Fireworks Interview with Jose Olarte III
Where and what do you work as?
I am a work-at-home Web and Print Designer based in the Baguio City, Philippines. I work for Anomalist Design (http://www.anomalistdesign.com/), but also do freelance projects with my friends under Brown Battery Studios (http://www.brownbatterystudios.com/).
What type of projects do you work in Fireworks and are there any challenges you faced that
Fireworks have helped you ?
Fireworks is where I do all of my interface design across different platforms: web, iPhone, digital signage, etc.. Fireworks purists may balk at the idea, but sometimes I'll even do some small print projects (such as business cards and leaflets) in Fireworks.
- Rapid prototyping: you can readily export to mock HTML or linked PDF to show clients an interactive preview of the design.
- Screen-based design: Fireworks is suited for work that is intended for digital displays (LCD monitors, mobile devices). The pixel-level control means it's the perfect software to create interfaces, icons, and other image assets.
Fireworks excels as a rapid prototyping tool. How does Fireworks helps you in your design workflow?
I do the majority of my web design tasks in Fireworks, from design mockups, to image slicing, and even when I'm hand-coding my markup and stylesheets, I refer to the original design I have in Fireworks for element layering, position, and dimensions. Even if I don't use the HTML export option of Fireworks (in favor of complete control over the markup structure), Fireworks is still an invaluable tool for me.
What is your favourite tool / feature in Fireworks and why?
My favorite feature in Fireworks are Pages and Layer Folders. I cannot express enough how much easier it has become to manage revisions, interfaces, application states, screens, and assets with these levels of organization at my disposal.
If you can only list 5 favorite best features in Fireworks, what will they be?
Pages - provides a convenient way of managing your project according to logical groups (like different page layouts of a website, or screens of a mobile app), as well as allowing you to set master pages that contain repeating elements.
Path Panel - Fireworks was already powerful with the inclusion of several vector tools and features, but the Path Panel brings it to a whole new level! It even has some features (like Fillet Points, as of CS4) that requires a plugin in Illustrator, but is included out of the box in Fireworks!
9-slice Scaling - a very handy feature for smart-resizing symbols.
Image Export - Fireworks has one of the best image export features I've come across, with regards to output filesize and level of control. You can even export 8-bit PNG with alpha transparency!
Styles - basically, Styles is to Fireworks as CSS is to HTML. Stacks of effects and other object attributes can be easily managed, reused and changed!
Fireworks work even better with fireworks extensions. What is your favourite extension and how do you use it?
I'm going to take this opportunity to send a shout-out to Fireworks Guru Aaron Beall (http://www.abeall.com/), who creates some really useful Fireworks extensions (that eventually get absorbed into the Fireworks core). A couple of my favorites from his library would have to be Path Points (http://fireworks.abeall.com/extensions/commands/#PathPoints) and Path Panel (http://fireworks.abeall.com/extensions/panels/#Path).
Many people compare Photoshop with Fireworks. What is your viewpoint in this?
Photoshop and Fireworks each have their own strengths and weaknesses: Photoshop excels in photo editing and manipulation, while Fireworks is the right choice for web and interface design. Of course, in the same way I tend to use Fireworks for some print projects, people who are more familiar with Photoshop tend to use it for web design, too. In the end, it's about choice: you just can't force people to use a certain piece of software, especially if they're already comfortable with what they use. What matters is what they can achieve, regardless of the tool.
Do you have a Fireworks tip for the Fireworks community?
The most important Fireworks tip: as much as possible, don't flatten. During the course of a design project, there is always a probability that the client will want to change something in the design. Use the power of Live Filters and Symbols to keep your base objects editable, while keeping the effect persistent.
Are you involved with any communities on the web?
I am an active supporter and moderator of the PhilWeavers Network (http://www.philweavers.net/), the de facto organization for Filipino web designers. I am proud to say that I've learned a lot from the past discussions in this community, and that I, in turn, shared my knowledge of and experience in the design industry.
Do you have a blog? Where can we find you?
Whenever I'm not busy working on a project, you can find me tinkering with my technical blog, SixThings (http://www.brownbatterystudios.com/sixthings). As a Fireworks aficionado, I also share some Fireworks tutorials under the Rapid Fire series (http://www.brownbatterystudios.com/sixthings/rapid-fire/). These tutorials abide by the principle of using Fireworks as an all-in-one design tool, without having to depend on extensions or other software. (And when I'm not doing any design-related tasks, you can find me hacking-and-slashing in Guild Wars, as a flexible warrior-primary Vedreus Aardimus.)
There's no better way to learn a piece of software than poking around the menu and the toolbars. Fireworks is packed with lots of useful features that's exciting to find out, and soon enough you'll have enough knowledge to make you more confident in using it as a design tool for your projects. In my opinion, it is relatively easy to use and get a hang of, so don't be afraid to look into what it can do.
