To (Expression) Design or Not To (Expression) Design
It has been quite a while since I have been able to blog about anything as I’ve been working exceptionally hard on my project at ANVIL as we are going live on Tuesday morning. As things seem to be moving smoothly, I have decided to take some time this weekend to report on something that has captivated my attention. That something is Microsoft Expression Studio 3.
A Brief Introduction
Expression Studio is a suite of applications that have been development by Microsoft for designers as opposed to developers. Over the past few weeks, Microsoft has officially released the third version of this suite of applications that include the following:
- Expression Blend 3 with SketchFlow
- Expression Web 3 with SuperPreview
- Expression Design 3
- Expression Encoder 3
I could go off and give you a detailed explanation of each application, but with its release the Expression Team has updated the Expression site and there you can find a slew of resources and explanations about all of the applications. I strongly suggest heading to the site and checking out the resources available and trying some of the applications.
My purpose for blogging today is specifically for Expression Design, the drawing software that is provided by Microsoft with Expression Blend and Web.
Why Expression Design and Not Photoshop?
This question goes back to me learning how to use designer/drawing software. Being in the UI/UX field, occasionally you need to work with image files. If you work with designers, like I do at ANVIL, then then you “obviously” need to learn Photoshop. Here’s the thing: the work I need to do with the images I get from the designers are simple edits and Photoshop provides far more functionality than I need. So, why would I go off and learn how to use this software if I don’t need it?
Well, that need came up a while ago. I have a couple of personal projects that I want to work on, but as they require some design work to create some web graphics for the project. I had learned to use the GIMP to do my minor edits, but I never really felt fully comfortable when creating graphics, not to say that it can’t live up to my expectations. I suppose the real issue is me spending the time to learn how to use the GIMP to create the design that I want.
At this point I took some time to take a look at Photoshop. I played around with it, found some resources, and talked to the Designer about it as every designer I have spoken to as said that Photoshop is pretty much the industry standard for creating UI designs. Well, if I wasn’t comfortable learning and working in the GIMP, why would I want to learn how to use a whole new application with which I have no foundation? This lead me to take a look at Expression Design.
I have worked in Silverlight and WPF since both of their releases in the past few years, and thus have worked with Expression Blend to get some of the desired UI effects. Expression Design looks and feels like Expression Blend, so I immediately felt comfortable with it. Plus, as luck may have it, Microsoft had decided to take it to the next level with version three and include with both Expression Blend and Web. In the end, the real question was: Why hadn’t I considered this earlier? I have to learn some sort of designer application, and Expression Design is able to import PSD files. Why not give it a shot?
And so I did.
The Result
With a potential side project coming my way with another friend of mine, and with my want to actually do something more with Wesstyware.com than just have it forward everyone to my blog, I started working with Expression Design 3 and this is what I came up with:
I realize that a designer can do much better than I, nor would I ever challenge a designer to some sort of web design face off. But for my intents and purposes, I think I have managed to create something pretty nifty that I can use for my website.
For the time being, I will be using Expression Design for my design needs as I’m sure that when I find its limitations, it will not be in the software, but more as my skill as a graphic designer. It is important to remember that although I live and breath in the realm of UI, I’m still a developer and not a designer. I think that Microsoft has definitely shown with the Expression Design along with the rest of the Expression Studio that the bridge between developers and designers can be bridged.
Catch you on the flip side.
Side Note: The Face
One quick note. The image you see of me in the top left corner was actually a birthday present from the Designer last year. He sent me a PNG a while back, and I have decided that for the time being that will be the official logo for Wesstyware. What better image to associate with my software ramblings and developments than a digital version of my face?
Hello,
I am note sure what you mean by “how do you do that”? Could you give me more details of what you are referring to?
Also, the BlogEngine I am running is version 1.5 I believe.
Sorry I meant the workflow, it took me ages to learn photoshop. Is ES easier then?
I admire what you have done here. I like the part where you say you are doing this to give back but I would assume by all the comments that this is working for you as well.
Val Disere —
Sorry friend, I wish I could spend some time writing this in different languages as I’m a big advocate of making information available to more than just a single language, but I just don’t have the time.
Although, I am working on making Wesstyware.com available in multiple languages, so I will be sure to keep German on the list of languages to support!
One of my favorite artists, thank you! A thoughtful insight and ideas I will use on my blog.