communicating for good

One of the things we like most about being in this field is both the challenge and the freedom it brings to communicate in a variety of ways. Most people don’t even think about the whys of communication, much less the hows — from office memos and business letters, to sleek brochures and annual reports. All these can tell a reader much more than maybe what the writer or publisher intends.

Remember that saying about not judging a book by its cover? Books can be sold because their covers are attractive, or stay on the shelves because they look boring or plain. The next time you browse for books, think about this: What makes you pick up one book and not the one beside it? What feelings can the cover of a book evoke?

This is what we stress in our work. If this is true of books, think about brochures (left unread), flyers (thrown away), posters (unnoticeable), or banners (where?). And for that matter, logos and letterheads (”wow!” or “ay, clip art!”).

Design is not — as many people would think — a frivolity. It serves a purpose. This is what we hope to address through this blog in the days to come.

Thanks for dropping by!

As the year rolls to a close, we look back with gratitude at all who have been part of East Axis in one way or another.

To all our staff — thank you so much for all your hard work and patience, support and good will.

To all the partners and suppliers — thank you for keeping the faith, for believing in the dream, and for trusting in the talent that keeps East Axis going. Thank you for all the determination, the diligence, and the quality that goes into everything you do.

To the clients — thank you for making us work harder, for inspiring us, and for challenging us to do better. We would not be here if not for you.

And lastly, to the Creative Force — thank You for abiding with and within us, for keeping us going, and for animating us to use our talents for Your ends.

With thanks and best wishes…

Happy new year! Or as one of my godsons used to say, happy new you!

We are grateful for last year’s blessings, especially for the opportunities we’ve been given — opportunities to be of service to others — and being in this field has given us so many of them.

But even as we look back at last year and all its lessons, joys, victories, and challenges, we look at 2007 as a year to make ourselves over.

By keeping operations small, we can zero in on how to serve our clients better.

By beefing up and maintaining our online presence, we can be more accessible.

By offering streamlined services, we can concentrate on delivering what is expected of us.

Here’s to a good year ahead!

Ah, the blogosphere! That virtual marketplace of ideas where you’ll find personal journals to sociopolitical commentary, to reviews and how-to’s.

Today, we’re setting up shop in our own little corner of that marketplace, to blog about our own ideas, our work, our efforts to make communication work for good.

Join us as we explore life in the blogosphere!

K writes about a frequently asked question regarding popular euipment and graphic and illustration applications floating around forums:

This is in response to one of the threads in a forum I belong to that have become very active, soliciting various responses. The discussion started with an inquiry upon a piece of equipment and has branched out to other posts related to it: end-products, availability, user-experience.

I am writing about this as researching on the history of MetaCreations and Fractal Design - two companies that were active in the design and graphics industries in the internet-boom and pre-9/11 eras - gave me a some thrill. I had since left Corel untouched at ver5.0 when print standards were applying Adobe standards for imagesetting and color applications. I have also been a Wacom user since 2000. Wacom used to bundle its products with Elements LE. Now, it comes with Corel Painter.

Electronic art (i.e. Digital)
There is a reason Corel Painter is bundled with Wacom pens: Wacom (a Japanese company) has been constantly developing technology that will try to match the experience of using real life media on virtual canvases and papers.

Corel Painter© has its origins under a nice and dynamic Canadian company named Fractal Design, Inc. (the name is a give-away of its era), but was later absorbed by another company, MetaCreations Corp. when MetaTools Inc. and Fractal Design Inc. merged. In 1999, MetaCreations divested itself of its graphics products and sold Painter to Corel Corp.

Natural-media
The common question is: what is difference between Photoshop and Painter?
Photoshop, as the name suggests, was developed to be the virtual equivalent of a photographer’s darkroom, hence the tools dodge and burn, resize, color correction, etc. Painter, on the other hand, was developed, and continues to be developed, as a natural-media painting application; this means that its functions and options will try to approximate the look and feel of real-world tools and effects such as paints, pencils, brushes and so forth, as they are applied to paper or canvas, etc.

No amount of Photoshop filters can compensate for the built-in choices and functions that Painter has, as its intended audience is different from that of Photoshop. This does not mean to say, however, that Photoshop can not achieve the same effects done in Painter; it is achievable but very, very tediously, especially if natural-looking effects as charcoal smudging or oil paint mixing are the desired outcome, among others. Both powerful applications are for creation, with standard file formats that allow for cross-platform editing.
Originally posted in http://krvilla.blogspot.com/