Years ago, digital designers turned to the Macintosh platform because the essential applications performed better there than on Windows. In fact, the earliest versions of Photoshop and Illustrator were Mac-only.
Today, these applications run just fine on Windows, but Mac remains the industry standard for design. So why not make the most out of the platform you use every day?
Mac OS X Tiger (also known as 10.4) has a wide range of features that you may have heard of, but have probably not checked out in depth. In the Designer’s Guide to Mac OS X Tiger, Jeff Gamet introduces you to dozens of features and tips that are specific to the needs of graphic and web designers.
The book starts things off with the basics of the OS X environment, file management, and font management—much of which you probably know unless you’re totally new to the Mac world. Even so, I learned a bit about Exposé, erasing rewriteable discs, archiving files without StuffIt, and automatic font smoothing. However, the really good design-specific talk began shortly after in the discussion of printing and PDFs.
The printer setup section makes a great reference for the zillions of possible print dialog options and how they apply to various common jobs, like annual report designs and invoices. The PDF section imparts a dizzying amount of info on this oft-misunderstood file format, such as font handling, color syncing, and creating PDFs from a wide range of design apps. The downside is that the Adobe references here are a version behind, but even if you’re a CS3 user, you’ll still get the gist.
Speaking of oft-misunderstood design tasks, the section on color management demystifies color profiles, examines the ColorSync utility and explains how to calibrate your monitor with your Mac’s Display Calibration Assistant. I think I would have liked even more meat here, because you can never talk too much about color settings and calibration, but at least there’s plenty to get you started.
The remainder of the book focuses on networking (your computer, not with fellow designers!), workflow, and security. It’s not all design-focused, but by learning the features explained here you can make your design work faster and safer. If you pick up this book, spend some time reading the section on system maintenance—the better you understand how your Mac works and how to keep it running smoothly, the less you have to worry about something going wrong right in the middle of that huge ad campaign you’re working on. And if you want to skip it and just get back to the design, check out the tips on the tools that come with your Mac, like Preview, the DigitalColor Meter, and the Automator. Also, check out the handy Dashboard Widgets that the author suggests—I’m downloading some of these as we speak.
In the end, you may have already figured some of this stuff out yourself, but this clear, well-structured book is still a really handy reference with many ways to keep organized, print correctly, optimize your workflow, and spend more time being creative.
