Open Standards in Digital Design

by Andre Engelbrecht

design gimp open photoshop psd standards xcf

Though I consider myself a mediocre designer, I have long held the opinion that, good design is not limited by the tools the individual uses, but by the mind of the individual using the tools. What this means is that, using certain “industry standard” tools, does not necessarily make you a better designer.

For this reason I have long been in strong opposition of certain “industry standard” design tools, like for example Photoshop. Don't get me wrong, I think the guys at Adobe have done a phenomenal job and created one of the best tools for digital design. But I do have an issue with the fact that, in order to work within the industry, one is obliged to work with Photoshop, and if you don't, then in most cases you can forget about landing the contract or job.

Since I only work on Linux, I use a lot of Open Source tools, like The Gimp. I find that I can do whatever I want to do in the Gimp, and even though Gimp does not have all the features Photoshop has, I have not found myself missing anything. In fact, I feel that my design only improved, when I eventually moved away from Photoshop, and started using Gimp. I believe this is because I had to think much more creatively on how to use the tools that are available to me.

One can say that my big problem with “industry standard” is that it should be an “open standard”. For example, if a collaborating company wants to use Photoshop to design the website we are working on, then I have no problem with it, but it would be nice if I was able to Open the PSD, in the applications that I prefer using, like Gimp. Similarly, since we are collaborating on the project, I may make a change to the design, and save it back to PSD for them.

Currently this kind of collaboration is not easy. Gimp, for example, can open PSD files, but if the original PSD contained any layer effects, then Gimp cannot translate those accurately. I typically have to ask anyone sending me a PSD, to please flatten any layer that was manipulated with the “Layer Effects” feature in Photoshop.

There is another issue with closed “industry standards”. This lies in the fact that wide adoption of a closed standard might completely blind people to more robust, faster and more secure standards. Now I'm not saying this is the case with PSD, but it is something we should keep in mind.

This is why I believe that we start to promote Open Standards in the Digital Design world.

What is an Open Standard?

In my opinion, the most important consideration of a standard, is that it should be accessible to anyone, anywhere, no matter the tools they use.

There are already two very popular Open Standards out there, HTML (the language for the web) and ODF (Open Document Format). Designers can use any tool that they enjoy using to create web pages, because HTML is open. Written documents can be create by Open Office and, more recently, newer versions of Microsoft Office.

An open standard is also a standard which favours Royalty Free licensing models. Meaning, I should not have to pay any royalties or fees, if I want to save a file in an Open Format.

PSD as an Open Format

So this begs the question, where will we start with an open format? Some may argue that we should start something new. Others are in favour of using already existing Open Formats, such as XCF (Gimp uses this). I however, feel that we should use PSD and, somehow, convince/persuade Adobe to make PSD an open format.

My reasoning for choosing PSD is simply because Adobe have had many years of experience in dealing with digital design, the general features one may want from a digital design document, and which methods to use in order to save the data.

The obvious disadvantage for Adobe would however be that people may use different software, but I think that the big advantage is one that is beneficial to everyone, and is more sustainable in the long run.

If Adobe is not willing to make PSD an open format, then we should look for credible organisations to create an open format, and make sure that we support developers of tools that embrace these open formats.

I sincerely hope that we can break through this barrier of isolation in the near future, as I believe that Open Formats and Standards will benefit all of humanity, not just those that developed the first “industry standard”.

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