The only book to teach classic design principles alongside basic digital tools of Adobe's Creative Suite, including the recently released Adobe CS4

Addresses the growing trend of compressing design fundamentals and design software into the same course in universities and design trade schools.Lessons are timed to be used in 50-minute class sessions. Whether a student is in a formal classroom setting or learns informally from a book, all students of digital design and production must learn the basic principles of design and how to implement them using current software. Far too often design is left out of books that illuminate software for the trade and academic markets. The design examples presented in most software books are repetitive afterthoughts. Consequently, the design software training exercise is a lost opportunity where, instead, design could be taught by practice. Digital Foundations will reinvigorate the software demo by integrating formal exercises of the Bauhaus basic course into tutorials that focus on core software methodologies. For example, many software books highlight the basic use of the Color Picker (a tool that is accessible from PhotoShop, Illustrator, InDesign), but none of these books explains the theory that outlines how colors are made in the analog world and how this translates into the digital tool, the Color Picker. Such an explanation is valuable to students, and the utilization of several exercises from Josef Albers' Color Theory course provides a method of learning how to use Adobe Illustrator's Rectangle Tool, Selection Tool, and the Color Picker and Palette. Thisknowledge crystalizes students' understanding of how to design with software.

Digital Foundations is an AIGA Design Press book, published under Peachpit's New Riders imprint in partnership with AIGA. AIGA has endorsed this book as the first in its design education initiative--reinforcing the book's credibility among educators and students

The only book to teach Bauhaus design principles alongside basic digital tools of Adobe's Creative Suite, including the recently released Adobe CS4

Addresses the growing trend of compressing design fundamentals and design software into the same course in universities and design trade schools.Lessons are timed to be used in 50-minute class sessions. 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 often design is left out of books that teach software. Consequently, the design software training exercise is often a lost opportunity for visual learning. Digital Foundations reinvigorates software training by integrating Bauhaus design exercises into tutorials fusing design fundamentals and core Adobe Creative Suite methodologies. The result is a cohesive learning experience.

Design topics and principles include: Composition; Symmetry and Asymmetry; Gestalt; Appropriation; The Bauhaus Basic Course Approach; Color Theory; The Grid; Scale, Hierarchy and Collage; Tonal Range; Elements of Motion.

Digital Foundations is an AIGA Design Press book, published under Peachpit's New Riders imprint in partnership with AIGA, the professional association for design.