Intro to graphics or word for hs girl

sky

Sun, May 17 2020, 8:25 pm

I’m trying to help out a family member.
She is in high school and would like to learn graphics.
She has no internet access (I could download for her). So any software has to run without the internet.
She has no computer experience
There is little money to spend.

Her parents thought to get Microsoft word for her to get computer experience and play around with it. And then borders.
But the cheapest price is $150.
Is it worth it?
Is it possible for cheaper?

Any other ideas how to get started or buy a software to learn for cheap.

itsmeima

Sun, May 17 2020, 8:40 pm

You can look into Affinity, is more affordable (you might not need the internet once you download it, I'm not sure) However, she'll need YouTube to learn how to use it.

tigerwife

Sun, May 17 2020, 8:44 pm

The standard programs for graphic design are the Adobe Creative Cloud programs, mainly Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. She can probably get a student package but it will still cost a few hundred a year. If she’s good at teaching herself, there are countless tutorials on YouTube.

sky

Sun, May 17 2020, 8:53 pm

tigerwife wrote:

No access to you tube

sky

Sun, May 17 2020, 8:53 pm

amother [ Saddlebrown ] wrote:

microsoft word will not get her anywhere....

That is what I thought.
I’m not sure who advised that.

CiCi

Sun, May 17 2020, 9:03 pm

The Adobe Creative Cloud program needs monthly access to the internet otherwise it stops working. Affinity Designer I believe does not need internet access after the initial download.

There are workbooks, sold on Amazon, that teach the Affinnity Designer program so you don't need YouTube tutorials.

amother

Rose

Sun, May 17 2020, 9:07 pm

Get her Gimp (free): https://www.gimp.org
And buy her a book on how to use it.

Also consider downloading Inkscape (similar to Illustrator), linked there. Scribus (also linked there) is a fine layout program, but nowhere near as powerful as InDesign. Still, like Publisher, she can learn basic layout skills with it.

Yes, Photoshop (and the other Adobe programs) are industry standards, but Gimp is similar enough in concept to Photoshop that skills will be largely transferable.

There are plenty of books on basic graphics principles, but they do need to be vetted, as "cutting-edge" graphic design often includes some risque elements.

sky

Sun, May 17 2020, 10:24 pm

amother [ Rose ] wrote:

That looks interesting. Thank you.

Rubber Ducky

Sun, May 17 2020, 10:40 pm

The Affinity products get excellent reviews and are extremely well integrated with each other. Affinity sells workbooks for their vector and raster graphics programs. Their layout program is more recent and there does not appear to be a workbook for it yet. Link: https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/

I used to teach computer graphics and although I do not use the Affinity suite, it would definitely be my recommendation for the young lady you are shopping for.

salt

Tue, May 19 2020, 6:23 am

I disagree with people who say Word will get her nowhere.
OP you say she has no computer experience.
What do you mean by NO computer experience?
If someone has literally never switched on a computer, never clicked on a mouse, never copied a file, never chosen a font size, and there are people like that, then Word is something simple she can get started with.
In my DD's beit yaakov in first grade they start the girls with Word and Paint, and really simple things like that, just to get used to using a computer.

If you mean she knows how to use a computer, but just hasn't ever played around with anything complex, then she can learn some graphics programs with youtube or from a manual.

sky

Tue, May 19 2020, 7:10 am

Thank you everyone for your input and information.

I spoke to her last night and as @salt said word may be good option to get computer experience. It doesn’t sound like she has much.

She can do projects - like resumes, letters, schedules, mailings just to get herself familiar with computers/word.

In high school we had courses like that but it doesn’t sound like her school does.

And later move on to a graphics program mentioned here.

forgetit

Tue, May 19 2020, 8:34 am

When you come back to graphics, https://theboldedge.com/ offers an internet-free option. But I'd assume that its somewhat pricey...