[Deep Dive]

[Introduction to Illustrator: Working With Different types of Medium with Mat Helme]

When working with Illustrator, we're able to design for multiple mediums.

We'll be specifically designing for the web.

However, I would like to show you

examples of other mediums you can design for.

Print is the most popular medium illustrators use to design for.

If you've ever seen the side of the U-Haul truck,

then you've seen vector base brackets and print.

All the trucks are themed by the state they are coming from

and design using vector base graphics.

Another example are stamps.

Most posted stamps are printed from vector base graphics

as they are very small surface area to design for.

From there, the list goes on.

Magazines, posters, product packaging, even building wraps.

The size of print vary because they are vector base.

We never have to worry about resolution.

We can take the same graphic from the postage stamp

and set it up to be printed on the side of a building

without losing clarity in the graphic.

The next medium is video.

You might have noticed the intro graphics or stinger

on most of the Treehouse videos.

These were actually designed in Illustrator in a static format

and then handed off to the motion designer

who then animated the graphics.

Since the graphics were vector,

the motion designer was able to increase the size of the graphics

and not lose clarity in the image.

Another example are the film title for the film Moonrise Kingdom.

The static lettering and graphics were created in Illustrator.

This product was designed by Jessica Hische.

She is the lead designer in the lettering and illustration industry.

Next, we have the web.

This is the medium we will be most likely be focusing on.

Due to retina displays and increasing screen resolutions,

vector graphics are become more popular not only in the user interface

but in the content graphics as well.

Another medium that goes right along with the web are devices.

The reason I'd like to distinguish web and mobile as different mediums

is not only because of the screen size but their functionality as a whole.

In most cases when interacting with devices, there is no middleman--

Like the mouse with desktops or the trackpad with laptops.

With devices, it's just you gesturing the graphics through glass.

This allows us to have a more highly interactive experience.

A good example of this is gaming.

Take the game Angry Birds for example.

All of the graphics are vector base

as they are scaled and deployed to multiple screen sizes.

They were able to get the fun childlike cartoon look and feel

at the same time keep the files lightweight and scalable for all devices.

Vector base applications like Illustrator

let us create these type of graphics.

As you can see, learning Illustrator will be very valuable

as the need for vector graphics is consistently increasing.

As we go through and learn the tools an panels the Illustrator offers,

we will be creating a number of elements for a webpage layout.

It's important to go through the content chronologically

as the tools are presented systematically.

Next, we'll begin to understand the concept of Illustrator,

but before we do that let's take a quick quiz

and test your knowledge on the examples of mediums

you can design for with Illustrator.