All right designers, we know you are more than the set of tools you use to solve problems for brands. At the risk of praising equipment over talent, I wanted to share an absolute must have item for creative professionals—the Wacom Intuos Pro Pen Tablet.
The Intuos Pro, a commercial printing company’s best friend
The fine folks at Company Folders introduced me to this life changing mouse replacement last summer during their Print Typography social media contest. They generously gave away an Intuos Pro to 1 lucky winner, which wasn’t me (although I’d like to note that CEO Vladimir made good on his purple unicorn promise). Intrigued by the event, I discovered that we have a Wacom of our own in the in house design department. Although I design about 90% of the brand images on this blog, I’m not technically part of the PrintFirm creative team.
Of course I didn’t let this minor detail prevent me from stealing commandeering the tablet for testing purposes. Before I forced the graphics person who shall remain nameless aside, I asked him whether or not the Intuos helped him do his job for custom design and print production.
“Oh yeah, I love this thing. It takes some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, you work way faster,” he replied.
His comments made me think about other designers I’ve worked with in the past. Sure enough, I remember the good ones using what looked like a pen to me from a distance. Sadly, this insubordinate employee refused to let me take the tablet to my office for a few hours. He justified his monopolizing our Intuos with a bunch of excuses about clients, deadlines, and printing proofs.
Whatever.
I settled for holding the pen in my hand, and using it to adjust his paths in Illustrator. As soon as my palm felt the smooth surface of the sleek black active area, I decided to buy a Wacom of my very own.
My personal Intuos Pro photo editing experience
My loving husband helped me purchase an Intuos Pro for my birthday to indulge my passions outside of the office. I’ve only owned the tablet for a week, and I’m already in love. Most of my projects involve photography, design, and illustration. Since my job requires tons o’ typing, my poor wrists cry every time I try to tackle pictures at home. Saving myself from horrible carpel tunnel and/or ulnar nerve irritation is high on my list of reasons for dropping hard earned money on my Wacom. Repetitive motion pain plagues the design community (a universal #designerproblem in my book), and this tool seem to ease the strain on my delicate hands.
Sadly, I haven’t gotten the chance to explore a lot of the features outside of basic Photoshop. I’ve yet to program my shortcuts and hand gestures. Here’s a handy video that shows you how to do this stuff:
My laptop runs on Windows 7, and there’s a drive issue. I tried following the directions on this troubleshooting page, no dice. Every time I boot up, I get a pop up warning that the driver isn’t working. Or something or other.
Said warning isn’t preventing me from using the tablet, so I’m in no hurry to resolve the problem. Anyway, I’m in awe over the fluid motions for precision image editing. I’m not a fan of heavy processing; I generally loathe HDR photos. I believe good photographers take clean shots that require limited editing or else they lose their magic. Anyway, I’m able to adjust exposure exactly where I want it with a single swipe of the pen instead of accidentally clicking and losing my place with a mouse.
What do you think of your Wacom?
I’m sure we have plenty of Intuos fans in the community. Do you own an Intuos or other Wacom product? Do you have questions about how this awesome device can improve your work flow? Let me know in the comments below!