#ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR TOOLS GUIDE HOW TO#
In the end we want any app user to know exactly how to use them in their own projects because a single tool, used well, can unlock huge potential in creative work. Keeping a focus on outcomes is essential. Tooltips are most important to new users exploring the app for the first time and to users looking for a specific answer to unblock their creative process. It’s important at this point to pay attention to details in the UI small tweaks that may seem inconsequential-like not using the correct cursor for a specific tool or the right color for the bounding box-can break the experience and confuse people. When it comes to animation, storyboarding the workflow from start to end in less than 12 frames presents the tool in a clear and digestible way. In these very short animations we want users to understand the information without feeling fatigued or frustrated and for the tools to not seem overly technical or complicated. The Knife tool slices objects into multiple shapes with closed paths.
#ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR TOOLS GUIDE CRACKER#
Further feedback and ideas from other subject matter experts resulted in a pivot toward a slice of cheese instead of jelly.įrom left: The original version of the cracker with jelly. As an example, the first design version of the Knife tool was a squiggly line of jelly on top of a cracker, but the Instructional Design team thought it might read as an open path, and the Knife tool only works on closed paths. I also try to put myself into new users’ shoes to achieve the most useful demo without losing sight of the goal of keeping them inventive and playful.ĭuring this process, explorative sketching helps to distill tools to one key function so I can start to uncover the best metaphor. Mood boards and quick sketches help me to ideate designs and sharing progress (and getting feedback) with the Illustrator product team, and other subject matter experts, early and often helps me fine-tune my approach. To translate the outcome of each tool visually, a designer must first understand it, then bring it to life with illustrations and animations-all while keeping in mind that the simplest function of each tool is what gives tooltips their visual focus. One might assume these imaginative animations are easy to produce, but underneath their simplicity is a layer of complexity that unveils a tool’s value, motivates users to learn, and guides with a clear intent. Focus on the most basic function of the tool Through the lens of telling relatable visual stories, I help our users get started in our apps with these playful onboarding experiences there are some tricks to doing that well: focus on the most basic function of the tool, take inspiration from the everyday, use what you know, and follow a process that works for you. Invoked by holding the cursor over a tool in the toolbar, the utilitarian but playful visual metaphors are the building blocks, no matter someone’s experience level, for learning how to do things in the app.īut what exactly does designing and illustrating tooltips look like in practice? As designers our daily lives and our memories are represented everywhere-including in rich tooltips. In Adobe Illustrator these content-rich tips-the most straightforward application of the tool played out in short, fun, relatable animations-demonstrate an individual tool at its peak moment of shine within larger, implied workflows. Tooltips that at one time simply revealed a tool’s label, are now textual and visual descriptors of how to apply them. At their best they’ve been welcome, useful… and even delightful.įor the past few years, Creative Cloud onboarding has been transforming how users learn to do things in our applications. At their worst they’ve been obtrusive and annoying. Originally used in Microsoft applications to display tool functionality in the toolbar (remember Clippy?) tooltips, have taken on many different forms over the years.
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