The Lost Symbol

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading previous books from Dan Brown and I'm looking forward to reading The Lost Symbol. Some of you may not recognize the name Dan Brown, but you have no doubt heard of Angels and Demons as well as The DaVinci Code. Both of those books were made into mega movies starring Tom Hanks. Of course the books themselves were wildly popular.

The lead character of each of these books, Robert Langdon, is a symbologist. This means he is often looking at some sort of graphic looking for clues. I found the graphics included in Angels and Demons to be quite interesting and it got me scratching my head about how to create similar designs.

The Lost Symbol will be released on September 15th, two days from now. If you've enjoyed the previous books, you might want to get a copy of The Lost Symbol on order. I've already ordered my copy and it will arrive on Tuesday. It will be fun to try and unravel the mysterious trail as I read.

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Good Book: Adobe InDesign CS4 One-on-One

Those of you who have been reading the blog for a while will know how I am moving away from Corel Ventura and moving towards Adobe InDesign for publishing my books and tutorials. When you've used a product for over twenty years, the transition to something else is really painful. I started the learning process about a month ago and so far things are progressing at a steady pace.

One of the benefits of being a CorelDRAW expert is that I've had the opportunity to meet other experts at various events. That includes Deke McClelland, author of the book I'm going to tell you about.

Adobe InDesign CS4 One-on-One bears some similarities to my CorelDRAW X4 Unleashed book in that it includes both written material and video tutorials. ID CS4 1on1 is a printed book and it includes a disc with four hours of video tutorials. Deke has created one video for each of the chapters in the book where I went with shorter video tutorials that each covered a specific subject. Different approaches, but each method certainly produces good results. I still have over two-thirds of Deke's book left, but I love what I've read so far. Believe me, I've read every single word and watched all videos for the sections I've completed.

The book combines good detailed information along with humorous writing and examples so it is easy to read. You won't complete it in a weekend, but I find it is better to take my time so I can fully appreciate each of the steps and what they've taught me.

If you need to improve your skills in Adobe InDesign, Adobe InDesign CS4 One-On-One is a great resource!

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Good Book: Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color

When I meet with users, I find that the vast majority have very little formal training in graphic design. Don't read that wrong. I'm not saying they aren't good designers, just that they haven't gone to school to study graphic design.

Just going to school will not make someone a good designer. There are many great designers who do not have formal training. What the training can do is help you to avoid mistakes. More mistakes means you aren't as productive as possible. It may also mean you aren't using your creativity to its fullest.

One area where I find users lacking is fully understanding color. What do colors mean? What colors work well together? The Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color is a fantastic resource that will answer those two questions and much more.

Learning how to use design software is important. But also understanding design itself is just as important. This book is a great starting place.

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