This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but the
following are typical examples from the clients that I have trained. If
your needs are different, no problem, just let me know.
| 1. Graphic Designer:
QuarkXpress (intermediate) |
| MG has been using Quark for some time but only
in a limited capacity which is fine for his present job. However he
wants to broaden his horizons by developing his knowledge and skills;
to confirm that what he knows is correct; to explore better ways of
doing things and fill in the gaps. |
Recommended course duration:
1 day Quark course. |
Outcome: At
the end of the day MG was a master page layout artist |
|
| 2.
Photographer: Dreamweaver and Photoshop
(beginner) |
| RP is a professional photographer specialising
is abstract prints which he sells. He already had a sophisticated
successful web site created for him and he wanted to better understand
web design so he could update his site himself. He also wanted to
use Photoshop to scan and output his images using a high end inkjet
to specialised paper. He also needed to upgrade from an iMac. Prior
to this he only used computers for e-mail and writing letters. |
Recommended course duration
Photoshop 1 day
Dreamweaver 1 day
2 hrs on computing and Macs in general
2 hours follow up to review certain issues
|
Outcome RP
successfully scans, corrects and outputs beautiful prints from Photoshop
and produces versions suitable for the Web and updates his own web
site. He also now archives and backs-up his priceless files to an
external hard drive, can confidently buy knew equipment and install
his own memory chips. |
|
| 3. Art Director: Quark,
Photoshop Illustrator and Web Design Intro. |
| When JG's career started there were no Macs. He
typically has artworkers and designers do artwork for him but he wanted
to know more about the programmes themselves and their possibilities
but did not need to become expert at using them. He found it difficult
to acquire this knowledge in the work place because different people
seemed to tell him different things he needed to know about
things from the correct technical perspective. |
Recommended course duration:
Photoshop 1 day
Dreamweaver/Web design 1 day
Illustrator 1 day
QuarkXpress 1 day
|
Outcome: JG
now has in in-depth understanding of each program its possibilities
and limitations and how they relate to each other. All his questions
were answered. He feels things have fallen into place and he better
understands the terminology. This will allow him to communicate better
with his suppliers. He has also had some hands-on experience using
the programmes himself under expert tutelage. |
|
| 4.
Graphic Designer: Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Photoshop (intermediate)
|
| MK
has a degree in graphic design but has worked in an environment where
she used QuarkXpress all the time and Illustrator only for a specific
type of task. She never uses Photoshop. As a result her Illustrator
skills have become rusty and out of date and she needs to learn Photoshop
to develop her career further. She also wanted to learn all about
Web design to the point where she could build and manage sophisticated
sites. |
Recommended
course duration:
Photoshop 2 days
Dreamweaver 2.5 days
Illustrator 1 day
|
Outcome:
MK is now able to produce complex montages
in Photoshop using layers and complicated masks. She is now comfortable
when using Illustrator and has used all the tools and techniques by
following a series of exercises increasing in difficulty. She has
also designed sophisticated web sites with numerous interactive features,
edited HTML and Javascripts. She knows how to buy web space and how
to FTP new files to her host server and how to work with CGI scripts. |
|
| 5.
Graphic Designer: Photoshop & pre-press (advanced) |
| SS
has a degree in graphic design and has been working as such for many
years. She wants to know how to get Pantone colour separations from
Photoshop without them being converted to CMYK. She also wants to
talk about trapping, various pre-press issues and fonts to get things
straight in her mind because she had been taught conflicting perspectives. |
Recommended
course duration:
Numerous topics 1 day |
Outcome:
All her questions were answered. She understands
the theory and practice of trapping and worked on exercises producing
Pantone separations from Photoshop under the tutors guidance. Pre-press
and print was fully explained to her and she is now confident of taking
a job through pre-press and print stages without error. She was also
given a work-flow diagram showing the process from start to finish
as well as producing lots of her own notes. |
|
| 6. Freelance Graphic
Designer: Quark, Photoshop & Illustrator (advanced) |
| Since going freelance, AD realised that she needed
to know more about the above programs in greater depth and had a very
good idea of what she wanted to know. |
Recommended
course duration:
2 days |
| Although AD brought a long list of topics and examples
she wanted to go over, after a helpful discussion with the tutor she
realised there were a few other topics she wanted to add to the list.
Over the two days AD and the tutor worked through the list using her
examples and some relevant projects provided by the tutor. |
| Outcome:
AD used the course to fill in the gaps in
her knowledge cramming three programs into a short and intensive
course and "picked the tutors brain". She practiced using
the tools she had never previously bothered with and learnt new
ways of combining the ones she had. She learnt more shortcuts and
tips to improve productivity, and modified her ways of working to
accommodate the tutors suggestions. She fully understood the advanced
techniques and was able to bring a wider repertoire of ideas to
her work that only the computer made feasible.
|
|
| 7. Novice Artworker: Quark,
Photoshop & Illustrator from scratch |
| RS took a Fine Arts degree and followed this with
a course in Design Management but had only used Photoshop on any of
these courses. His objective was to find work in the graphics industry
as a Mac Artworker and needed to be able to demonstrate professional
level skills in all three programs to achieve this. |
Recommended course duration:
9 days (plus a tenth free) |
| RS took advice and spread the course over three
weeks spending three days a week on each program and then one day
to recap. Three days enabled the tutor to cover everything RS needed
to know as a professional Mac Artworker. |
Outcome:
RS took a short answer written theory test
at the end of the course and scored 86%. He also successfully completed
all the ongoing exercises throughout the course and understood how
all the tools of all the programs worked as well as numerous tips,
tricks and techniques which will stand him in good stead in his career.
During the course he designed a 16 page colour brochure, business
stationary, logos, posters and leaflets, producing montages and web
graphics in Photoshop. In fact in ten days he produced half a gigabytes
worth of files which he took away on a CD, as well as copious notes.
He showed a particular aptitude for the work and now has a skill set
which is highly marketable. |
|
| 8. Textile Designers:
Photoshop and Illustrator (Group course) |
| NY and AR work for a textile company and were using
Photoshop and Illustrator to design patterns. They were self taught
and wanted assurance that they were doing things the right way or
if they could improve their productivity and express their ideas better
if they knew the programs more thoroughly. They weren't confident
about working on strange machine in a strange environment so an on-site
course was arranged. |
Recommended course duration:
1 day (2 people) on site |
| The instructor spent the first fifteen minutes
of the day reviewing the kind of work they had been doing and discussing
their reservations and suggested an agenda for the rest of the day
which NY and AR were delighted to follow. At the end of the day they
were familiar with a much wider range of tools and techniques and
received suggestions from the tutor how they might use these in a
more efficient way to achieve the creative effects they had in mind.
|
Outcome:
At the end of the day they both felt much more
comfortable and proficient with the programs and all the tools and
which ones best suited their requirements. The tutor also made several
incidental suggestions about how to better configure their Applemacs
to optimise performance. |
|
| 9. Proprietor of Fine
Art Gallery: Quark Xpress, Pre-press and print, Photoshop |
| NH is a partner of an international Fine Art Gallery
which wanted to produce a limited run edition of a 300 page book,
in several languages, as a promotional item. They had clear
ideas about what style of book they wanted and NH decided she would
undertake the project in-house. After attending night classes over
several months NH still felt they needed ongoing 1-2-1 advice and
tuition throughout the project. |
Course duration:
6 days (phased over several stages of the project) |
| Outcome: A superb, glossy, hard back with loose
cover, (245x300mm), 292 page, highly illustrated example of this type
of book documenting the life and works of the particular artist, design,
layout and artworking undertaken all in-house with major cost savings. |
|
| 10. Greetings Card Illustrator:
Dreamweaver, pre-press and print |
| CM is a greetings card illustrator
who wanted to market her products over the net. She had recently negotiated
international licensing agreements for her work. She had a clear idea
of what she wanted which included personal control of editing and
updating the site from time to time with new products. She had a web
site which needed rejuvenating but she felt she didn't need to know
all about web design in depth. She also felt out of depth and therefore
dependent on commercial printers and wanted to understand more of
the terminology associated with printing her cards and posters. What
she wanted was someone to firstly redesign her site and teach her
how to do it at the same time; and secondly to go over commercial
printing processes and terminology. |
Course Duration:
2 days |
| Outcome: the tutor redesigned
her ten page site to make it look fresher and more inviting and to
include order forms, while at the same time teaching CM, who was present
during the whole process, what he was doing and why, and what she
needed to know in order to update the site herself. She was also able
to practice these techniques while with the tutor. The tutor also
went through the pre-press and print process and explained each step
so that CM understood what her printers were talking about and what
she could expect from them. CM felt confident of being able to manage
her own site and order print more confidently. |
| I have several interesting case studies to add and
will do so in the near future. But in the meantime if you want to
discuss your needs please give me a ring without obligation. |
| |