Prototyping Photoshop: From

Novice to Professionals.
 Photoshop Introduction
Prototyping:
*Prototyping is the process of quickly putting
together a working model in order to test
various aspects of a design to illustrate ideas or
features and gather early user feedback.
Prototyping is often treated as an integral part
of the system design process, where it is
believed to reduce project risk and cost. Often
one or more prototypes are made in a process
of iterative and incremental development where
each prototype is influenced by the
performance of previous designs, in this way
problems or deficiencies in design can be
corrected. When the prototype is sufficiently
refined and meets the functionality, robustness,
manufacturability and other design goals, the
product is ready for production.
(* - wiki reference )
Introduction:
Amongst the many design tools there are out
their for artist’s , Photoshop is regarded as one
of the best design applications from an artist
point of view. With its innovative and structured
design it allows a Novice to become a
Professional with a few clicks of a button from
one of many tools that their standard tool box
holds. So, from blur to eyedropper, Photoshop’s
design provides users with a comfortable
structured work environment for creating the
most imaginative design’s in a short period of
time.
Presentation:
The goal of this presentation is to show how
easy and well defined Photoshop tools are for
both a Novice and a Professional. As well as,
how easy it is to use the predefined tools from a
new layout to the color picker. Hope you enjoy
it.
 Photoshop: History
Photoshop:
*Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editor On April 30th, Adobe released Photoshop CS3
developed and published by Adobe Systems. It Extended, which includes all the same features
is the current market leader for commercial of Adobe Photoshop CS3 with the addition of
bitmap and image manipulation, and is the capabilities for scientific imaging, 3D, and high
flagship product of Adobe Systems. It has been end film and video users.
described as "an industry standard for graphics
professionals” and was one of the early "killer
applications" on Macintosh.
The current (10th) iteration of the program,
Photoshop CS3, was released on 16 April 2007.
"CS" reflects its integration with other Creative
Suite products, and the number "3" represents
it as the third version released since Adobe re-
branded its products under the CS umbrella.
Photoshop CS3 features additions such as the
ability to apply non-destructive filters, as well as
new selection tools named Quick Selection and
Refine Edge that make selection more
streamlined. (* - wiki reference )
 Photoshop: Usability from
Novice to Professionals
Photoshop Usability:
Resolution: Color adjustment to the computer
Adobe Photoshop is designed for everyday screen or print design.
graphic manipulation for both web and print, Color Mode: Setting for either print or web.
Regarded as the most important and most Advanced: For professionals that want to adjust
efficient application for graphic designers and the design specifically for a new layout or to
printers due to its easy to use layout , a new adjust and old design.
Photoshop art board can be created with one
click of a button. To create a new art board for
your graphic image, the user would have to click
on File -> New and a new art board pop-up
appears giving you the option to:
Name: Enter a name for the new file.
Preset: Adjust the size of the image art board
that will be used in the creation of the new art Photoshop Image A1-1
work.
Width: Size adjustment of the art board, in
pixels/percentage/etc.
Height: Size adjustment of the art board, in
pixels/percentage/etc.

Photoshop Image A1 -2
 Photoshop: Beginning
Photoshop Usability 2:
New or Imported Files
To prototype with Photoshop after the creation
of the art board the user can then proceeds to
the next step in understanding the Photoshop
tool design process For example a user can
either create a new image/ art board A1-4 or
open an already predetermined image, with
which the user (Novice or Professional) will see
as the image appears in the center stage of the
Photoshop Image : A1-3
application as indicated in image A1-3 or A1 -4 .
The creation of an art board is so simple and
easy to understand that the user (Novice or
Professional) can begin to alter the new or pre-
created image with a click by click method that
needs no memorization technique.

Photoshop Image : A1-4

 Photoshop: Tools of the Trade
Photoshop Usability 3:
Tools and Functionalities
The next step in understanding Photoshop
prototyping is to understand the applications
built in tools and their functionalities. Once an
image is selected or a new art board is opened
see images A1-3 and A1 -4, the user (Novice or
Professional), can then proceed onto the next
step as which is toolbox and their
functionalities. Designed in and easy to
manipulate and straightforward layout the tool
box as indicated in image A1- 5, is critical to the
user for any form of design.
The tool box’s layout from top to bottom is
designed based on importance from Novice to
Professional. Beginning first with the arrow tool
and ending with the color palette, its design
gives all options that a user would need to
manipulate an image from color to size.

Photoshop Image : A1-5

 Photoshop: Tools of the Trade, Part 2
Photoshop Usability 3: Color Palette: One of the most important tools
in the prototyping of the Photoshop application.
Tools Behaviors
It s design has so many functionalities that I
Lets begin to analyze the tool box with a few would have to create a slide show focused on its
tools that are of great importance. many features. The color palette has a variety of
Arrow: Selection of the art board area functions, one such function is choosing a color,
Marquee: Comes in an oval, box or single row yes sounds simple but look at image A1-6
marquee.
Lasso: Allows selection or an image or the
edges of the image in a non-specific
form based on the users choice.
Crop: Allows the user to select a specific area
of an image.
Gradient: Allows the user to change specific
color areas of the image.
Stamp: Recreates the image as if copying the
image over and over again.

Photoshop Image: A1-6

 Photoshop: Tools of the Trade, Part 3
Photoshop Usability 3:
Multiple Color Palette Choices
Color Palette: The color palette comes in a
variety of different forms with in Photoshop 3
other forms / tools are indicated in images A1-6,
A1-7 and A1-8, but the color palette is not
limited to just these tools present their have
been an improvement on its selection but there
Photoshop Image A1-7
are so many that only these few are the
commonly used for me to present.

Photoshop Image A1-6 Photoshop Image A1-8

 Photoshop: Layers and Attributes
Photoshop Usability 4:
Layers, Layers and More Layers
Working with layers when understanding a
prototype in Photoshop can take some many
different routes that the few mentioned with in
this presentation was only to reduce this
presentation to 10 minutes, due to the fact that
Photoshop layers contain so many attributes
that mentioning a few took long to decide based
on a matter of importance to me and general
user rather than the actual application design. Photoshop Image A1-9
Layers: The layers box contains all the images in
a, well layered order, designed to keep track of
all images on the art board. Its functionalities
include but are not limited to creating drop
shadows, editing color with the use of the color
palette, setting a default background (also
editable), and again but not limited to, creating
new folders for storage for more layers. Its
unique design helps in the prototyping of
Photoshop as a main functionality because it’s
the central tool that assists in the understanding
of how an artist can keep track of all the layers
that go into a design, from text to graphics. See Photoshop Image A1- 10
Photoshop images A1-9 and A1-10
 Photoshop: Layers and Attributes
Photoshop Usability 4 continued:
Layers, Layers and More Layers
Here is another example of how the layers
tool in Photoshop can be manipulated with text,
layer copies and shadowing. see image A1-11
and A-12.

Photoshop Image A1-11

Photoshop Image A1-12

 Photoshop: Image Manipulation
Photoshop Usability 5:
Images: Prototyping in Photoshop continues
into the behaviors and attributes when focused
on an image. The application to reiterate
contains so many functionalities that one of
importance that I have to mention is the Ice
Patten. This newly created tool, see image A1-
13, allows user to create an ice effect with in
any image. Its manipulation ranges from the ice
pattern size, circular design, iterations, position Photoshop Image A1 -13
and much more. In the ice patter sample design
you can see how the ice pattern tool can create
wonderful images, this plant designs unique
color schema can be attributed to all of the
tools mentioned with in this presentation. From
the color palette , to the layers and tools this
design is proof that the prototyping this entire
application deserves more attention but with
such a small presentation not enough time.

Ice pattern sample design

 Photoshop: Saving the End Result
Photoshop Usability 6:
In Closing
After the editing, layering, and growing
knowledge of the tools and tool box of
Photoshop. The last step in understanding the
prototyping of Photoshop is the saving process.
The saving of the newly created or redesigned
image is as important as its creation. In
Photoshop the saving process gives you the
option to save the image in a variety of ways,
this includes but not limited to .tiff, .jpg, .
.flashpix, etc. The adjustable format also
includes saving as layers or as a single
compressed format. Providing warning signal’s
to the user (Novice or Professional’s) of the
formatting and operations that will be halted
once the design is saved.
File Name: Name file is saved as.
Format: The format that the file is being saved
as, i.e. jpg, .tiff, etc.
Save Options: Saving as a copy, layers, etc.
Color: What color format the image is saved as,
i.e. RGB, CMYK etc. Photoshop Image A1-14
 Photoshop: Prototyping in a Nutshell
Photoshop Usability 7:
Success and Frustrations:
Advantages of Photoshop prototyping includes
but not limited to the user and not the
application. The imagination of the user be
he/she Novice or Professional, is the only limit
that can be a true stopping ground for any
functional design and creation with this
program. Its many tools and its easy to
use/learn design makes it not just popular but
the number one application for image
manipulation. In this presentation I have shown
you a variety of tools used and prototyped
designs, if you are a usability novice or
professional then Photoshop's creative and
innovative tools allows you success in creating
simple or advanced graphics with out having to
take up to much of your time spent on learning
and more time spent on creating.
But , before we /I finish stating all the success
you can have with Photoshop , understand that
there are a variety of issues that can and will
become frustrating to a Novice designer be
he/she usability orientated or not.
One of the most frustrating aspects of this
application is the layers and saving portion. The
problem in the application for Novice designers
are saving, its main problem is that when a user
is closing the application and saving it to either
their desktop or a folder the application allows
the user to save from multiple image extensions
but what it fails to explain to user is the images
should also be saved as jpg as sometimes the
image saved in another extension may not
open. Another and final frustration is the layer
tool. What this tool fails to explain is the
manner of its history and that if a user does not
save the image as layers the image will combine
into one and there is no retrieval of the past
changes or layers