Hi to all. First of all, I apologize if my English is not understandable (I'm Italian).
I'd like to thank you Jeff for the well written, very interesting article. I'm a freelancer (perhaps fledgling yet) graphic designer and for the past three/four years or so, I've been making (ever more frequently) use of the very open source programs you and other listed, in particular, Inkscape, Gimp and Scribus. Differently from you and the majority of the designers, as for my graphic work, I grew up with open source software and, as it has been well commented, in time making use of them has become easier. It is also true that the results are great indeed and nobody notices any difference as for the Graphic made with commercial SW!
Nevertheless, I think that it is also true, as commented by ElectricPrism187, that these software, when it comes to professional work, may at least sometimes turn out into being a liability rather then an asset be it due to the monopoly of the Commercial SW over the Open one or not. So, recently I start feeling compelled to turn to the first rather then the latter though I'm still using the OS instead.
A client asked me .psd files. I tried in all possible ways to convert .svg files into .psd and, though it seems that Illustrator well reads .svg files, the client kept complaining about the impossibility of making changes on the .svg files and the being blank of the .ai files. Another issue was related to Color Profiles. A previous client asked me to work (no matter how, namely no matter the program used for) with layers and a specific color profile. I used Gimp and layers but the limit about CMYK forced me to spend a lot of time, make so many researches and try different times to install the only available plug-in (Separate) available for Gimp that should allow an implementation of the CMYK conversion. Still, I'm not sure that it will really well satisfy the requests of the client. I know, I lack all the expertise and smartness required in those situations and this is also the reason why I'm writing (any idea please?). I'm sure that there are tricks i never thought about. However, it is tiring to work in this way (besides, I use Ubuntu).
I love Open Source and I still believe that it can be the best option, especially when economical resources are few, but must it necessarily be so hard to work when work itself is already not a game to play?
Perhaps, starting with Open Source and shifting later to Commercial one—once the income starts growing up—is a balanced way to approach Graphic Design as well as other works. Also, continuing to have OS SW as an alternative tool available while also using the Commercial one can be of great help. what do you guys think?
Authored Comments
Hi to all. First of all, I apologize if my English is not understandable (I'm Italian).
I'd like to thank you Jeff for the well written, very interesting article. I'm a freelancer (perhaps fledgling yet) graphic designer and for the past three/four years or so, I've been making (ever more frequently) use of the very open source programs you and other listed, in particular, Inkscape, Gimp and Scribus. Differently from you and the majority of the designers, as for my graphic work, I grew up with open source software and, as it has been well commented, in time making use of them has become easier. It is also true that the results are great indeed and nobody notices any difference as for the Graphic made with commercial SW!
Nevertheless, I think that it is also true, as commented by ElectricPrism187, that these software, when it comes to professional work, may at least sometimes turn out into being a liability rather then an asset be it due to the monopoly of the Commercial SW over the Open one or not. So, recently I start feeling compelled to turn to the first rather then the latter though I'm still using the OS instead.
A client asked me .psd files. I tried in all possible ways to convert .svg files into .psd and, though it seems that Illustrator well reads .svg files, the client kept complaining about the impossibility of making changes on the .svg files and the being blank of the .ai files. Another issue was related to Color Profiles. A previous client asked me to work (no matter how, namely no matter the program used for) with layers and a specific color profile. I used Gimp and layers but the limit about CMYK forced me to spend a lot of time, make so many researches and try different times to install the only available plug-in (Separate) available for Gimp that should allow an implementation of the CMYK conversion. Still, I'm not sure that it will really well satisfy the requests of the client. I know, I lack all the expertise and smartness required in those situations and this is also the reason why I'm writing (any idea please?). I'm sure that there are tricks i never thought about. However, it is tiring to work in this way (besides, I use Ubuntu).
I love Open Source and I still believe that it can be the best option, especially when economical resources are few, but must it necessarily be so hard to work when work itself is already not a game to play?
Perhaps, starting with Open Source and shifting later to Commercial one—once the income starts growing up—is a balanced way to approach Graphic Design as well as other works. Also, continuing to have OS SW as an alternative tool available while also using the Commercial one can be of great help. what do you guys think?
Thank you!