw the money savings coming from fine printing equipment rather than the PDF. With many discussions and e-mails, I am still not sure they understand PDF is not a magic cure all. We can easily share color and files with PDF but we still must print on a press. We've no other color printing capability (aside from a desk jet). I have a love hate relationship with the PDF. I love that it makes the lay-folk happy, and hate that it's not what they think... and that varies wildly from person to person.
Seperating Design from Content
I read this article with interest and a wry smile. As Applications Development Manager at ControlP (and previously a designer myself), I have been working on our flagship product, edit2print, for some 18 months. As this is not a sales pitch, if you would like to have a look please visit www.controlp.co.uk.
In essence we have been developing an online tool that has been designed specifically to allow people with no design background to edit, proof and send a range of marketing collateral to print online. All design credentials e.g. layout, style etc are maintained. In other words a brand can be maintained whilst allowing the non-skilled end user to edit selected areas of content.
The product manipulates PDF files online and to the best of my belief the technology is unique - it takes PDF editing to a new level.
Yet we meet with much resistance from designers involved in the rollout to our corporate users. The product is perceived as a threat in much the same way that DTP was 15 years ago.
The next big thing (we're already in it!) in our business is going to be secure brand delivery to the brand user-base. Couple this with the ability to personalise on demand using the web as a conduit and it all adds up to quite a deal worth looking at.
And here's the crux: its an alluring proposition to the corporate customers commissioning design and print and one that they are jumping at.
Its just a shame that for once the process can't be driven from the design and print industries, who could embrace these opportunities and sell them (yes, revenue!) as a service now, rather than later, when the corporates start demanding it as a given.
Just a thought!
Wrong on virtually every point.
Single programs cannot be compared to the invention of the telephone.
Quark did not exist when designers were changing over from the use of the T-square. How many of you remember Ventura Publisher?
E-books? For text books, where content tends to change over time, the weight of paper pages is greater and your market still has good vision, e-books may be useful. Other than that one market, I see no use for e-books. In fact, this may be why I do not embrace .pdf files. As manuals are more and more frequently presented on CD, fewer and fewer of us are actually reading about the programs we use.
The lowest common denominator approach. Acrobat Reader users don't need any special skills and that is what is so appealing about .pdf files. Unfortunately this type of consumer-based software lowers the bar on design and production, quality and professionalism.
As a design professional, I do not want to get involved in:
"electronic forms creation"
"interactive and multimedia ebooks and documents"
"incorporating tagged and structured information into documents"
"'accessible' PDF file creation (making PDF files that address criteria of Section 508)"
"electronic alternatives to paper-based workflows."
Sounds more like a lazy writer's wish list. Maybe there will be a whole new industry based on "electronic printing" to do the things you are suggesting. But for now, this is engineering/secretarial/editorial work.
It is not just about money. No one becomes a Graphic Designer to get rich. To get truly rich, Microsoft rich, you have to invent a piece of software that everyone needs, make it an industry standard and then overcharge for it while constantly updating.
I have to use them too - but I hate .pdf files.