Microsoft® has announced its own line of software solutions that give graphic artists a practical alternative in graphic design tools. These tools have been assembled into the Microsoft Expression® Studio software suite. Of the various tools in this product line, let’s explore the details of Microsoft Expression Design.
Introduction
Expression Design is a tool designed for graphic design and illustration professionals. This software makes it possible to design, illustrate, and build any kind of graphical document. This article examines the tool’s strong points through a brief overview, and addresses how you can integrate this software into a company’s workflow.
If you want to try this software, download a trial version available from the following location:
http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/download.aspx?key=design.
Vector-based design
Expression Design makes it possible to create sophisticated illustrations in almost any format. This user-friendly software brings together standard illustration tools, such as the pen, vector gradients, brushes, the vector text tool, geometric tools, and even more. This software offers other innovative tools that include the following:
- Polyline lets you create the arcs of a circle. Here is an example of what it can do: View Details
- B-Spline enables you to create dynamic shapes without spending hours drawing with the pen tool. Here is an example of a shape you can make: View Details
- Polygon finally gives you a tool for producing x-sided polygons. You just indicate the number of sides you want and then draw the polygon. In our first example, we drew a triangle. This tool can produce Web 2.0 “stickers” such as those found everywhere on the Internet. After working on a polygon, you can quickly create something that resembles the following: View Details
Completely true to the “full vector” model, we find—among the most attractive features of Expression Design—the ability to quickly convert traditional bitmaps into vector images.
You will be able to use these bitmaps in vector format directly through Expression Design, as follows:
As you can see, all lines are editable, and the size of your bitmap file has greatly decreased.
An innovative work environment
When you open Expression Design for the first time, you will encounter an interface common to all the tools within Expression Studio.
As you can see in the screenshot, the interface is simple and user-friendly. The gray/black design is easy on the eyes, the icons clearly represent the illustrated actions, and we can easily locate all elements of traditional graphic design software, as follows:
- A classic menu, located at the top of the window, groups all possible actions that you might perform by using the software. View Details
- The toolbar, arranged as a column, is not movable, but is well positioned on the left side of the window. View Details
- The Properties panel, located on the right side of the screen, shows all the properties that belong to the selected element in the workspace. This panel has two sections: Appearance, where you can review or modify all details related to the appearance of the selected item (such as color, size, opacity), and Effects, where you can find effects, which are like filters (such as blur, glow, shadow). View Details
- The Layers panel, also located on the right side of the screen, lets you manage the layers in your document (add, delete, copy, lock, masking). By moving the mouse pointer over the different layers, you can see a preview of what each one contains. By means of the options, you can apply colors to the layers to associate them with a type. Finally, you can see a preview in the layers list. View Details
- The workspace lets you zoom in and out, apply markers along the horizontal and vertical rulers, and manage multiple documents by using tabs. Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to display two different documents side by side. We can expect this feature to be integrated in the next version of the software. View Details
- The Action Bar lets you quickly access the actions you can perform on a selection. This helps you work much more efficiently, as you don’t need to look in the classic menu for actions. It puts everything that you need right in front of your eyes. View Details
Finally, you can completely modify the appearance of the workspace using the Options dialog box, which you can access through the Edit menu. By using this option, you can get a much clearer gray and can zoom the workspace in and out. This zoom feature can be very practical for people with small or large screen resolutions, which is very common in the graphic design industry.
In addition to the traditional features found in graphic design software, Expression Design also offers interesting features that help with productivity.
High-quality effects
As mentioned previously, a section specifically for effects exists in the Properties panel. These effects are essentially filters. They let you style and modify the appearance of your objects, all while maintaining their high quality. Expression Design works at the vector level, so the effects must be faithful to this kind of drawing.
To create an effect, you can just click the FX icon to display the Effects menu. Remember that adding an effect is just like applying a filter. Surfaces, colors, tint, and shading are all available. This creates real added value for any kind of design, whether graphic or illustrative.
Reusable formats
The use of new graphic design software that is incompatible with the most popular file formats is not an option for any company that wants to succeed in this field. Microsoft understands this, and so they’ve made it possible for you to import and export different file formats in Expression Design.
Import
You can import formats such as .ai, .psd, .png, .jpg, .gif, .tiff, .ico, and more into Expression Design. This means you can work with your old designs in this application, even if they were created using different software.
Export
Expression Design lets you export to .xaml, .pdf, .psd, .tiff, .jpg, and .gif formats, among others. Files with .xaml extensions are (declarative) .xml files, letting you create advanced user interfaces for Microsoft Silverlight™ and Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation applications. With regard to .psd and .pdf files, layers are maintained through the export. Consequently, you can immediately reuse your designs and your Expression Design layers inside other software that supports the .psd format.
Conclusion
For a first version, Expression Design is a very useful product, so well-designed that it may become a part of your daily workflow. Because it’s easy to learn, even people without much experience in using graphic design software can quickly produce results. Professionals will find many features within Expression Design that they’re accustomed to in other graphic production software. Compatible with most formats on the market, Expression Design easily integrates into your production environment.
