Written by Alan Musselman
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Where do you work and what keeps you busy?
Sometimes I wonder where I don’t work. A lot of my professional life revolves around teaching these days. In the fall and winter I teach day courses at The School of Communications, Media and Design at Centennial College . I teach digital imaging, web design and photojournalism at this campus.
Usually a couple times a week I also teach night courses at Humber College specifically in the areas of web design.
I am a contributing partner for Community MX (www.communitymx.com). You’ll usually find at least one article a month from me at CMX, usually focused on Fireworks.
This October, I’ll also be presenting at MAX in Los Angeles. I look forward to seeing big crowds in the Fireworks Sessions! 
What type of project are we showcasing today where Adobe Fireworks was used in the process?
I’d have to say my Fireworks books and video training. I have two Fireworks books published by Adobe Press: Adobe Fireworks CS4 How-To’s and the Adobe Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book. A lot of work involved in pulling those together, let me tell you, but I’m quite pleased with the end result.
Also, I just completed a new Lynda.com training title called Rapid Prototyping with Fireworks CS4. It’s now live and you can check out it and my other titles at http://www.lynda.com/home/ViewCourses.aspx?lpk1=188
Are there features in Adobe Fireworks that saved you time and money?
Yes – a very long list of them, too. From a workflow perspective, Pages, Smart Guides, Tooltips and PDF Export. From a creative perspective, the vector tools are great – they are just so easy to use. I really like the Attach Text in Path feature, too. I use this all the time when mocking up web page layouts. And masking – I can’t say enough about how easy it is to apply masking techniques in Fireworks. Masking opens up so many creative options.
What current web related technologies are most favored when designing and developing for the web?
Fireworks. I know I sound like a broken record (or scratched CD), but honestly, if I am doing any screen-based work for myself, teaching or clients, Fireworks is at the forefront of what I use to get the job done.
Do you remember your “Aha” moment you had experienced when first opening up Adobe Fireworks?
Well that’d be going waaaaay back to Fireworks V1.2, which is what, 10 years ago? It was when I learned how powerful vector objects (I was a strictly a Photoshop guy prior to discovering Fireworks) could be when creating designs.
Are you involved with any communities on the web?
Yes I am! Twitter (JimBabbage), Flickr, LinkedIn, The Community MX forums and you’ll also find me wandering around the Adobe Fireworks user forum
Do you have a place on the web you call home? Where can we find you?
Hmm that is a tough one as I tend to plant myself in a few locations. Lol. My main base of operations is my company web site, http://www.newmediaservices.ca, but I’m pretty visible on the Adobe and CMX Fireworks forums too.
