My research trip started – as it often does these days – with a post on Twitter:

This tweet led me to a very interesting article, inspired by the 2013 Horizon Report on Higher Education.The report is hugely informative and enlightening. If you’ve not read the report, and you’re involved in higher education, I highly recommend reading it.

I found many informative resources in the Horizon report, one of which led me to the infographic you see below. The infographic was created by OnlineUniversities.com. I think in many ways, the most telling information comes from the Owner’ Opinions, about 2/3 of the way down the chart. That information really speaks to how popular tablets are among students.

Infographic courtesy of Online Universities.com

What is Adobe Muse?

Simply put, Muse is a tool to help you build very engaging websites, visually, without having to worry about the code that makes a web site.

Designed by engineers from the Adobe InDesign team (Adobe’s pro-level page layout tool), Muse employs an easy to understand workflow for designing a web site (Plan > Design > Preview > Publish > Manage) and utilizes a great deal of drag and drop capabilities, pre-built widgets (for navigation menus, slide shows, etc) to make the process of web site creation easy, fun and fast.

Customizing a menu bar widget in Muse

My personal take on Muse

I think Muse is a great tool to introduce students of all ages and skill levels to the power of designing a web site; a “gateway” tool, if you will, that helps any creative professional not experienced in web design build beautiful, engaging websites, focusing on design and not code.

Muse gives every student – and every professional visual or textual communicator – the opportunity to easily build a web site they are proud of. Early success, as I like to put it. Some say this flies in the face of professional web design as a profession but I disagree; I say it can spark early interest in students because they can see their ideas – their vision – come to light sooner and by their own hand. They own that website, because they built every piece of it.

Creating an interactive wireframe in Adobe Muse

And I say this having taught in Higher Education for more than 20 years. Teaching students who need to understand the web design process and the importance of communicating online in a professional manner, but at the same time, students who would not be planning to become professional web designers. At least not at the outset of their education.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that if I was still teaching my Advertising and Journalism students, I’d have been pushing my college to let me use Muse for their web design components. Let them get bitten by the web design bug and see where it takes them. Get them interested to do more, asking themselves, “If I can do this now, what cool things could I do if I learned CSS, HTML and JavaScript?”

Just like helping students gain early success in applications like Photoshop, by using filters, or simple but powerful features like Quick Selection or Content Aware Fill (or even video editing, now in Photoshop CS6), helping them realize their visions often produces far more interest and engagement than forcing them to struggle through foreign concepts like HTML, only to produce a basic, simplistic site that they have no interest in showing anyone.

I’m not in ANY way belittling the importance of understanding code. Having designed sites for companies large and small, I know how key this comprehension is in the professional world of web design. But Muse can be a tool to inspire. That’s how I see it, anyway.

What’s in this training title?

My approach to my Muse training title was to give a solid, basic and practical overview of much of Muse’s capabilities. By the end of the 4.5 hour course, you learn how to use Muse to build a wirefame, a website, and how Muse integrates with both Fireworks and Photoshop for creating web-ready images, and how to publish that site to either a Business Catalyst hosting account, or how to FTP the complete site to your own domain.

Adding and manipulating in a Muse web page

Here’s a breakdown of what the training includes, lesson by lesson. I’ve also included links to several free lessons, so you can get a sense of how the course flows.

• What is Muse?
  • What Is Muse?
  • The Adobe Creative Cloud
  • Installing Muse
• The Muse Interface
  • Interface Overview
  • The Welcome Screen
  • The Plan Screen
  • The Design Screen
  • The Preview Screen
  • The Publish Screen
  • The Manage Screen
• The Design Screen
  • The Toolbar
  • Using the Control Panel
  • Advanced Features of the Control Panel
  • The Paragraph Styles, Text, Swatch, Fill, Asset, and Align Panels
  • The Character, Transform, and Graphic Styles Panels
  • The Widgets Library, Spacing, States, and Wrap Panels
  • Using the Design Screen
• Planning a Website
  • The Importance of Wireframing
  • Reviewing the Finished Wireframe
  • Setting Site Properties
  • Setting Page Properties
  • Using a Master Page in a Wireframe
  • Adding New Pages to a Wireframe
  • Adding a Menu Widget
  • Configuring the Menu Widget
• Designing the Master Page
  • Adding Background Images
  • Customizing the Main Navigation Bar
  • Adding Icon Image Elements to a Navigation Bar
  • Customizing the Footer Section
  • Adding and Customizing the Footer Navigation Bar
    
    
• Working with Content
  • Adding Text
  • Editing Text
  • Creating Paragraph Styles
  • Adding Graphics
  • Wrapping Text
  • Adding Effects
  • Adding Hyperlinks
• Integrating with Photoshop and Fireworks
  • Placing Photoshop Files
  • Editing Photoshop Files
  • Placing Fireworks Files
  • Editing Fireworks Files
  • Optimizing Graphics
  • Using Photoshop or Fireworks for High-Fidelity Prototyping
• Publishing Your Web Project
  • Previewing a Web Project
  • Publishing a Web Project
  • Updating a Published Site
  • Managing a Published Project
  • Exporting as HTML
  • Using FTP with Muse
  • Creating a Simple Contact Form

Wrap up – and a bonus!

I’m very excited about this course and I hope you’ll check it out. And as a thank you for reading this entire post, here’s a special discount code you can use if you decide to purchase my introduction to Muse. You’ll save 20% off the purchase price by using the code below. But don’t delay; the discount is only good until March 8, 2013.

Discount Code: MUSE20

My daughter exclaimed, “Hey Dad, I want to play soccer for the University of Alabama!”

I work with the Adobe education team, and my iPad is filled with examples of applications created with Adobe InDesign and the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite.   A University of Alabama DPS “app” that I had installed a few days prior was responsible for my daughter’s surprising exclamation.

The exclamation was surprising because:

• both my wife and I graduated from the Texas A&M system
• we live in Texas and have never been to Alabama (although I hear it is a great state)
• I was cheering for LSU during the BCS championship game

Curiously, I glared at my daughter and replied “You want to play soccer for Alabama? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!”

Kelsey, with a sparkle in her eyes, replied, “Hold on a minute Dad, I’ll show yah.”

My daughter, after disappearing for a few seconds, returned holding my iPad.  She plopped down next to me and exclaimed, “Dad, Alabama has a cool app!” and proceeded to show me all the “cool stuff” that makes up Alabama’s female soccer program.

Some quotes lifted from the lips of my daughter:

• “Check out this amazing video!”
• “…wait Dad, swipe the image to see more pics.”
• “scroll up and down to view stats about the players”
• “Keep flipping to the right to watch some more videos.”

I’ll have to admit, the Alabama “Fan Guide” app is pretty darn slick.  The rich-multimedia experience captivates the audience and makes good use of video integration, photo slideshows, and interactivity. The app really makes the Alabama athletics program look great.

My daughter, with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye, looked up at me and said, “So what do you think Dad, can I play soccer for the University of Alabama?  Before I had time to answer, she blurted “click the home button, they also have one for Volleyball!”

As I walked away shaking my head and mumbling something about out-of-state tuition, Kelsey’s younger sister ran up and asked to view the app as well.  For forty-five minutes both girls sat around the living room zooming, swiping, playing videos, and learning all about Alabama’s athletic programs.  My girls had been “hooked!”

I’m not sure if Alabama intended on using their “Fan Guide” app as a recruitment tool, but this A&M family may just have crimson in their future.

Publications that are part of the Alabama DPS “Fan Guide” app:

• 2012 Rowing
• 2012 Softball
• Gymnastics Fan Guide
• Women’s Basketball Fan Guide
• 2011 Volleyball
• Note: The Soccer publication is no longer available (perhaps they are updating for the new season?) 

You may also want to check out the Alabama “Game Day” App.

Learn more about Adobe Digital Publishing Suite (DPS)

• Adobe DPS
• DPS Developer Center
• A Gallery of DPS projects

“State of Change” is an award-winning multimedia project created by Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication graduate students.  The students used various Adobe products to create a website that offers a “rich look at Arizona history”.

The students were part of a graduate “boot camp” where they learned how to integrate journalistic storytelling and technology.  A few of the students had not previously had any experience with Adobe solutions, but the project introduced them to software applications like Flash and Dreamweaver.

“State of Change” won two national awards from the Broadcast Education Association, including the “Best of Festival” award, which honors the best work of the competition.

To learn more about the project visit:

“State of Change” Project

http://cronkitezine.asu.edu/stateofchange/index

The Cronkite Journal

http://cronkite.asu.edu/experience/journal.php  (2011 – 2012 journal, page 52)

My new book is now available!

I had a wonderful editing team to work with on the Project. Sheri German, my friend and Technical Editor  (2nd time in a row) for this book kept me on task and was did a great job of making sure steps were accurate and clear. I owe her so much for the attention to detail she paid to this book.

Linda Laflamme, my Developmental and Copy Editor, did an amazing job of getting into my head, helping to to flesh out details in an easy to understand, but concise and personable manner.

And of course, Valerie Witte, my Production Editor at Peachpit, was super-supportive, incredibly patient and always there when I needed her. She is a joy to work with.

I’d also like to thank my son, Joseph Hutt (himself and aspiring writer and creative individual) for allowing me to use photos I took of him in some of the exercises in the book. Likewise, thanks go to my very good friend Tom Green, fellow writer, teacher and mentor of mine, and his son Rob Green, for giving me permission to use photos of them in the book as well.

I am very appreciative of the fact that Peachpit Press recognized the need for  text on Fireworks, where many publishers have not.

Thanks also to all those people whom I’ve talked with, griped with or who so generously shared with me their skills, opinions or sample art to use in sections of the book.

I’m very pleased with this edition of the Fireworks Classroom in Book. It’s the third CiaB I’ve written on Fireworks, and I feel it’s the best one so far. My goal with this edition was to rewrite as much of the book as possible, and refresh as much of the art work and exercise files as was feasible. I think I met my goal, while also adding completely new content and addressing feedback from previous editions.

It’s also a bit more of a personal book for me, because so much of the artwork – photos, interfaces, wireframes – are of my own creation. Many images from my yearly camping trip with Joe, Tom and Rob (and Marley, the camp mascot) appear in this edition, so while it’s an instructional text, it also contains memories for me.

What is Classroom in a Book?

Back cover of the book, featuring Tom Green in a slideshow interface.

For those of you who’ve not picked up a Classroom in a Book (CiaB) before, these texts are both reference and how-to manuals in one. Project based, they take users through an introduction to the software’s interface, and then get right into using the tools to produce content. In short, hopefully answering not just the how, but also the “why”, when possible.

While not a replacement for official documentation, it’s hoped you will glean ideas, workflows and tips from these books that you might not necessarily get from the manual.

If you’re interested in designing, wireframing or protoyping for the web, applications or even just doing more with your screen graphics for PowerPoint, I think this book gives you just what you need to use Fireworks effectively.

If you’re a teacher, I’ve also written a companion guide for the book to help you plan out lessons, and giving you summaries of what each chapter (lesson) covers.

If you pick up a copy, please let me know what you think. I would love to get feedback on the book.

Do you enjoy a bit of friendly competition?  Do you need to polish-up on your Photoshop skills?  You can do both by downloading and playing LevelUp for Photoshop!  LevelUp for Photoshop is a “game of missions” that will allow you to earn points – the more points you earn the better chance at winning prizes like Amazon gift cards and a chance to win a one-year membership to the Adobe Creative Cloud!  Heck, you also get the added benefit of learning more about Photoshop!

But you better hurry…because you must finish the game by midnight Pacific time on June 30, 2012, to be eligible for the Creative Cloud drawing.

Go check it out…http://success.adobe.com/microsites/levelup/index.html 

The new pattern tools in Illustrator CS6 are simply amazing.  The new tools will greatly reduce the time it takes to create web patterns, textile patterns, fabric patterns, etc.   Now you can spend less time learning tools, and more time on your designs!

And heck…I’ve found that creating patterns is somewhat therapeutic!

I’ve included a quick tutorial on how to create a “swirl” pattern.  Enjoy.

View the Tutorial (YouTube)

I’ve never been a math whiz. Yes, when Charles Babbage passed away, he took the math gene with him, I think. So generally my math grades were average and my commitment to learning more about math was average. In previous math classes, it seemed every time I asked WHY, a teacher’s answer came in one of two flavors:

a) Because that’s how it’s done

or

b) Because that’s the answer at the back of the book

Neither were satisfactory responses to me then – or now. In retrospect, I think that’s one of the things that made me a good teacher later in life. I wouldn’t settle for those lame responses. I wouldn’t give them to students.

Then one day in Grade 10 math, we were doing a lesson on statistics. I didn’t see much use for them or the lesson and was probably getting ready to tune out. Something however, made me ask my teacher (Mr. Geoff Kavanaugh. Yes I still remember his name), “What’s the point? How will this be useful to me? Why are we learning this?”

Back Story

Two and a half years ago this same group of students was sitting in my first year imaging class. In short, the base technical skill set was generally at the novice level. I was their first “geek” course of their 3-year program.

Some had computer experience, mostly limited to Windows-based systems, many had little or no experience with computers. Common computer skills included Microsoft Office tools and of course social networking through FaceBook. Likewise, there was a handful of the group who had worked with imaging software such as Photoshop.

Over 15 weeks, I taught this group of funny, intelligent, young adults the basics of Photoshop and Dreamweaver. We talked about social media, working in the industry as a web designer and commercial photographer (past life careers of mine). Together we created event posters, banner ads, learned about image optimization, digital photography, green screen photography, web site workflows and the importance of good quality imagery. And we had fun along the way too.

I had the pleasure of teaching – and learning from them – again in their fourth semester, where they studied and put into practice newmedia development workflows for web and mobile projects, using Fireworks and Dreamweaver. Understand that these students were heading into careers in advertising, not interactive design. But I felt it was hugely important they understand this world; interactive media, social media, mobile devices would all become a very important part of their advertising jobs.

At the time, I didn’t realize that winter semester of 2011 would be my final one as a professor at Centennial College. In May of this year, coinciding with the end of the semester, I accepted my exciting new full time position with Adobe as a Solutions Consultant. I have many fond memories of my 21 years at Centennial. This is one of them.

Back to the Future

Fast forward to the recent present, I spent a morning viewing and critiquing the creative portfolios of these very same students. And honestly, looking at the work, its quality and maturity and creativity, well, it just gave me goosebumps. Not only did I see depth and talent in the work of these young people, I saw that they were getting it. Every campaign project had a social networking component. In some cases, right down to a Facebook page mock up. One student even designed a golf caddy mobile app prototype and overall he nailed it. Any client looking at his mock up would instantly understand the functionality of the app.

In those students whose strengths leaned more towards copy writing than design, it was obvious they had a handle on how to communicate in the cyber world. Insightful, witty and brief copy designed to work well in a mobile space.

These are students who are seeing beyond the grades, towards their professional futures in advertising. They are demonstrating skills beyond the basics, showing a visual and digital acuity that is sought after in their industry, regardless of whether they will be copy writers, account reps or creatives. These skills are transferable and in this day and age, necessary for personal and professional success, in my opinion as an educator and creative professional.

What I found truly impressive though, is that the work they exhibited was not work they had done for me in class. This was all new, fresh content to me. And it demonstrated that this group was on the right path to life-long learning. They understand that skills must not only be gained, but also tested, honed and sometimes even re-invented. They are open to learning new things, to experimenting with technology.

As this group of advertising students begin their final semester placements in real world ad agencies, I see them building on those skills even more. These portfolios show employers that the technology is being embraced and used intelligently. By demonstrating their awareness of social networking, proficiency with software and the ability to tell a story, these students are making themselves very employable.

I’m so very honoured to have been part of that skill-building process.

The Story Continues

This story is not singular. It’s playing out in other colleges and universities, across Canada, the US and globally. The story rewrites itself as younger learners in the K-12 range grasp new and deeper aspects of technology that may have been part of their lives before they even started school.

It may not occur at the same level everywhere, but students need to be encouraged to learn about technology and how it can be used to tell a story in more immersive, interactive ways, in and out of the classroom. Many will learn in spite of limited educational budgets, poor bandwidth access or even personal family budgets. As teachers, parents, friends or family, we can help facilitate that learning through encouragement and engagement.

Surface-level use of technology is more a part of a young person’s life than ever before, from FaceBook to online gaming to making and sharing videos and photos from a cell phone. It’s just part of their lives.

But I think it’s important they delve deeper than the surface.

To go from being a consumer to a producer of content.

To tell their own stories.