Adobe Illustrator CS Idea Kit is a small book with 18 bite-sized projects designed to feed your imagination and get you quickly up-to-speed with Illustrator. It isn’t a definitive reference, but its restrained size and direct delivery style make it easier to digest than many larger publications. Which also means the ideas can be put into use more quickly. First time authors Jerome Holder & Barbara Mulligan have many years of commercial art experience under their collective belts and have done a good job of distilling that knowledge. The result is a readable guide to some real-world applications of an industry standard tool.

At least some knowledge of graphic arts and computer applications is assumed, but the book will likely appeal most to beginning users of Illustrator. Even so, intermediate level users will probably find some good tips as well. With a program as deep as Illustrator, it seems there are always creativity or productivity enhancing techniques you haven’t discovered yet. For someone such as myself, who occasionally ventures into Illustrator but is long-time user of another drawing program, I found it helpful for learning more of the vocabulary, interface conventions, and production methods unique to this program. And since Illustrator is the predominant vector art tool in the design world, it pays to at least be familiar with it.

As the title suggests, the projects are geared toward Illustrator CS, often using templates from the new CS collection, but most instructions apply to versions 9 or 10 also. Each is presented as a set of stand-alone step-by-step instructions. You can flip through until you spot a one that grabs your interest and dive in anywhere. The average project is 4 to 5 steps, covered in 2 or 3 pages. The instructions are all well organized and include a summary of any templates and libraries you will be using. I would like to have also seen a list of tools to be used, and maybe even a quick bulleted preview of the steps, but the instructions are easy to follow even so. Each project also includes one or more variations of the specific technique presented plus a more generalized “Design Tip” to further extend the theme. I found this to be a good way of moving your thinking beyond wrote imitation of the lesson into a broader understanding of the application.

While there are several pages of basics, such as templates, libraries, drawing tools, palettes, and object selection, most examples feature the more complex features of Illustrator. Interesting project titles include: Create Marbled Backgrounds, Maximize a Two-color Design, Design with Symbols, Texturize Anything, Manipulate Colors with Meshes, and Quickly Design a Web Page Template. Overall, this is an excellent short-project oriented learning tool, attractively printed in full color throughout, and I wouldn’t hesitate recommending it to anyone wanting to upgrade their Illustrator skills.