Software that Says Come Play With Me
I had occasion to become familiar with Lightroom recently. A friend loaned me a Canon 5D and I wanted to look at the raw files I was making. Adobe is running a public beta for Lightroom 3 and I downloaded it. What a slick piece of work. The first time you use it, overlays appear above the interface explaining how it’s organized and giving you enough information to get started. Large buttons for basic functions point to Adobe’s confidence that they know what you want to do — and in my case they were right. And the program itself? Fast, stable, powerful — and beautiful. And still in beta. I was able to go through my images, rate them, color correct them and create a nice web site, without so much as cracking a manual.
Adobe is doing some really nice work. I’m using InDesign to create my upcoming book and it is a model for clean, attractive and powerful software design. And they’re really focused on educating the user base. The help system, for example, links you to online videos explaining various features, in a consistent interface, but done by independent designers and trainers.
As more and more powerful software gets into more and more creative hands a focus on training like this becomes essential for users and for companies, alike.
Explore posts in the same categories: Avid, User Interface
Splice Now 
May 11, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Hi Steve!
What book are you working on?
May 12, 2010 at 6:25 am
It’s what you might call an intermediate-level how-to for the Media Composer. Tentatively titled “Avid Agility.” It covers most of the system (but not all) and includes both introductory material and advanced topics. I’m hoping it has something for just about everybody: whether you’ve just been introduced to the MC or have been using it for years. It’ll be in color with about 450 illustrations. So far the reaction has been excellent — from both established editors and folks who are moving over from FCP.
And of course, it’ll cover most new features in MC version 5.
I’m hoping it’ll be available on Amazon at about the same time that V5 goes on sale — June 12. I may miss that date, but with luck, I’ll be close.
Steve
May 16, 2010 at 4:30 am
Hi , im pathi Editor from Singapore…here SO many Post Production Studios but Everybody Using FCP…they Dont care About AVID Really…. i think Asia Pacific AVID head Quarters is sleeping. there is No Marketing ,No seminars ,,AVID Died IN Asia Pacific,,,Especially Avid not in Public News can u plz tell them..