There are many different illustration programs for Mac OS X, including both high- and low-end choices. Freeverse launched Lineform last year, a powerful illustration tool with a simple user interface that bears a familiar resemblance to both Apple’s and Omni Group’s applications, meaning there is little to learn.
Category Archives: The Low End Designer
It’s that time of year again when lazy journalists trundle out lists instead of sitting down and writing articles. Never one to break an honorable tradition, Jason Walsh adds Low End Mac to the list of publications that includes just about every magazine, website, and newspaper in the world.
Jason Walsh examines Scribus, an intriguing alternative to the overpriced behemoths of Quark XPress and Adobe InDesign.
Back in November, we took a quick peek at Scribus running on Linux and promised to give it a go on the Mac. That’s what we’re doing today.
Lauded by some, despised by others, ThinkFree Office has clearly made an impression among Mac users – but what exactly does free mean? And do you get what you pay for?
Another alternative to the big boys of design – and this one is free. This week The Low End Designer is taking a break from the beloved Macintosh to have a quick squint at what the open-source world of Linux has to offer designers.
Richard Hunt is a London-based freelance graphic designer. He’s been working freelance for five years and has refused to upgrade to a new Mac since then, when he bought a secondhand Mac. Jason Walsh investigates.
This article incorporates the Low End Mac Designer survey results and some interesting comments, so without further ado, let’s get to it.
This week the low-end designer tackles more typographic woes, including leading, kerning, tracking, and justification.
Last week’s Low End Designer article was the most popular piece in the series so far. Clearly word processing is something that Low End Mac readers are interested in, but what about what happens with the text afterwards? This week, The Low End Designer looks a basic typography.
Text processing is the least glamorous aspect of design work – and probably the most important. This week, The Low End Designer looks at some alternatives to Microsoft Word, the 800-pound gorilla of the document processing market – and perhaps deservedly so.
Last week, the Low End Designer took a look at a few supplemental applications that can be used in conjunction with the major design and layout programs. This week we’re looking at drop-in replacements, and it’s Quark XPress that’s getting the chop.
2004 – One of the advantages of using a Mac is the wealth of software available for the platform. Of course, this runs contrary to common wisdom – the Mac is thought to be a poor cousin to Windows in terms of the number of applications available. This is literally true – there are many […]
It’s not uncommon for even the most Mac-oriented user to have a PC sitting in the corner. Why? Usually for testing designs. So will the prospective low-end designer need to get a Windows PC? Maybe.
This week The Low End Designer looks at printers, mass storage, and graphics tablets, all considered essential items to finish off the studio – but are they?
By this stage, anyone following this column should have collected a Mac or two and some software. This week we’re looking at obtaining a flatbed scanner. All of the information here intended as nothing more than examples – and hopefully an aid to understanding scanners, rather than an inducement to purchase a machine from a […]
In last week’s edition of The Low End Designer, we took a quick detour from hardware to look at the issue of Quark XPress. This week we’re focusing on software, and Quark will once again rear its head.
Last week you had the rant; this week you get the information. Jason Walsh examines the options when it comes to choosing inexpensive Macs for design work.
In this series of articles, Jason Walsh takes a look at how to run a design studio on low-end Macs. Whether you want to get off the upgrade treadmill, are just out of art school and want to set up shop on a budget, or just want to pick up a few tips and tricks, […]
