[Haifux] Open Source Graphic Design - Discussion

[Maxim Kovgan]

hi, Amichai.
Sorry... got carried away - started yesterday sending this today :)
Thanks for bringing this interesting subject to this list, this
"design" market behaves very much like audio/music making market:
 - size of the market is what can be fairly called "narrow niche", so
sustainable income (business) cannot be done immediately by selling
products to "anybody" on the street.
 - problems the market is facing are very computationally expensive
and non-trivial, complex - thus requiring very highly skilled (i.e.
expensive) people to implement and perfect

The result of this "setting" is: very few big players providing
solutions, and relatively "high prices" in LAYMAN terms.
This "layman" comes to products of this market usually without the
intent to make money, so a couple of thousands of dollars for license
is expensive for it.

My speculation follows, but in short: I don't see how open/free tools
can give solution for items 3 and 4 in the following list, and 2 is
also a very tough one to handle.

Pleas,for a moment, relieve your mind off the ethical side of free
software, and ideals :), think "business" (with speculations of
course)

BIG companies INVEST their own time (=money) in "open source" and
"free" software.
Not because they like to hug trees and raise pink unicorns or ponies
(sorry, a father of a couple of daughters is talking)
They do it mainly because it saves them $$$ and brings them quicker to
market (*usually* internally, BTW)

free+open solutions have apparent value and potential for *wide*
markets ("consumer" grade).
e.g. every company has operations, infrastructure and support needs,
every one needs operating system to run their own computers.

Thus, in these areas, sharing code/knowledge with other companies
saves you much more visible amounts of expenses.
This is why in the area of IT/OPS the free solutions thrive, and this
is why Android (not purely free linux, yet linux) is *the most
widespread* OS.

My guess is that the German guy you saw  using free tools has probably
worked on digital only, with small business, this is doable, but less
convenient.


Below is just a list of "state of the things" (subjective, IMHO, speculative)
Let's see how it can be "attacked":

1. unified workflow
Most of adobe tools give the same user experience, this makes it very
easy to jump between the tools
Free tools currently have a very high variability in the user
experience: Scribus, inkscape, GIMP, blender.

2. industry standard == hardware support
multitude of hardware vendors supporting their software (drivers for
plotters, color profiles for displays, calibration tools, PRO cameras,
sketching input devices, etc.)
Adobe tools know how to work with "big bad printing press" devices.
yes, GIMP|inkscape support wacom tablets, but color stuff and output
hardware - not sure it does...

3. NOT really expensive directly

By "directly" I mean - what you pay for a license to run this "evil"
proprietary software vs. what you get back.
I don't have real data on design shops - what are their expenses, how
much they charge, but my guess is the software cost does not limit
them.
And the BIGGER the shop - the less those costs affect the price, so
the customers don't really suffer.


4. Skill/knowledge transfer, certifications, support, easy to find users
(smells like there should be a word for this :) )
This is the "vicious circle" :), very important for businesses:
 - usage process is streamlined, easy and known to all
 - People know how to use the tools, and they can teach others, so you
can on-board your employees by passing them official or in-house
tooling certification, or require that certification from candidates
 - commercial support and integrators exist, and support you (they
often are the ones that provide you licenses for even cheaper price)

On the other hand: If you're using a tool that only has community
support, and resolving a bug involves undetermined amount of time, it
is a "no go" situation.
The training often costs more than license, so called "invisible"
cost: less training = less downtime, more value.

5. DRM
Adobe tools support DRM, this is something design shops/publishers often WANT.
This is ... against freedom, and free tools, especially FSF based
won't ever support this.




On Fri, Jan 22, 2016 at 3:49 PM, Amichai Rotman <amichai at iglu.org.il> wrote:
> I have recently found out that the Graphic Design field in Israel is held
> captive by Adobe!
>
> A friend of mine is finishing his Graphic Design studies at Tiltan in Haifa
> and I asked him if they teach any software other than Adobe products. He
> said that everybody uses Adobe exclusively, so there is no reason to learn
> anything else.
>
> I say - any monopoly is a bad thing!
>
> He also said that the Open Source solutions out there are not as goodas
> Adobe products, so nobody uses them.
>
> I was sitting in my regular hangout cafe today and a guy walked in, opened
> his laptop and started to work on Graphic Design - and he was using GIMP,
> Darkroom and UFRaw - on Ubuntu. I started talking to him and he said he is a
> student from Germany and he uses Ubuntu and Open Source because he has no
> money  and these are good enough for what he needs. That he doesn't feel the
> need to use Adobe products and, this way, he says, he will be able to give
> his future clients lower rates.
>
> The biggest problem in Israel, as I see it,  is that very few freelance
> designers actually buy the Adobe Suite they use and if the want to work at
> any design shop they are required to use Adobe products exclusively.
>
> So, why would they even bother to study GIMP and other FLOSS programs?!
>
> My friend says that the only way to change this, is if design shops will
> require knowledge of Free Software - then Design Schools (like Tiltan) will
> start teaching Graphic Design using FLOSS....
>
> Clearly, a vicious circle...
>
> I'd like to hold a Round Table meeting with FLOSS Graphic Designers and
> Non-FLOSS Graphic Designers (i.e. Adobe users) and Graphic Design Teachers
> to discuss ways to introduce FLOSS solutions to the Graphic Design field in
> Israel.
>
> Thought / pointers/ etc. welcome!
>
> Amichai Rotman
>
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-- 
Maxim Kovgan