- Email: [email protected]
Learning to Use Illustration and Presentation Software
Appendix B Learning to Use Illustration and Presentation Software
Throughout this book, I recommend guidelines for creating figures and presentations while deliberately avoiding any descriptions about how to accomplish these tasks using modern illustration and presentation software. If this book were to provide step-by-step lists about how to use computer applications, it would be about five times as long. However, you may be wondering which applications I use and how I learned to use them. Personally, I only use four applications to create all of my science presentations: l
Word (Microsoft) Keynote (Apple) l Photoshop (Adobe) l Illustrator (Adobe) l
These are not necessarily recommendations, although I do enjoy using these programs. If anything, I want to emphasize that I don’t use very many applications and yet I feel confident in my ability to create any figure or presentation that I want. I never went to art school, and I don’t have a graphic design certificate above my desk. I learned how to use these applications partially on my own, partially by skimming some guidebooks, and partially by looking for answers to my questions on the Internet. Additionally, throughout my career, the academic institutions I’ve worked at have all offered short workshops and courses on how to use these programs. There were many opportunities to learn, and I just had to be proactive about taking them. If you feel deficient in using the software mentioned above (or other applications of your choice), realize that these are tools you can learn on your own in a short amount of time. There are many wonderful step-by-step guidebooks that describe how to use all of these programs. Many of these books are written in a “lesson in a day” format, so that you can teach yourself a useful function in just 30–60 minutes a day. I taught myself how to use all of the programs above as a graduate student (usually while waiting for gels to run or DNA to
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Appendix B
fully flow through purification columns). Also, the mighty Internet has never failed to answer any of my specific questions when typed into a Google search field (e.g., “How do I extract an image in Adobe Photoshop CS5?”). In short, don’t be intimidated by presentation technology. The software engineers really have done a remarkable job making these applications fun and simple to use. A good guidebook or workshop and effort are all you need.
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Throughout this book, I recommend guidelines for creating figures and presentations while deliberately avoiding any descriptions about how to accomplish these tasks using modern illustration and presentation software. If this book were to provide step-by-step lists about how to use computer applications, it would be about five times as long. However, you may be wondering which applications I use and how I learned to use them. Personally, I only use four applications to create all of my science presentations: l
Word (Microsoft) Keynote (Apple) l Photoshop (Adobe) l Illustrator (Adobe) l
These are not necessarily recommendations, although I do enjoy using these programs. If anything, I want to emphasize that I don’t use very many applications and yet I feel confident in my ability to create any figure or presentation that I want. I never went to art school, and I don’t have a graphic design certificate above my desk. I learned how to use these applications partially on my own, partially by skimming some guidebooks, and partially by looking for answers to my questions on the Internet. Additionally, throughout my career, the academic institutions I’ve worked at have all offered short workshops and courses on how to use these programs. There were many opportunities to learn, and I just had to be proactive about taking them. If you feel deficient in using the software mentioned above (or other applications of your choice), realize that these are tools you can learn on your own in a short amount of time. There are many wonderful step-by-step guidebooks that describe how to use all of these programs. Many of these books are written in a “lesson in a day” format, so that you can teach yourself a useful function in just 30–60 minutes a day. I taught myself how to use all of the programs above as a graduate student (usually while waiting for gels to run or DNA to
349
Appendix B
fully flow through purification columns). Also, the mighty Internet has never failed to answer any of my specific questions when typed into a Google search field (e.g., “How do I extract an image in Adobe Photoshop CS5?”). In short, don’t be intimidated by presentation technology. The software engineers really have done a remarkable job making these applications fun and simple to use. A good guidebook or workshop and effort are all you need.
350