Creative Graphics Solutions
Education

Ferris State University saves timeand reduces costs by creatinggraphics projects in-house“CorelDRAW is great in terms of cost andeverything it comes bundled with.”
Craig E. Westman, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Enrollment Services,
Director of Admissions and Records

SCHOOL

Ferris State University
Center for Student Services
Suite 201P
1201 S. State St.
Big Rapids, MI 49307
www.ferris.edu

CHALLENGE

To save time and money bycreating appealing graphics forcampus-wide projects

SOLUTION

CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite

BENEFITS

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite offers
large cost savings, exceptional easeof use and professional-quality
results.

The StoryFerris State University (FSU) is in its second century as
a top technical and professional university. Foundedin 1884, it now offers more than 150 educational
programs—including doctorates, master’s, bachelor’s
and associate degrees—to more than 11,000 students
on and off campus.
FSU is located in the recreation country of Big Rapids,Michigan, offering courses through the colleges ofArts and Sciences, Business, Education and HumanServices, Technology and others. The largest employer
in Mecosta County, the university has 510 faculty
members and 1,295 staff members. In addition,approximately 3,200 students are employed on
campus during the academic year.
The Center for Student Services at FSU offers a rangeof programs and resources that promote the academic,community and recreational aspects of its students. It
produces a variety of educational material that’s
distributed campus-wide, including course catalogs,
class schedule books, recruitment posters, campus
maps, directional signs and calendars. Used by students,
faculty, visitors and administration, these pieces rely on
high-quality, accurate graphics to display important
information. To save time and reduce the costs ofoutsourcing these projects, the Center creates andprints them in-house using CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite.

The Challenge

Craig E. Westman, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Enrollment
Services and Director of Admissions and Records at
FSU, works at the Center for Student Services andhas been using CorelDRAW for more than 10 years.
Initially, he was looking for ways to save and makemoney on the creation of class schedule books. He
needed the covers to be more visually appealing inorder to attract potential advertisers. After testingother products, such as Adobe® Photoshop® andAdobe® Illustrator®, Dr. Westman determined that
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite was easier to use andoffered more creative flexibility. “Unlike Illustrator,CorelDRAW is very intuitive,” says Dr. Westman.
“It’s the easiest to learn and has the most features.”
Dr. Westman needed a software application thatenabled users to get up to speed quickly and produced
professional-quality results—all while realizing
significant cost savings. Easy training on CorelDRAW
Graphics Suite allowed him to enroll three staff
members in his design projects, making use of FSU’s
resources to output more jobs faster, and at a much
lower cost.
In addition, the software had to provide output options
that allowed the Center to send projects to service
bureaus or print them on site. “CorelDRAW has
excellent export capabilities,” says Dr. Westman. The
ability to export to virtually all industry-standard
formats, including PDF, TIFF, AutoCAD®, GIF, PNG andJPEG, lets his team create, update, print and distributepublications efficiently and cost-effectively.

they produce. With Interactive Fill tools, for example,
they can add realistic surfaces and drop shadows to abuilding, such as a library. The Interactive Transparency
tool creates the effect of being able to see inside
the library.
New support for Symbols is instrumental in adding
visual effects, such as trees, while keeping file sizes
down. Users can quickly add presets or modify themfor a more customized look. In Corel PHOTO-PAINT, Dr.
Westman takes advantage of cropping and masking
tools to manipulate photos and combine bitmap images.
“Corel keeps adding to the ability to edit bitmaps ineach version. There always seems to be a solution forwhat I need to do, and it keeps improving!”

The Benefits

Dr. Westman realized the largest cost savings when
he started using CorelDRAW Graphics Suite straight
through from the initial creative concept to the final
printed piece. He estimates the cost of a 3D map at$30,000 when it’s produced by a private design agency.
His cost: only $4,000, including production time andprinting charges. For the roughly 570 posters he prints
each year, he estimates $170,000 in savings. Accordingto Dr. Westman, the average price at a service bureau
is $300 per poster, while his cost is only $2.78.
“CorelDRAW is great in terms of cost and everything it
comes bundled with,” says Dr, Westman.

Sample of a campus map designed with CorelDRAW“Corel’s always beenahead of the curve.
Computers are finallycatching up to what
CorelDRAW ® allows
you to do withgraphics.”

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite offers exceptional easeof use and tight integration between applications,
speeding the entire design process and allowing moreroom for creativity. The Center for Student Services at
FSU has produced 160 different types of print jobsover the past couple of years, and the ability to bringthese projects in-house has paid large dividends.
“CorelDRAW Graphics Suite saves me and the people I
work with at least four to five hours a day, because of
its flexibility and the ability to reuse the same filemultiple ways,” says Dr. Westman. For Ferris State
University, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is the only toolfor creating visually impressive and informative designs.

The Solution“Corel was very helpful in terms of walking me throughthe installation or other issues when I first started
using CorelDRAW,” remarks Dr. Westman. Today, heuses CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, which includes
CorelDRAW for illustration and page layout, CorelPHOTO-PAINT® for bitmap editing and Corel R.A.V.E.™
for vector animation. By using one comprehensivegraphics package, he’s able to access all the tools heneeds in one place and work within his budget. Easyto-use customization features help each user set up a
personalized workspace, which enhances the team’s
overall productivity.
One of the features Dr. Westman appreciates most is
the ability to create multiple layers with the Object
Manager in CorelDRAW. This allows the Center toreuse content for multiple pieces, which ultimately
results in more cost savings. CorelDRAW also offers
unique interactive tools that make it easy to experiment
while creating dynamic effects. These are especially
useful when Dr. Westman and his staff members aredesigning campus maps, the most complex documentswww.corel.com

Contact Information:
Craig E. Westman, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Enrollment Services,
Director of Admissions and Records
Ferris State University
Center for Student Services, Suite 201P
1201 S. State St.
Big Rapids, MI 49307
Tel.: 1-231-591-2797
Fax: 1-231-591-3944

Corel Corporation
1600 Carling Ave.
Ottawa, ONCanada K1Z 8R7
Tel.: 1-613-728-8200
Fax: 1-613-728-9790© 2003 Corel Corporation. All rights reserved.

Printed in Canada 04/03 JB#2749-86