Table Of ContentDigital Foundations
Intro to Media Design with the Adobe Creative Suite
Xtine Burrough &
Michael Mandiberg
Digital Foundations: Introduction to Media Design with the Adobe Creative Suite
xtine burrough and Michael Mandiberg
www.digital-foundations.net
New Riders
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Berkeley, CA 94710
510/524-2178
510/524-2221 (fax)
Published in association with AIGA Design Press
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To report errors, please send a note to [email protected]
New Riders is an imprint of Peachpit, a division of Pearson Education.
Digital Foundations: Introduction to Media Design with the Adobe Creative Suite is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License 2009 by xtine burrough and Michael
Mandiberg.
Project Editor: Michael J. Nolan
Development & Copy Editor: Rose Weisburd
Production Editor: Hilal Sala
Proofreader: Jill Simonsen
Indexer: Cheryl Landes
Cover/Interior design: Michael Mandiberg and xtine burrough
Layout Team: Patrick Davison and Tara Romeo
Notice of Rights
Digital Foundations: Introduction to Media Design with the Adobe Creative Suite is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License 2009 by xtine burrough and Michael
Mandiberg. All images in this book are Public Domain unless otherwise noted. Permissions beyond
the scope of this license may be available at http://wiki.digital-foundations.net/index.php?
title=Licensing or by contacting [email protected]
Notice of Liability
The information in this book is distributed on an “As Is” basis without warranty. While every
precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the authors nor Peachpit shall have
any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused
directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and
hardware products described in it.
Trademarks
Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe
InDesign, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Dreamweaver are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed
as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and Peachpit was aware of a trademark
claim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. All other product names
and services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of
such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of any
trade name, is intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.
ISBN 13: 978-0-321-55598-4
ISBN 10: 0-321-55598-8
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed and bound in the United States of America
Dedications
xtine dedicates this book to her parents, Viola and Bill, who remind her of the importance of net
gains, silver linings and standing up straight (after all, standing tall is an exercise in alignment); to
Christopher James, who believed in xtine before she knew how to stand tall as an artist; to her fellow
yoginis who always stand tall in tadasana; and to paullester, who supported x during her darkest
moments of writing and editing, when standing up straight seemed impossible.
Michael dedicates this book to the artists who raised him: his parents Linda and Joe. He is especially
proud of growing up in a woodshop and a house covered in quilts, learning to sew, and how to
measure twice and cut once. He also dedicates this book to Uncle David, for persevering in his craft;
to Stephen for helping him learn how to teach even the most obstinate, and to his late grandparents for
providing a world full of art, music, ideas, and imagination.
In Gratitude
We would like to thank our many colleagues who have encouraged and inspired us to write this book.
The Eyebeam crew: Steve Lambert, Jeff Crouse, Amanda McDonald Crowley, Liz Slagus, Emma
Lloyd, Robert Ransick, Stephanie Hunt, John S. Johnson and Susan Short. Our fellow faculty
members at CSU Fullerton, including Paul Martin Lester, Tony Fellow, Rick Pullen, Coral Ohl,
Cindy King, Mark Latonero, and Henry Puente. And our colleagues at the College of Staten Island,
City University of New York, including Jeanine Corbet, Cynthia Chris, David Gerstner, Janet
Manfredonia, Ed Miller, Sherry Millner, Jason Simon, Matthew Solomon, Francisco Soto, Valerie
Tevere, Cindy Wong, and Ying Zhu. We would also like to thank Brian O’Connell, Valerie Tevere,
Liz White, and David Jimison for teaching draft versions of this book, and providing invaluable
feedback from the classroom.
Many thanks to our peers for their influence on us and their feedback, which helped shape the book:
Ernest Larsen, Tom Igoe, Adam Hyde, Marisa Olson, Brooke Singer, Tiffany Holmes, Mike Bonano,
Andy Bichlbaum, Peter Duyan, Josh Duyan, Chad Kellogg, Kevin McCarty, Haruko Tanaka, Curt
Cloninger, Lucy HG, Adam Schwartz, Nancy Hasselbacher, Crystal Adams, Laurie Cella, Michael
Hanson, and Julia Steinmetz. A much deserved thank you to our technical editors, Addie
Wagenknecht, Brian McNally, Jennifer Michel, Alec Fehl, Cary Powell, and Gabriel Powell.
This book would not have been released with a Creative Commons license if Steve Lambert had not
reminded Michael that he was contractually obligated by the Eyebeam OpenLab to do so, and
encouraged us along the way. Michael probably would have gotten around to realizing this anyway,
but Steve was the catalyst. Steve, Mushon Zer-Aviv, Alex Galloway, dana boyd, Cory Doctorow,
Mark Tribe, McKenzie Wark, and Nathan Yergler at Creative Commons (who repeatedly reminded
us that Creative Commons can not offer legal advice or opinions) provided great strategic advice on
how to convince the publisher to use a Creative Commons license. We would like to thank Nancy
Davis, Editor in Chief, for having the vision to see how sharing helps everyone and everything,
including the bottom line.
Digital Foundations would not have been possible without the support of the Peachpit and AIGA
team. Michael Nolan understood our project from day one, Sue Apfelbaum intuitively knew the
importance of bringing aesthetics back to media arts education, Rose Weisburd was worth her weight
in gold. She made sure our words were consistent and offered editorial advice along the way.
Charlene Will kept our design focused. Hilal Sala made sure we were ready on the day our book was
scheduled to print.
Ellen Lupton’s books were our role models, and Marita Sturken provided inspiration and early
advice. Curt Cloninger was extremely generous in reviewing our initial proposal, and directing us
along the right path. Numerous consultants, assistants, and interns worked on this book extensively at
various stages, including Mushon Zer-Aviv, Erika Nishizato, Patrick Davison, Tara Romeo, Evan
Moran, Danielle Palladino, Carlo Montagnino, and Michele Rose.
We would like to thank our teachers. From grade school through grad school, we were shaped by
those who took the time to share. Shout outs to Jerry Mischak for bringing out the big Albers book
Description:Digital Foundations uses formal exercises of the Bauhaus to teach the Adobe Creative Suite. All students of digital design and production—whether learning in a classroom or on their own—need to understand the basic principles of design in order to implement them using current software. Far too o
