Breaking Down Doors: Promoting Yourself To Dream Clients

There's a saying that the School of Visual Arts in New York City once used in its ads: "To be good is not enough when you dream of being great." We all have dream clients that we would like to add to our portfolio, but either we don't know how to reach them or have no idea how to even start. Promotion is not a big subject at art school, and I know way too many creatives who stare at the phone and wonder why it's not ringing. There are many ways to promote yourself, and as with any product, you have to target your audience as efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible. Let's go over some problems and solutions. [Offtopic: by the way, did you know that we are publishing a Smashing eBook Series? The brand new eBook #3 is Mastering Photoshop For Web Design, written by our Photoshop-expert Thomas Giannattasio.] Seek Out More Work Than You Can Handle If you want people to know you and consider you a valuable contact, then you must promote yourself. If you look at your career as a business, then as with any business, you must promote it. What is your brand? Let's not confuse a logo with a brand. Your logo is the visual "name" by which people identify you—your brand is how people remember you as a business. Is your brand personal? Fun? Wicked? Sweet? Choose wisely because you could be married to your brand forever and ever. Use peers and non-creatives as a sounding board. I had a brand that creatives thought was cool but clients just didn't get (which I'll write about in another therapeutic article). Prepare your brand for all digital and social networks before hitting people with promotions. Essentials these days are a website or blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Apps (if that's your thing), business cards, stationary and envelopes—your business "front" as it were. Don't scrimp, and inkjet print your own cards. If you can't afford what you would spend in an afternoon at the pub for good business cards, then you might want to get a pony and dedicate the rest of your days to riding it. "Welcome to Rainbow Pony World! Nowhere near Earth!" Identify Top 100 People To Work With You could crawl from small job to small job and make a fine career out of it… if riding ponies is your thing. But you dream of a certain caliber of work, so why not go after it? Write a list of 100 people or companies you would like to work with. You might want to put a few people at one of those companies on your distribution list. How do you find those people? Start by researching the company. Go on LinkedIn and gather the titles of those people. If there's not enough there, click on their profiles to see who they're connected to, or use the "Also viewed" feature to stalk—er, hunt down the names you need. Use Google or a website such as Hoovers to get addresses and more information about the company. Your city might have a book that list local companies, which could offer valuable information, as might the business section of your local paper. You have to hunt down names, network, steal, ask stray kids if their mom or dad works with designers, and take advantage of family connections (while still refusing to design that idea of your uncle's that he's been pushing at family dinners for years). Don't forget your own network. Your friends and fellow art school alumni are becoming art directors, creative directors and creative managers, and being on good terms and staying in touch with them is important. At this point, I hope you're at least keeping all of your contact information in a spreadsheet, because it can be uploaded to a variety of contact managers. Get a good contact manager. Many programs are on the market, and even some native computer software will give you good contact management. Track how many times and when you have contacted someone, what they said, if you got work, if you got a referral, etc. When dealing with a client, you should be able to recall how you met, when you spoke and so on, so that they feel a bond, rather than feel like a target. Some people prefer ACT as their contact manager. It's good, but the comments following this article will no doubt suggest more management-oriented programs (after berating my negative comments about pony-riding). Ready, Set… What Next? What are you selling? What contact information do you have for your top 100? What promotional material can you send them? Are you ready for a follow-up if you do speak to someone? Are you ready for me to stop asking questions and get to it already? "The Wright Brothers could never have flown if not for the drive and spirit of innovation among aliens." (by Speider Schneider) Even if you have print promotional material, there must be a digital component—something you can attach to an email or link to. Some people think you must have a website, and some think the WordPress platform is best… like, say, Smashing Magazine. Whatever the platform, you should have one. And please get a proper domain so that you're not advertising rainbowponyrider.wordpress.com; rainbowponyrider.com is so much nicer! Also, avoid email@yahoo.com for your email address. While many single-person businesses use Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail and (snicker) CompuServe, don't be one of them. For a few dollars, you could have a professional email address with your domain name, like name@yourbusiness.com. Have you accumulated a ton of email addresses? Here's a fun fact from years of working in a business that depended on communications marketing statistics: only 15% of emails are opened. If you use a mass opt-out email service such as Constant Contact to reach prospects, your costs will go up as your ROI goes down even before hitting "Send." Still, it can be effective for multiple mailings during a one-month period, which is the membership period of such services. Sending a link gives the recipient a chore. In addition to everything else they have to do, they must now go through the super-human motion of clicking on your link and waiting for your website to load. As sad as that sounds, this is now the world we know. Snail mail. Believe it or not, what's old is new again. People use to rely on source books and mailings for promotion. In the digital age, mail has gotten lighter. Another frightening figure from the marketing statistics folks: 98% of all greeting cards are actually opened (the 2% is for envelopes with printed labels and metered postage). This approach will run you between 50¢ and $1.50 USD per card when all is said and done. You also have to do it every month, but no more than twice a month, or else it's legally stalking, and your prospects will see it that way. But people love getting cards! I'm constantly told that my cards are up on bulletin boards at companies across the globe. Well worth the money, I say. Some online printers deliver a good product, leaving you to stuff, address and stamp the envelopes. I use an on-demand printer that comes with a contact manager and allows me to create campaigns and then do bulk mailings using my handwriting font and signature and auto-name-insertion. A few clicks and my 100 cards go off within 24 hours, leaving me with plenty of pony-riding time. Oops! "I send postcards from vacation spots. What fun for a prospective client!" (by Speider Schneider) Print-on-demand websites are intuitive, and you can upload images for full-bleed jobs, if you so desire. The fonts on these websites are limited, and you cannot control kerning or leading. Best to create everything in Photoshop and upload it that way. Advertising And PR… For Free Blog. An audience that looks to you for information and entertainment makes for good prospects. Write about your design passion. A past article of mine drew a comment from a young man who was upset about the lack of understanding between a designer and developer. There's a blog right there. With a good writing style or by linking to stories on the subject, this person could develop a great promotional tool and really serve his passion for development and respect for its practitioners. You could turn trends, type, design, fun, foible or whatever you really love can into a really strong promotional channel. Volunteer. Personally, I've long been fed up with volunteering, but you should give it a try because it does build character… along with anxiety issues (but that's another story). Try a local art organization or art project. Getting out there helps you meet the people you need to be meeting. I know I'm being hard on volunteering, but I've put in more than my fair share of time. Your turn. Write for something like that "Smooshing Magazine" everyone's been talking about. Even the local paper needs articles on the design of the new town hall or coverage of the next art event. Get your name out there. Advertising And PR… But Not So Free Try Google Ads and the like. Michael Muratore, owner of Store44, which represents illustrators and photographers, is the most plugged-in person I know. His work with global companies and a variety of digital sources and tools force me to defer to his knowledge on the subject: I've been a Google power user for about five years now. As an agency catering to artists and advertising agencies, we can get hundreds of emails a day. The more I used Google for my business, the more beta invitations I received. I use so many Google services on a day-to-day basis that it's a bit mind-boggling: Gmail, Voice, Docs, Analytics, Webmaster Tools… I could go on. However, in seven years of business, we have never bought Google Ads. One day, another invitation from Google arrived: "$100 in free AdWords advertising if you connect your Analytics account to a new AdWords account." A hundred bucks? Sold! It's brilliant, actually. One hundred dollars is the perfect amount to get started, figure out how it works and experiment a little. Of course, when it's all dialed in, it's time to add more money. The real epiphany for me came when I started managing campaigns by region. I started with the five regions that generated the most business for us: New York, LA, San Francisco, Chicago and Phoenix. With region-based campaigns, I could see where our ads were most successful, based both on clicks and inquiries. As the campaign progresses and as our budget changes, so does our AdWords buying. When money is tight, the campaigns that produce the fewest results can be shut off easily, leaving the best performers a greater portion of the budget. Usually, this means New York and LA, because our most popular artists are in fashion and music. We use this same regional system when advertising our Facebook page. Of course, it's not just about regions. Different artists in the group have sets of keywords specific to their media and markets. When they want to promote a series of new works, we simply turn a campaign on for them to drive traffic directly to their new portfolio. We can have campaigns using general keywords to bring people to a landing page that features several artists. For those wanting to explore a variety of illustration styles, for example, they would land here: http://store44.com/illustration.html; if they were looking for something specific, like fashion editorial photography, then they would land right on the artist's page. http://store44.com/irenepena Costs vary with campaign, clicks and keywords. Because we're paying by the click, we need to ensure that we're not getting bad traffic. We use negative keywords to try to eliminate the irrelevant traffic (words like "schools," "lessons" and "royalty-free"). We keep a base budget of $3.00 a day for a set of general keywords in our best regions. Three dollars is not much, and some keywords are very expensive to get on the front page. "Logo design" often fetches $10 per click. Having a variety of campaigns helps. I can easily adjust a particular campaign's budget if an artist wants to spend the money on traffic. A weekly graph comparing overall traffic to AdWords traffic. Bottom line? The AdWords campaigns bring the website's unique views from a usual 500 to 700 a month to over 1,000. When we get a call or email, I always try to find out their source. An active campaign can bring in three to five calls a month for $50 to $100 in ad spending. The Most Difficult Thing For A Creative: Telemarketing Cold calling is the hardest thing for anyone to do. If I hadn't worked in telemarketing as one of my various jobs to put myself through art school, I would dread cold calls. Cold calling, for those who aren't familiar with the term, is calling someone you don't know to sell them something. Sounds easy, right? It is. They are just people like you and me. They need freelancers, and you're a freelancer. If they don't need a freelancer, let them tell you so. I've been after a client for three years; they're in my top five of 100 names. I call and leave messages; I email images; I mail greeting cards with images and sales pitches. Why do I keep doing it? Because the prospect hasn't told me to stop and go away. It's sales, not dating. The trick to telemarketing is to work from easy scripts: Hello, Mr. Jones. My name is also Jones, and I'm a Web-developing, graphic-designing photographer. I'd like to set up an appointment at your convenience to show you my work. May I set up an appointment with you this week? Mr. Jones will then either tell you that he is not interested, or ask you to call him the following week or set up an appointment right then and there. Maybe you'll have to leave a message for Mr. Jones. "Hello, Mr. Jones. This is Mr. Senoj. My number is 123-4567. Please call me at your convenience." Don't tell him why you are calling or you'll never, ever get to speak with him. Haven't hear back? Call back. After a while, it becomes a guilty pleasure because you'll wonder what they're thinking. Look at it this way: the client I keep trying to reach probably has a great story about this persistent person who calls, emails and sends cards. I wonder if anyone has ever said, "Why don't you just talk to the guy?" Another telemarketing ploy is called objection-response, and telemarketers make three responses before they stop asking. Have a script or two for that, too. Here's some classic objection-responses: Objection: "I don't have time to meet." Response: "It will only take 15 minutes, and I'll even bring coffee." Objection: "I really don't have the time." Response: "May I drop off a packet of my services and keep you on my mailing list?" (They'll agree just to get rid of you. Take advantage of this by getting more information: "I don't have your current email. Would you update me on that?") Objection: "I have all the freelancers I need right now." Response: "I really appreciate your loyalty to your regular freelancers, which makes me want to work with you even more. I understand and wouldn't want to displace anyone, but people move on, and more work than your current pool can handle might come in. I'd like to stay in touch and see what the future holds, if you don't mind?" Don't forget a thank-you note. A lot is at steak. (by Speider Schneider) Out of desperation, I once told a person who had uttered those words of rejection to me that the entire pool of freelancers had choked to death. When he stopped laughing, he made an appointment and became a pretty good client. I don't recommend this approach, though. Think of any objection you might hear, and prepare a response of a sentence or two, printed out in large type in front of you. It really helps. By the way, the best way to get rid of a telemarketer is to tell them either that you already have the product or that there is no way you could possibly use it. They will apologize, hang up and never call you again. Not Such Crazy Ideas Find a mentor. Some established professionals believe they owe it to the next generation to mentor them into replacing them. We teach and write, and then you take our jobs and spit on us as we crawl for safety. You young punks! Still, we do it because it is in the natural order of things to pass on our experience to the next generation, however ungrateful it is. Socrates had something to say about this: The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. Plato had Socrates, and you should be able to find someone who takes you under their wing and introduces you to people and teaches you wonderful things. Ask a teacher for a referral, or just write someone an old-fashioned letter asking if they would be your mentor. You won't look strange, and your good manners will be appreciated, even if the person is unable to mentor you. A referral could hook you up with a terrific mentor, too. Do work that really impresses. A friend of mine once said that if you ever take on a $200 job that should pay $2,000, do $2,000 worth of work and it will lead to a real $2,000 job. He also told me that he paid $2,000 for his house, so don't take these amounts at face value. But his point is valid. A great job, whatever the pay, might lead to a spectacular portfolio piece. A wild imagination can come up with some crazy ideas, but think twice before acting on them. Thankfully, my infamous "time bomb" promotional piece, touting "Dynamite service with explosive results," died long before I mailed the first package, or else I'd have faced bomb scare charges and might have been writing this from prison. Be creative, but be sensible. Think of your aim: to be at the front of someone's mind when they have a job to assign. Could you send a toy that sits on their desk or a calendar they keep handy? There are some great possibilities. Keep moving forward! Sales is the hardest thing to do. You get a burst of energy, make all your calls and then get depressed when people aren't beating down your door. It's natural. Keep up your task of calling, emailing or whatever you do on a regular basis. Do something fun to break the mood, surprise your prospect, and don't take rejection personally. A rejection today could be a job tomorrow and a repeat client further on. Just keep moving forward with the sucky part of the creative business. (al) Tweet © Speider Schneider for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine Post tags:

Creating Graphs With Adobe Illustrator Posted: 29 Sep 2010 08:04 AM PDT Office applications are getting very advanced these days offering all sorts of fancy features for data visualization. Graph generation is a standard feature in desktop applications like Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice.org Calc, but it can also be achieved in non-spreadsheet applications like Adobe Illustrator. If you're unfamiliar with the process of creating graphs in Adobe Illustrator, this article will help in giving you some insight into the work-flow. It might also help you decide whether Illustrator is the right tool for this kind of assignment. [Offtopic: by the way, did you know that we are publishing a Smashing eBook Series? The brand new eBook #3 is Mastering Photoshop For Web Design, written by our Photoshop-expert Thomas Giannattasio.] What Type of Graphs Can You Create in Illustrator? Adobe Illustrator offers 9 graph types to visualize data. You can choose from the following: Column Graph Stacked Column Graph Bar Graph Stacked Bar Graph Line Graph Area Graph Scatter Graph Pie Graph Radar Graph There is also the possibility for making combinations from the existing graph types to achieve greater diversity. The only graph type that can't be combined is the scatter graph. Creating graphs in Illustrator is as simple as selecting the Graph Tool (from the Tools panel), clicking on your Artboard and dragging and thus forming the area size of the graph. It is also possible to type in the width and height of the graph, which is useful if you want to create graphs with specific dimensions. If you decide to type in the dimensions of the graph, you should bear in mind that those dimensions are applied to the whole graph object (including labels, legend and x, y values), not just the graph chart. Once you create this graph size and shape you will see that it's available as a single element (layer) in the Layers panel, usually with the name <Graph>. This might seem confusing at first but you'll get used to it very quickly. The Two Faces of Illustrator Graph Functionality Creating graphs in Adobe Illustrator is generally a straightforward task but once you get into advanced techniques of graph design, functionality can get quite annoying. You'll be surprised to discover that basic tasks like scaling and aligning are not instantly applicable on graphs. Face 1 (Graphs as Objects) The reason for the initial exceptional lack of functionality of the graph objects in Illustrator is that they are quite simply, 'objects'. That is to say, they are special groups of sub-elements that have a limited number of attributes the user can control. Graph objects are less flexible than usual Illustrator layers, layer elements and groups of layer elements. Here are most of the limitations of Adobe Illustrator's graph creation functionality that are instantly noticeable: Transform panel is not available for graph objects. No transform controls are available for selected graph objects, thus no instant scaling or rotation is possible. Graph objects cannot be aligned to other objects nor can other objects be aligned to them. Two or more graph objects cannot be grouped. It's not possible to create a clipping mask from a graph object. A graph object cannot be transformed into a symbol. Maybe it's not really wise to initially dig for limitations, as you may get the impression that you're left with very few things that you can actually do to graphs in Illustrator. Of course, that's the wrong impression. As noted, creating graphs in Adobe Illustrator is generally a straightforward task. But through knowing the limitations of your tool can actually help you plan early and work smarter. Face 2 (working with sub-elements of the Graph Object) Illustrator Graphs have sub-elements. The sub-elements are the brightest aspect of the graph creation process in Adobe Illustrator. They are flexible and you can do all sorts of modifications to them. From repositioning, scaling, mirroring, adjusting opacity and offsetting paths to applying special effects like brush strokes, glowing edges, pixelation etc. Sub-elements are your true friends as long as you don't make further changes in the graph data! The appearance of the following sub-elements can be modified: lines labels data points graph legends graph shadows value axises columns pieces of pie graphs However, if you make a change in the graph data, you instantly loose the control over the sub-elements' appearance and reset it to the bare minimum – fill + stroke. Actually, you reset the appearance of sub-elements with any action that causes the graph object to regenerate. That's why, as even Adobe advises, the sub-elements in graphs should always be styled as the final design process of a graph. What about ungrouping Illustrator graphs? Is it possible? Absolutely. As long as you're aware that ungrouping graphs removes the possibility of further changes in the graph data. Having this firmly in mind, it is only useful to ungroup a graph object once you're sure that you won't have to revisit its "Graph Data", "Graph Type" or "Graph Design" windows. Graph ungrouping means simultaneously an increase AND a decrease in flexibility. Ungrouping the Graph Object means an increase in flexibility because it makes all graph sub-elements behave like usual Illustrator layers, thus unleashing the full power of layer editing in Illustrator. It is at the same time a decrease in flexibility because it's a one-way road. After the ungrouping, the graph object turns into a group of layer elements (as funny as this sounds), and looses its touch with the special graph creation functionalities. So, it's wise to use Adobe Illustrator for designing graphs one step at a time. First prepare graph data, than design the graph. This might seem too obvious, but it's very, very easy to get carried away in the creative process, forgetting about the two faces (before and after ungrouping) of the graph object. I know, as I have made this mistake several times. What if you want to modify several graphs at once? That's a very legitimate question and it deserves a decent answer. You most certainly can select several graph objects at once, and apply various effects and transformations to them. With the help of the Group Selection tool, you can even select sub-elements from different graph objects and style them as you wish. Besides other things, you can also change the Graph Type of multiple graph objects at once. Unfortunately, what you can't do is change graph data on more than one graph object at once. It's impossible and it's a shame. Instead of being able to change the data of 50 various graphs in an instance, you will need to do 50 separate changes (and waste valuable time). How do Graphs Perform in Legacy Illustrator Formats? Every incremental release of Adobe Illustrator offers options for saving working files in legacy formats. This way you can ensure that your designs will work in older versions of Adobe Illustrator. However, even though the possibility is there, the practical value of this Illustrator feature, for graphs, is minimal. A personal example While preparing the final release of "The Graphs2", saving to legacy formats added extra "features" to my designs. For example, while working on a legacy AI file, after editing the graph data on a randomly chosen graph object, the graph object repositioned itself to false coordinates, and made the design appear to be broken. After testing this on other graph objects, I figured that it was a rule and not an exception. I wasn't able to get rid of this "feature" until I decided to minimize the backwards compatibility of my designs and save into Illustrator CS4 format. Adobe does warn about the consequences of saving in legacy formats, but this is certainly a feature for Illustrator Graphs that could be improved. What Could Adobe Improve in its Illustrator Graphs Functionality? It would be really nice not to have to worry about loosing touch with the graph data after graph ungrouping. Why do graph objects have to be limited? In fact, why do graphs need to be generated in the form of objects? Why not serve them in the usual way – as a group of separate layers? Perhaps Adobe should spend more time modularizing the graph creation functionality and serve them throughout the whole Creative Suite. Data visualization is important and shouldn't be treated as a gray zone, as a pending process in the development of the Creative Suite, especially not in the development of Adobe Illustrator. Some 'would be nice to have' stuff for Illustrator graphs In terms of flexibility and accessibility, Adobe Illustrator's graph creation functionalities are not polished at all. The main features are very obvious, but a lot of small pieces are missing for a rock solid graph creation module. Axes: Though it might be illogical for some, why isn't there an option for generating graphs without value axes? Hiding them manually takes additional time and it's specially annoying if you need to use the "Show All" option for hidden layers, while trying to exclude the value axes from reappearing. An extra option that will allow hiding and showing of value axes is needed in the "Graph Type" window. Shadows: Why would you implement a shadow sub-element for graph objects if you don't provide proper options to control its appearance? And, who needs rough shadows these days when ray-tracing has spoiled us like children? We need realistic shadows for graph objects in Illustrator. We need to be able to control the light angle, the dens and the opacity of the shadow, the level of softness. We need all things that you normally get when applying a "Drop Shadow" layer style on a Photoshop layer. While saying this, there are manual ways of getting smooth graph shadows, like applying "Drop Shadow" effect on sub-elements or applying "Feather" effect on the default graph shadow sub-element. Inter-object styling: What's the point of providing styling options for graph sub-elements, when there's no freedom in choosing when to apply them. The appearance reset for graph sub-elements has to go away! Data has to be separated from presentation. We need to be able to make unlimited changes to graph data regardless of the appearance of the graph object or its sub-elements. We need to be able to change things whenever we feel like we want to, not necessarily last. Summary of Illustrator Graph Features Here is a summary of the most important features of graphs in Adobe Illustrator. Graphs are special groups of sub-elements and have a limited number of attributes you can control. You can create 9 main types of graphs in Adobe Illustrator. You can import graph data from external files. You can copy and paste data from spreadsheet applications into graphs in Illustrator. You need to paste the data into Object → Graph → Data window for this to work. If you ungroup a graph you cannot make changes to its data. You can apply all sorts of effects to the sub-elements of a graph and not so much to the graph object itself. Graphs and symbols do not get along quite well. A graph object cannot be converted into a symbol. However, there is an option for importing symbols into graph designs. It is possible to create graphs with custom designs (by including images and symbols), but we won't explore this in detail in this feature. Maybe you can write a great article on this topic? You can copy and paste charts from Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice.org Calc into Illustrator. Illustrator offers excellent support for exporting graphs in SVG file format. Graph data remains editable in Illustrator, for SVG files created with Illustrator. If you require advanced graph creation features, make friends with spreadsheet applications in famous Office suites. Save some time along the way! Here are a few quick tips (shortcuts) that might come in handy for beginners or may act as a reminder for advanced Illustrator users. These are all obvious things that will help you from wandering aimlessly around Illustrator menus and the workspace. Instead of going to Object → Graphs → Data…, anytime you need to access the data of a specific graph, select the graph object and double click the Column Graph Tool icon from the Tools panel. Or, you can achieve the same by selecting the graph object, choosing "J" from the keyboard and then pressing the "Enter" key. Right click a graph and you will find another quick way to access specific options for graph objects, including: Type… Data… Design… Column… Marker… Instead of selecting graph sub-elements within isolation mode, use the Group Selection Tool to select them without isolating your view in the workspace. Click and drag a graph while holding the "Alt" key on the keyboard, to quickly duplicate it. Delete graph objects with "Backspace" or "Delete" from the keyboard. If you want to create Line graphs with curved lines apply "Round Corners…" effects (Effect → Illustrator Effects – Stylize → Round Corners…) to line sub-elements. If you want to create a Pie Graph with empty space in between pieces, apply an "Offset Path…" effect (Effect → Illustrator Effects – Path → Offset Path…) to the graph object, and a miracle happens! If you want to create a 3D graph, apply an "Extrude & Bevel…" effect (Effect → Illustrator Effects – 3D → Extrude & Bevel…) to the graph object. If you don't want to transform the whole graph object, apply "Extrude & Bevel…" effects to specific sub-elements you want visualized in 3D. If you want to use "Offset Path…" effect together with "Extrude & Bevel…" on a single graph object or a single sub-element, make sure you place the offset effect below the Extrude & Bevel in the Appearance panel and you'll be fine. Otherwise you'll get the offset plane extruded also. Don't forget to use the "Drop Shadow…" effect (Effect → Illustrator Effects – Stylize → Drop Shadow…) as a replacement to the poor shadow feature that's served by default for some graph objects. Draw your conclusion I used Adobe Illustrator to create "The Graps2" and I can say it was an interesting experience. It wasn't as delightful as I would have liked it to be but it sure was challenging. After reading the above article you may feel discouraged in using Illustrator for graph design. What I would certainly recommend is at least trying Illustrator for creating graphs. It's the only way of getting in touch with the work-flow and making a personal judgment of whether Adobe Illustrator is mature enough for your graph creation needs. At the end of the day, keep in mind that with Adobe Illustrator you're creating vector art. Vector art can be re-sized infinitely, without any consequences in terms of graphics quality, thus can be fitted in almost any type of medium.