Only if you pirate it.

 

We got it free from Adobe a few years ago.

 

but it's only legal to use the provided key for CS2 as long as you have a license. The key was provided to unlock CS2 after them shutting down their activation servers

 

I don't know, i got the info from a CG news website, rushed to DL it, got my key, and use it since this day on several computers.
I didn't block it in the firewall or anything. The way it's been presented to me, it is legit.

 

Yeah, PS2 was free. Many of my graphic design students DL (when I encouraged them to) and used it without any hiccups.

 

Couple of tips that easy to remember, and this is from the Press advertising world:
1. If you use faces and they are looking or facing in a certain direction, make sure they are looking "in" towards the design, not away, looks more pleasing to the brain.
2. Big one that never gets a mention ... white space attracts attention. Never be afraid to have some white space, be it an album cover, poster, ad. Don't clutter it up. If it's too "busy", there's too much to look at and people's eyes quickly lose interest and get tired.
3. Use a maximum of two different fonts, or more if from the same font family.
4. Research the emotional effects of colours .. can have different effects depending on what you're designing. Red makes you stop and look, green makes the brain relax, blue communicates movement, communication, pastels communicate "young", purple communicates rebelliouos or willingness to be different etc.
5. Balance: If you have a box/line at the top, have a box/line and so on at the bottom.

I forgot now who mentioned CARP, but the same applies to story-telling, song-writing and music composition... the dark/light, sad/happy contrasts are especially well used.

BTW, if you love design, you should already be designing using photcopiers. That's what I was doing before computers cam along. I desgned casssette covers, Cv for friends etc. Computer software is not really necessary at first, to get a LOVE for the subject.

 

It's good to avoid (so-called) fruit salad, for defo; decomplicate & declutter. Easy to get overexcited by design at first. As with anything you need to know the rules before you can break them. This is (mostly) a pretty good guide to (font) contrasts and was produced over 50 years ago!

Spoiler

>_______> =)

.

 

Hi Adam,

It depends what kind of work you'd like to do. Would you mind showing us some things (images) you like?

What kind of computer do you have? Do you have a video graphic card?

 

Last edited: Nov 3, 2018

If you find your information from a 3rd party source, it could be inaccurate.

See https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/cs2-product-downloads.html?promoid=19SCDRQK

"Only customers who legitimately purchased CS2 or Acrobat 7 and need to maintain their current use of these products may use the serial numbers provided during the download."

Adobe never said we're giving away CS2 for free to everyone.

Correct. The keys are provided as a courtesy to existing customers because you can't activate CS2 online anymore. They keys just happen to be available for non-customers too.

 

i use paint since 3-86er of my step dad...

i admire you audio guys knowing also graphics...we had oportunity for umschulung to webdesigner way back but i didnt...

but i kno how to handle cans and brush.....yes i do...he he...

-----------
little tip---

do resampling similar like in audio....print the graphic and do some real life technics and than scan it and process on virtual..

 

Last edited: Nov 4, 2018

Only photoshop 1.0 is truly free, since it´s source code is released to people to use.

http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/adobe-photoshop-source-code/

@wasgedn
I like messing around with graphics, always has. My next project, acoustic panels will have fabric with my own design printed on it.
I used to be good with cans and markers

 

i forgot markers....yea...heh heh

 

Hi, Adam,
If I were to choose one software:

- Adobe Photoshop

You can paint, create and modify images and photos with it!
There are plenty of resources and tutorials on the internet.
Photoshop is the standard in image editing software.

I highly recommend Lynda.com:

https://www.lynda.com/Photoshop-tutorials/279-0.html

I've learnt a lot from them!
Quality tutorials at a fair price.

You also need a font management software, like nexuxfont for windows:

http://www.xiles.net/

to catalog and use fonts without having to install them.
Good luck!

A moment of zen:

Enjoy!

 

Is there something you don't know my friend?
Me too i learned a lot in this past years, photoshop, vegas pro, fl studio and many more!

 

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned inkscape for vector drawing.

https://inkscape.org/

Its free, open source and available for windows, mac and linux.

I found it easier to use than illustrator.