For graphic designers

As a graphic designer, you are faced with many demands in meeting the expectations of your customers. The following resources have been gathered to assist you with some of the common issues that come up in day-to-day design and production workflows.

Resources

Color and color management

Learn how to effectively use new Adobe® Creative Suite 2 features in your color workflow and achieve accurate and consistent color.

Guidelines for specifying colors (PDF: 781k)

International Color Consortium

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Digital photography

Noted photographer and educator Jeff Schewe explains the ins and outs of the digital imaging workflow.

Understanding digital raw capture (PDF: 1000k)

Introducing the Digital Negative specification (PDF: 78k)

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Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP)

What version of the file is this? Which file is the final version? Do we own the copyright for this image? If these questions sound familiar, Adobe's powerful metadata language, XMP — the Extensible Metadata Platform — can help.

7 Steps to understanding XMP metadata (SWF: 327k)

Adobe XMP-JDF-PDF: The alphabet of automation (PDF: 84k)

More XMP information

Job Definition Format (JDF)

Learn more about how JDF links together and automates the diverse systems and processes required to produce a printed piece.

The JDF revolution: An educational guide to JDF (PDF: 452k)

More information about JDF at CIP4

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Mask and transparency

Get in-depth information about the proper creation of transparency effects, as well as how to export and print files with transparency.

Transparency in Adobe applications: A print production guide (PDF: 5.1M)

Getting started with transparency (PDF: 4.3M)

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PDF file creation

View a series of video tutorials to learn how to export consistent PDF files from Adobe Creative Suite.

Adobe Acrobat 7.0 printing guide (PDF: 3.7M)

Streamline Print Production with Adobe PDF (PDF: 596K)

Sign up for a free trial Create Adobe PDF online

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Discuss PDF workflow in the user forums

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PDF/X

Discover how Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium gives you the tools you need to create and verify PDF/X-compliant files.

PDF/X FAQ (PDF: 60k)

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Prepress and proofing

From blueline to RIP, find out what your print service provider is really talking about with this handy reference guide.

Graphic file formats (PDF: 146k)

Color proofing (PDF: 103k)

Types of proofs (PDF: 161k)

Checking color proofs (PDF: 111k)

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Scripting

You probably already know that scripting can save you time and money. Now find out how easy it is to use scripts in Adobe InDesign® software.

InDesign CS2 scripting guide (PDF: 2.7M)

Download free InDesign scripts

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Trapping

Get an essential overview of registration and trapping issues and how Adobe tools can help.

Adobe trapping technology white paper (PDF: 825k)

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Type

Information and tips on the finer points of typography.

Best practices for managing fonts in Mac OS X

Font formats (PDF: 254k)

Typographic terms (PDF: 135k)

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Variable Data Publishing (VDP)

Deliver relevant, graphically rich information to a targeted recipient and discover new opportunities for your agency.

Adobe VDP white paper (PDF: 278k)

Glossary of VDP terms

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