This book is made for students who would like to learn the basics of the three primary Adobe design applications. The way the book does this is by introducing and explaining the applications in a logical way that builds upon what is previously learned. These applications present a bewildering array of buttons and gadgets that are overwhelming to the new user. This book makes sense of it all, not showing how everything works, but instead giving a foundation and a path to learn about all those bewildering buttons and gadgets. The steps in this book look a bit like tutorials. Like with tutorials, you should work in the applications as you follow along with the reading, even when not specifically instructed to do so. Unlike tutorials, the steps in this book present the information in a way that is geared to having you actually learn the material, not just a list of steps to get something that looks decent.