Presentation Graphics

When a graphic design student is in school, s/he is usually trained in all of the Adobe Creative Suite applications (like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Dreamweaver and a handful of others) when dealing with digital media. Various schools go in o varying depths when teaching these tools. Underlying all of this are classes on 2D design, drawing, painting, sculpture and a few other fine arts.

Though I have had jobs that followed a more traditional path of what that training leads to, I am currently work as a graphic designer who’s primary job is developing presentation graphics. That may just seem like a fancy way to say that I make PowerPoint decks, but I would candidly say that what I help develop is at a level that is higher than the standard. Understanding how PowerPoint has historically been mis-used, measuring oneself as “higher than the standard” doesn’t really say a whole lot.

It is funny to think that, prior to working for my current company, I had NEVER opened up MS PowerPoint. Even when I took a required class in MS Office, we used Word, Excel, (and even Access), but no PPT - I have no idea why it was like this - it just was. As I had mentioned earlier, the graphic design / art curriculum doesn’t see PPT as a design tool, so I had no exposure there. Jobs prior to this one didn’t even have MS Office installed on the computers I work on. So it was a bit of a shock to move to a position where such a huge quantity of work is communicated through PPT slides. Daily / weekly / monthly meetings, org charts, office communications and protocol, were all passed around in PPT files. In this corporate world, I stepped in as a “graphics guy” and this meant something completely different to everyone there than it did to me. I needed to get spun up quickly, and in hindsight it wasn’t too difficult. Graphics tools are similar enough that one who is well-verse in one, can quickly see the similarities and work out the differences. But the use of these tools was different enough that it became the focus of my adaptation.

At the core of all of this, I came to the realization of something that gave me a completely new perspective on where my career could lead. I realized that designers are either not acclimated to applications like PPT or Keynote as foundational training or just look at this type of work to be “beneath them.“ The people that use PPT on a daily basis - salespeople, marketers, the military, etc. usually don’t have training in design. Bringing a designer’s perspective to the use of PPT (visual communications) allows this medium to be taken to a higher level. This is not rocket science here, nor is this brand new information. I am just explaining my observations - it was one of those things that, at the time, ”I didn’t know what I didn’t know.“ I have since found an incredible community that is made up of people like Nancy Duarte, Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, Garr Reynolds, Dave Gray, Dan Pink and others (many of who’s blogs are located in my ”Current Favorite Blogs“ over there on the right.)

I highly suggest that people take a look at what these communicators have to say. If you are a designer, you will find new ways of communicating. If you are not a designer, you will get an inside look at how some incredibly creative communicators come up with the stuff that they do. No matter who you are, if you look around enough you will be inspired either by the processes that these people use as well the content that they present.

Here is a cool example of something I found inspiring. It is not PPT or Keynote, but it is definitely clearly communicated information. The visualization came after the spoken content, but it adds value in my opinion.

Inspiration

One of my inspirations to start doing this blog was one specific podcast of MacBreak Weekly. Near the end of the show, all of the participants get a chance to recommend something that they like or use that is applicable to the Mac / iPhone / iPad / tech worlds. On episode 205, Rich Siegel was on as a guest, and not being a regular on the show, he was concerned about recommending something that was not new enough or has already been recommended on a previous show. The host, Leo Laporte, was quick to explain that Rich should not worry - that we are just interested in what he uses and how he uses it.

With this blog, I started and stopped a few times because I questioned the relevance of what I could say. Not being a self-made expert on any of the subject I could write about, I know that much of what I could say here would be a regurgitation of what I gather from others - hopefully with my own interpretation. Realistically, I understand that some information doesn’t get the “Jake version” because I either don’t know enough about it or due to the type of information it is.

But what I learned from this short exchange on a podcast I listen to every week is that

1. what I write about or recommend or whatever has the potential to be relevant because (even if I think it is redundant) you never can tell who will read this or when he/she will read this; and
2. I don’t need to view this as wholly original and inspirational stuff - when I write here, my role is more of keeping information flowing as opposed to uncovering revelatory thoughts and discoveries.

I am not famous or well connected (yet!), but if I help get useful information to someone who may not have been anywhere near it before, then that is alright by me!

BTW, Rich’s recommendations were: Lacrosse Battery Charger , Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid Drive

Andy Ihnatko had a pretty cool recommendation with the iPad app Flipboard which looks to combine your social media and RSS feeds and packages them into your own personal digital magazine.

Neat ideas for iPad

I came across a neat tutorial concerning use of the iPad.
On YouTube, Alex Lindsay was showing of some crazy technical stuff (uploading at 4K resolution), so I thought I would see what it looked like. Of course, it was cool, but it was the content that really pulled me in.
Ultimately, his guest, Sid Soghoian, was walking through a process to use a supplied Automator function with a collection of photos, video, audio and text files.

• The Automator packages all of the pieces up into a folder (think “self-contained web site) that you upload to the web.
• Once uploaded, you can send that link to an iPad.
• The iPad will open the link up in Safari, so it seems kind of goofy at first. But if you then turn that mini site into a web app on your home screen, it becomes it’s own iPad app.

The walk through tutorials are on padilicious.com
There are other processes shown that look like they could come in really handy - making your own multimedia EPUB book that can be viewed in iBooks looks to be really cool.

Apple / Mac OS X basics & Getting answers

So those who know me personally know that I am an Apple brand advocate. (That is an attempt to say "I am a fan, but try not to be a jerk about it.")
I feel that I am unbiased in that (whether we are talking about computers or absolutely anything) I understand that there is no one right way for everyone.
Mac users are quickly labeled (usually "snobby," "placing style over substance," and any other descriptor you feel like coming up with), and I understand that.
Going on about the validity of these labels will be saved for a different time or forum.

Today I want to cover some basics about Mac OS X [Operating System 10, for the uninitiated]. Since I am “one of those Apple guys” I tend to get asked a lot of questions as friends and family either switch to a Mac or get an iPhone. I am happy to help, but since I only have answers from being a Mac user (as opposed to having formal training) I usually have to help by trial-and-error or looking up the answers from somewhere else.

Perhaps under-utilized, Apple’s web site has some great information for new Mac users at Mac 101 that would be useful to current Mac users of varying levels as well as non Mac users who are interested in seeing what all the hype is about.

Switch 101 is a great resource for those who just got a new Mac because everyone was saying how great it was, but now what? - but the information there is still relevant to me because I can’t know absolutely everything about the Mac .... yet! I kid.

Honestly, I learn what I need to learn - I get good at the things I do repetitively. Having resources like these sites is invaluable because I know where to go if I hit a stumbling block or get to a spot where "I know I should be able to do ______, but how?"
I take this for granted - this way of getting answers. Sometimes coworkers, friends, family, etc. ask me "how do I do this?" If I know, then no biggie. But if I don’t know, I search online. No joke - I type in the gist of what they need help with (search engine of choice) and see what it says. I don't say this in that I think I am on to some big secret - it is just fascinating to me that not everyone thinks this way.  There are times, however, when I will amaze you with the trivial stuff I just know.

You may or may not be interested in OS X - I will be covering all kinds of stuff in the future. I try to keep my blogs relatively short and provide links so that there is some relevance other than me talking to space. If you have comments or related links/information, please participate.