Unit 30: P1 & M1

Graphics design materials

 The software used to create graphic images is most likely be the Adobe CS5 suite. This contains the following:

·         Fireworks – A web design program,

·         Photoshop – A Bitmap design program,

·         Illustrator – A vector design program and

·         InDesign – A desktop publishing program. This would contain all of the tools necessary in order to digitally create graphics images.

The hardware used to create graphics images would most likely be the Apple Mac. This is designed for user friendliness and it is easier to manage software on.  This is better than the PC as the PC is far harder to use graphics design software on.

·         Input devices for graphics design could include:

·         A scanner – Which scans images on paper and converts them into a digital image,

·         Keyboard and mouse – Peripherals which allow control of a computer.

·         A graphics tablet – Which allows manual manipulation of an image by using touchscreen controls.  All of these allow the user to easily create and modify graphical images physically.

Output devices for it could include

·         ink printers – which use ink to print an image onto paper

·         acrylic printers – which cut the image out of acrylic

·         3D printers – which create a physical 3D representation of an image or design. These are all capable of recreating the images out of various materials.

File storage is simple for images due to the low file size. Saving it on the systems hard drive, on an external hard drive or using cloud storage such as Google Drive or Dropbox would allow the images to be safe and easily accessible from various places as all you need to do is log in.  

These are the best choices for this particular task but there are many limitations to these hardware and software choices. The cost of Macs is one of the main limitations as they can vary from £1000 and the newest models could cost excessively more.

The Cs5 suite also has a limitation as the newest model can cost up to £3000 which people may not be able to afford – however this can be reduced by a lot if you already have the previous version of the CS suite. Also you would require a lot of training in order to use the programs which can be time consuming. You need to be trained in order to use them as well.

The cost of running the output devices could be very high as you would need to purchase either ink or acrylic to keep the device running. There is also a limitation with printers as when texts/images are printed, there is always a white border around the paper which means it could be seen as wasting money on paper or everything you wanted to be printed may not fit onto one side of the paper. Also scanners can only scan onto A4 documents, therefore anything larger may have to be split up which could potentially waste money. Camera resolution could also play a role as the megapixels may not be enough for a large printing format. When printing, you may want a professional standard however majority printers you can only print on paper or thin card.