Adobe Photoshop is THE industry standard in graphic design. I, personally, own and use Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 Premium to do all of my website development on. When you go to purchase the suite, however, you’ll notice that the price tag is a hefty $1,799.00. I would like to recommend this application suite if you can afford it, because it will help you go much farther professionally.

Design Secret

Educational Discounts – If you are a student or teacher and have a “.edu” e-mail address, you can purchase this software from Journey Ed, who gives a substantial discount on this software, and other software mentioned in this book.

Design Secret

Open Source Software – If you are not a student, this software is too expensive for you, or if you are simply looking for something free, than I have designed a portion of this course specifically for you. There is a new movement growing fast in the Information Technology world and that is the Open Source movement. Thanks to the effort of many software developers, you can now do virtually any work you could ever imagine absolutely free. There are a couple pieces of Open Source software which I would like you to download and install before we get started. ?

Graphic Design Editor – GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)

1. Go to http://www.gimp.org/
2. Click Downloads and scroll down to where it says: “Binaries for various platforms” and click UNIX, Windows, or MacOS X. For demonstrational purposes in this book, we are going to use the Microsoft Windows platform.
3. Select the “Automated Installer” and select “Download” in the left menu
4. If you are running Windows XP or higher, you need to download “The GIMP for Windows” and download the “GTK+ 2 Runtime Environment”. You will need to install the runtime environment first. Note that the GTK+ 2 Runtime Environment is in a ZIP file and you will need to extract that ZIP file and double click on the installation file and install it. Then you will double click the GIMP installation file and install it as well. ?

The problem with using these tools is acquiring them. All of the tools mentioned in this article could cost you upwards of thousands of dollars, and if that is something you can afford, go for it! But for the rest of us, where six thousand dollars is simply unrealistic for learning a new craft, there is hope. Here are a couple of ways that I’ve been able to acquire the software:

1. Steal it! (just kidding) – We don’t advocate piracy at Amazing Design Secrets. Purchasing the software will bring you so many advantages in the long run, like free tools on activation, free updates, customer support, etc.
2. Do you work in an office where your company can purchase it for you? It’s certainly how I’ve been able to acquire it, by acquiring it as a business and writing it off on my taxes.
3. Are you a teacher or student? If you are, Adobe, Macromedia, and Microsoft (and a number of other companies) give great incentives to teachers and students. The first step is to get a copy of your transcript, verification of admission, or get a .edu e-mail address. There are a number of websites that sell these products.