SmartDraw For Dummies E-Book

Daniel G. Hoffmann

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 339

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

Diagrams, organizational charts, flowcharts, even floor plans — they’re all types of business graphics. Only one tool does ’em all: SmartDraw. SmartDraw For Dummies shows you how this business graphics software helps you make boring presentations exciting and how to create graphics that can help you sell, manage, inform, motivate, and more.

You’ll learn how to set up the program, navigate its somewhat unique interface, and work with SmartDraw’s thousands of templates. You don’t need artistic talent, just this handy guide and the extended, fully functional trial version of SmartDraw that’s on the bonus CD!

• Use SmartDraw templates to create org charts, flowcharts, express charts, mind maps, Live Maps, and more
• Dress up your graphics with color, effects, and design themes
• Learn to integrate your graphics into Microsoft Office applications and animate graphics for cool PowerPoint presentations
• Explore SmartDraw diagrams for Web pages and e-mail newsletters
• Import SmartDraw graphics into Word and Excel documents
• Take advantage of extra software and additional templates, sample drawings and flowcharts, image editing tools, maps, and flyers on the CD

You’ll also find graphics guidelines to help you create more effective charts and presentations, plus tips on using color and images to your advantage. Written by a Microsoft PowerPoint MVP and a SmartDraw vice president, SmartDraw For Dummies helps you banish boring charts forever!

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Leseprobe

SmartDraw® For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

How to Use This Book

What You Don’t Need to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Getting Started with SmartDraw

Part II: Embellishing Your Graphics

Part III: Creating Business Graphics

Part IV: Using SmartDraw with Microsoft Office and the Web

Part V: The Part of Tens

About the CD

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting Started with SmartDraw

Chapter 1: Welcome to SmartDraw

You, Too, Can Create Business Graphics

Comparing SmartDraw to Other Drawing Programs

Knowing What You Can Do with SmartDraw

Flowcharts

Organization charts

Project (Gantt) charts

Mind maps

Bar charts and graphs

Floor plans

Chapter 2: Creating a Business Graphic with SmartDraw

Starting SmartDraw

Welcome to the Document Browser

Creating a Simple Drawing from Start to Finish

Looking at the SmartDraw User Interface

Unraveling the Main Toolbar

Editing Your Drawing

Editing shapes

Editing text

Adding shapes

Applying a theme

Zooming in

Saving Your Work

Opening an Existing Drawing

Closing a Drawing

Exiting SmartDraw

Getting Help

Chapter 3: Drawing Shapes and Lines

Adding Shapes from the SmartPanel

Drawing Basic Shapes

Drawing Lines

Drawing straight lines

Drawing curved lines

Drawing freehand lines

Drawing connectors

Drawing Polygons

Adding Arrowheads

Selecting Shapes

Duplicating Shapes

Rotating Shapes

Flipping Shapes

Overlapping Shapes

Grouping Shapes

Precisely Setting a Shape’s Position and Size

Line ’em Up

Space ’em Out

Using the Ruler and the Grid

Using the rulers and guides

Showing the grid

Snapping to the grid

Changing grid and ruler settings

Chapter 4: Working with Text

Adding Text to a Drawing

Adding text to a shape or symbol

Adding text to a line

Creating a text object

Editing Text

Setting Text Fonts

Inserting a Special Symbol

Biting the Bullet List

Aligning Text

Spacing Your Lines

Checking Your Spelling

Chapter 5: Printing Your Drawings

Printing a Drawing

Changing Printers

Printing Part of a Drawing

Printing More than One Copy

Using the Print Preview Command

Setting Print Options

Setting the Page Layout

Setting the orientation

Setting margins

Printing multi-page drawings

Using a Printing Partner

Part II: Embellishing Your Graphics

Chapter 6: Using Themes, Styles, and Effects

Formatting the Easy Way with Design Themes

Applying a theme

Belay that theme setting!

Filling Your Shapes

Pouring color into a shape

Being transparent

Applying a gradient

Using textures

Batten down the hatches!

Formatting Lines

Setting the line thickness

Creating dashed or doubled lines

Using Shape Effects

Applying a shadow

Creating reflections

Making shapes glow

Cutting a bevel

Glossing up your shapes

Chapter 7: Working with Tables

Understanding Tables

Creating a Table

Adding Text to a Table

Adding Rows and Columns

Deleting Rows and Columns

Adjusting Cell Size

Joining and Splitting Cells

Formatting a Table

Using the AutoFill Feature

Locking Table Cells to Create Forms

Chapter 8: Inserting Images in Your Drawings

Exploring the Many Types of Pictures

Bitmap pictures

Vector formats

Using the Picture Tab with Bitmap Images

Getting Pictures into a Symbol Library

Getting images from a camera

Creating a symbol library from a folder of pictures

Getting Pictures into Your Drawings

Inserting a picture from a library

Inserting a single image

Inserting an image into a shape

Using a picture from a Web site

Panning, Zooming, and Cropping Your Pictures

Trimming a Picture

Changing the Exposure

Part III: Creating Business Graphics

Chapter 9: Working with Layers

Understanding Layers

Creating a New Layer

Changing the Active Layer

Managing Layers

Moving an Object to a Different Layer

Changing Order within a Layer

Chapter 10: Creating Charts

Choosing a Chart Type

Bar

Stacked bar

Line

Area

Layered area

Pie

Relative value

3D

Creating a New Chart

Using a chart template

Inserting a chart into an existing drawing

Pasting data from the clipboard

Importing data from Excel

Using the Chart Tab

Editing Your Chart

Changing the chart type

Rotating your chart

Switching series and categories

Adding and removing series and categories

Editing chart values

Formatting Your Chart

Creating Image Charts

Chapter 11: Fashioning Flowcharts

Getting to Know Flowcharts

Using additional flowcharting shapes

Cross-functional flowcharts

Creating a Flowchart

Adding Shapes

Using the flowcharting SmartPanel

Using keyboard shortcuts

Using Decision Symbols and Connecting Lines

Splitting a Path

Deleting a Shape

Creating Swim Lanes

Chapter 12: Crafting Organization Charts

Creating a Basic Organization Chart

Creating an Organization Chart

Adding Boxes to a Chart

Deleting Chart Boxes

Changing the Chart Direction

Changing the Branch Style

Changing the Box Format and Including Pictures

Other Types of Organization Charts

Creating project team charts

Creating family trees

Chapter 13: Building Floor Plans

Fabulous Features for Floor Plans

Creating a Floor Plan

Showing Dimensions

Adding a Wall

Adding Doors and Windows

Adding Corners

Busting Open a Wall

Chapter 14: Making Mind Maps

Understanding Mind Maps

Types of boxes in a mind map

Mind maps versus outlines and organization charts

Mind maps and the sides of your brain

Creating a Mind Map

Exporting an Outline

Converting a Mind Map to a Gantt Chart

Chapter 15: Working with Live Maps

Working with Map Templates

Introducing Live Maps

Adding Data Points to a Live Map

Part IV: Using SmartDraw with Microsoft Office and the Web

Chapter 16: Exporting SmartDraw Graphics

Transferring a SmartDraw Drawing to Microsoft Office

Copying and pasting

Dragging and dropping

Using the Insert menu

Exporting to Office

Fixing Up Your SmartDraw Drawings in Word

Wrapping text around your drawing

Sizing and stretching a drawing

Cropping a drawing

Applying a drawing border

Adding a caption

Exporting to a PDF

Saving a Drawing in Other Formats

Saving for the Mac

Chapter 17: Animating Business Graphics in PowerPoint 2007

Introducing Animated SmartDraw Graphics

Animating a Drawing and Exporting It to PowerPoint

Playing with Animated Drawings in PowerPoint

Creating an Entire Presentation in SmartDraw

Chapter 18: Taking Your Graphics to the Web

Exporting to HTML

Inserting Hyperlinks

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 19: Ten SmartDraw Commandments

I. Thou Shalt Frequently Saveth Thy Work

II. Thou Shalt Storeth Each Drawing in Its Proper Folder

III. Thou Shalt Not Abuseth Thy Program’s Formatting Features

IV. Thou Shalt Not Stealeth Copyrighted Materials

V. Thou Shalt Abideth by Thy Scheme

VI. Thou Shalt Choose Thy Templates Wisely

VII. Keep Thy Computer Gurus Happy

VIII. Thou Shalt Backeth Up Thy Files Day by Day

IX. Thou Shalt Fear No Evil, for Ctrl+Z Is Always with Thee

X. Thou Shalt Not Become Obsessed

Chapter 20: Ten Odd and Unusual SmartDraw Templates

Nominating a Supreme Court Justice!

The British Royal Family!

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy!

Family Holiday Newsletters!

Coloring a Turtle!

Designing a Power Plant

Washing Your Hands

Comparing Video Games

Comparing Coffee Shops

Staying after School

Chapter 21: Ten Tips for Creating Great Graphics

Keep the Design Simple

Eliminate Extraneous Details

Look for Compelling Alternatives to Basic Shapes

Be Consistent

Focus on the Title

Choose the Right Type of Graphic for Your Purpose

Consider the Audience

Give It the Hold-Your-Breath Test

Give It the Squint Test

Show It to Someone Else

Chapter 22: Ten Things You Didn’t Think to Use SmartDraw For

Organizing Your Closet

Diagramming a Crime Scene

Planning a Wedding

Remodeling Your Kitchen or Bathroom

Planting a Garden

Planning Your School’s Science Fair

Creating a Menu

Coaching Your Kid’s Team

Creating a Personalized Calendar

Scaring Your Neighbors on Halloween

Appendix: About the CD

System Requirements

Using the CD

What You'll Find on the CD

Author-created material

Reference materials

SmartDraw 2009

Adobe Reader

PowerPoint Viewer

Troubleshooting

Customer Care

SmartDraw® For Dummies®

by Daniel Hoffmann and Doug Lowe

SmartDraw® For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2009926384

ISBN: 978-0-470-39671-1

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

Daniel Hoffmann is a software industry veteran and entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in the design, development, and marketing of innovative and industry leading products. He currently serves as the Vice President of Marketing at SmartDraw.com. Prior to SmartDraw, Dan held various positions at Microsoft (including original member of the PowerPoint for Windows and Word for Windows 95 teams), HP, and was CEO of Namezero.com. He is also the holder of several patents in software and Internet technology.

Doug Lowe has been writing computer books since 1981, including nearly 40 For Dummies books, among them PowerPoint 2007 For Dummies and Word 2007 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies. He lives in sunny Fresno, California, where the motto is “Fres-YES!,” (unfortunately, that’s true) with his wife, the youngest of his three daughters, and a couple of dogs (a goofy-looking six-month-old Shar-Pei/Black Lab mix named Lucy and a yellow lab named Odie). He’s one of those obsessive-compulsive decorating nuts who creates computer-controlled Halloween decorations that rival Disney’s Haunted Mansion.

Dedication

Daniel Hoffmann: This book is dedicated to my three true loves, Susanne, Ashley, and Roxy, and to my family and friends who have always been there for me and given me more support than I could ever imagine.

Doug Lowe: To Debbie.

Authors' Acknowledgments

Daniel Hoffman: I would like to thank everyone at SmartDraw who works hard every day to make such a great and easy-to-use program. SmartDraw is changing the way people think about communicating visually, one copy at a time. This book would not be possible without the support of Paul Stannard, the founder and CEO of SmartDraw.com, who has created the vision for a world where businesspeople communicate more effectively, and are much more productive through the common use of visuals. Lastly, thanks to Doug Lowe, Jon Cecilio, and Phil Steele for their contributions to this book. Without them, there is no chance it could have been done so well.

Doug Lowe: I’d like to thank everyone who was involved with this book, especially project editor Rebecca Senninger, who put up with late submissions and who did a great job overseeing all the little editorial details required to turn a pile of raw Word documents into an actual book, and to coauthor Dan Hoffmann and all the other great people at SmartDraw. Thanks also to Phil Steele, who gave the manuscript a thorough review and offered many excellent suggestions for improvements, and to copy editor Heidi Unger, who whipped my prose into shape, crossing all the i’s and dotting all the t’s, or something like that. And, as always, thanks to all the behind-the-scenes people who chipped in with help I’m not even aware of.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Rebecca Senninger

Acquisitions Editor: Katie Mohr

Copy Editor: Heidi Unger

Technical Editor: Philip Steele

Editorial Manager: Leah Cameron

Media Development Project Manager: Laura Moss-Hollister

Media Development Assistant Project Manager: Jenny Swisher

Media Development Associate Producer: Josh Frank

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Lynsey Stanford

Layout and Graphics: Samantha W. Allen, Reuben W. Davis, Jennifer Henry, Melissa K. Jester

Proofreader: Laura L. Bowman

Indexer: Slivoskey Indexing Services

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Introduction

Welcome to SmartDraw For Dummies, the book written especially for those who are lucky enough to have discovered the best business graphics program on the market and want to find out how to use it in time to finish that report, sales presentation, or product brochure that was due yesterday.

Have you ever needed to create a graph of recent sales trends, but you didn’t want to create another cheesy, boring Excel graph that looks just like every other graph you’ve seen at every other sales meeting you’ve ever been to?

You need SmartDraw!

Have you ever been put in charge of a project and didn’t want to invest hundreds of dollars in sophisticated project management software, such as Microsoft Project, just to create a simple project schedule?

You really need SmartDraw!

Have you ever wanted to rearrange the furniture and equipment in your office and didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars on AutoCAD just to draw a simple floor plan?

You desperately need SmartDraw!

Whichever your business graphics needs, you’ve found the perfect book, and you’re holding it right now in your formerly magic-marker-stained hands. Help is here, within these humble pages.

This book talks about SmartDraw in everyday — and often irreverent — terms. You’ll find no lofty prose within these pages; the whole thing checks in at about the fifth-grade reading level. We have no Pulitzer expectations for this book; we leave that ambition for the Woodwards and Steinbecks among us.

Our goal here is to simply get you going as quickly as we can with the most powerful and easy to use business graphics software ever created. And hopefully, this journey of learning won’t be a tedious or miserable experience — in fact, maybe it will even be kind of fun.

About This Book

This isn’t the kind of book that you pick up and read from start to finish as though it were a cheap novel. If we ever catch you reading it at the beach, we’ll kick sand in your face. Or better yet, we’ll get Clint Eastwood and have him kick sand in your face. You’ll listen to him.

This book is more like a reference book than a novel. It’s the kind of book you can pick up, turn to just about any page, read for a page or two, and learn something useful. It has 22 chapters, each one covering a specific aspect of using SmartDraw, like printing, creating flowcharts, or transforming a SmartDraw graphic into a PowerPoint animation.

Each chapter is divided into self-contained chunks, all related to the major theme of the chapter.

For example, the flowchart chapter contains nuggets like these:

Looking at flowcharts

Understanding all the shapes used in flowcharts

Creating a basic flowchart

Splitting paths

Creating cross-functional flowcharts with swim lanes

You don’t have to memorize anything in this book. It’s a need-to-know book: You pick it up when you need to know something. Need to know how to create an organization chart? Pick up the book. Need to know how to create a table? Pick up the book. After you find what you’re looking for, put it down and get on with your life.

How to Use This Book

This book works like a reference. Start with the topic that you want to find out about: To get going, look for it in the table of contents or in the index. The table of contents is detailed enough that you should be able to find most of the topics that you look for. If not, turn to the index, where you find even more detail.

When you find your topic in the table of contents or the index, turn to the area of interest and read as much or as little as you need or want. Then close the book and get on with it.

This book is loaded with information, of course, so if you want to take a brief excursion into your topic, you’re more than welcome. If you want to know all about the techniques for creating floor plans, read the chapter on floor plans. If you want to know all about applying color to a shape, read the chapter on color and design themes. Read whatever you want. You paid good money for this book, so read every word if you want. (Just not at the beach.)

On occasion, this book directs you to use specific keyboard shortcuts to get things done. When you see something like “Press Ctrl+Z,” this instruction means to hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the Z key. (Don’t type the plus sign.) Then release both together.

Sometimes we tell you to use a command that resides on one of the main toolbar’s tabs. (SmartDraw uses a ribbon interface similar to those in Microsoft Office applications.) We tell you exactly how to find the command. For example, we might tell you something like this: On the main toolbar, click the Chart tab, find the Insert Chart group, and click the New Chart button.

Another nice feature of this book is that whenever we discuss a certain button that you need to click in order to accomplish the task at hand, a picture of the button appears in the margin. This way, you can easily locate it on your screen.

What You Don’t Need to Read

Some parts of this book are skippable. We carefully place extra-technical information in self-contained sidebars and clearly mark them so that you can give them a wide berth. Don’t read this stuff unless you just gots to know. Don’t worry; we won’t be offended if you don’t read every word.

Foolish Assumptions

We make only three assumptions about you:

You use a computer.

It’s a Windows computer — not a Mac.

You use or are thinking about using SmartDraw.

Nothing else. We don’t assume that you’re a computer guru who knows how to change a controller card or configure memory for optimal use. These types of computer chores are best handled by people who like computers. Hopefully, you’re on speaking terms with such a person. Do your best to stay there for those times when you’re working with computer stuff that’s more difficult than SmartDraw.

How This Book Is Organized

Inside this book are chapters arranged in five parts. Each chapter is divided into sections that cover various aspects of the chapter’s main subject. The chapters have a logical sequence, so it makes sense to read them in order, if you want. But you don’t have to read the book that way; you can flip it open to any page and start reading.

The following sections give you the lowdown on what’s in each of the five parts:

Part I: Getting Started with SmartDraw

In this part, you review the basics of using SmartDraw. This is a good place to start if you’ve never used SmartDraw, or if you’ve used it a few times but feel lost every time. Its five chapters take you on a tour of the SmartDraw windows and controls, walk you through creating a simple drawing from start to finish, tell you how to create simple shapes and lines and add text to them, and tell you what you need to know about printing your drawing.

Part II: Embellishing Your Graphics

The chapters in this part show you how to make business graphics that look good. SmartDraw is actually pretty good at that, but it helps to know about its powerful features for applying color, fancy effects, and design themes, as well as how to add interesting things such as tables and images to your drawings. You also find out how to work with layers, one of SmartDraw’s most powerful features for more complicated drawings.

Part III: Creating Business Graphics

The chapters in this part focus on the most common types of graphics you can create with SmartDraw. We tell you how to work with charts, including bar charts, line charts, pie charts, flowcharts, organization charts, and project charts. We also give you instructions for creating floor plans, mind maps, and Live Maps.

Part IV: Using SmartDraw with Microsoft Office and the Web

One of the best features of SmartDraw is the way it integrates with Microsoft Office and the Internet. The first two chapters in this part show you how to use SmartDraw’s Office integration features, which let you easily transfer drawings from SmartDraw into Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. You also find out how to take your SmartDraw creations to the Web.

Part V: The Part of Tens

This wouldn’t be a For Dummies book without lists of interesting snippets. Thus, you find chapters with titles such as Ten SmartDraw Commandments, Ten Odd and Unusual SmartDraw Templates, Ten Tips for Creating Great Business Graphics, and Ten Things You Didn’t Think to Use SmartDraw For.

About the CD

The CD that comes with this book contains lots of stuff to help you be productive with SmartDraw. It includes a 30-day, fully functional trial version of SmartDraw 2009. There are also many example files that you can use as you go through the book. There are also some reference materials, including the Encyclopedia of Business Graphics poster in PDF format and a number of SmartDraw best practice PowerPoint presentations.

Icons Used in This Book

As you’re reading all this wonderful prose, you occasionally see the following icons. They appear in the margins to draw your attention to important information. They’re defined as follows:

Watch out! Some technical drivel is just around the corner. Read it only if you have your pocket protector firmly attached.

Pay special attention to this icon — it tells you that some particularly useful tidbit is at hand, perhaps a shortcut or a way of using a command that you might not have considered.

Danger! Danger! Danger! Stand back, Will Robinson!

Did we tell you about the memory course we took?

Where to Go from Here

Yes, you can get there from here. With this book in hand, you’re ready to charge full speed ahead into the strange and wonderful world of desktop drawings. Browse through the table of contents and decide where you want to start. Be bold! Be courageous! Be adventurous! Above all else, have fun!

Part I

Getting Started with SmartDraw

In this part . . .

Once upon a time, the term business graphics meant bar charts and pie charts. But now that you’ve decided to equip your software arsenal with SmartDraw, business graphics can mean so much more. With SmartDraw, you can create literally hundreds of different kinds of graphics — business or otherwise. SmartDraw can create a graphic to fill just about any need you can imagine — from flowcharts and organization charts to floor plans and mapping.

The chapters in this part comprise a bare-bones introduction to SmartDraw. You find out exactly what SmartDraw is and how to use it to create drawings and graphics. You discover how to create and edit simple shapes, how to work with text, and how to print your masterpiece.

More advanced stuff such as working with themes or using the advanced tools for creating specific types of graphics like flowcharts and floor plans is covered in later parts. This part is just the beginning. As a great king once advised, “It’s best to begin at the beginning and go on until you come to the end; then stop.”

Chapter 1

Welcome to SmartDraw

In This Chapter

Introducing business graphics

Considering how business graphics differ from other types of graphics

Finding out what kinds of business graphics you can create with SmartDraw

Welcome to SmartDraw, a program that lets you create professional-quality business graphics even if (or maybe especially if) you aren’t a professional business graphic artist.

Sure, you can use many programs to create business graphics. You may even already own some of them. But most of these programs are limited to just one or two specific types of business graphics. For example, Microsoft Excel can create pie charts, bar charts, and the like. But Excel isn’t very good at creating project charts to schedule the various phases of a project. You can use Microsoft Project to do that, but Project isn’t very good with floor plans or schematics. AutoCAD is really good with floor plans and schematics, but . . . well you get the idea.

In contrast, SmartDraw is a tool for creating just about any type of business graphic you might imagine. In fact, SmartDraw can create literally hundreds of different types of business graphics, from area charts to yearly calendars. (Sorry. There isn’t a business graphic that starts with the letter z — but if there were one, we guarantee SmartDraw could create it!)

This chapter is a gentle introduction to this powerful program. It begins with an overview of what business graphics are all about. Then, it jumps into the basics of working with SmartDraw. When you finish this chapter, you’ll have a good idea of the range of business graphics SmartDraw can create, and you’ll be ready to use it to create them.

You, Too, Can Create Business Graphics

In today’s business world, few people take the time to read 100 words, let alone 1,000. In the era of text messaging, sometimes even just ten words are too many.

That’s why we use business graphics. Often, you can find no other way to make your point clearly, persuasively, or powerfully than with a carefully chosen image. Business graphics have the power to convince others and to explain at a glance something that can be difficult or even impossible to express in words.

Now, you may balk at the term business graphics. Your first response might be, “Not for me! Fancy business graphics are great for big Fortune 500 companies, but my business is small enough that I don’t need ’em.”

Or maybe your response is, “Business graphics would be great if I had half an ounce of artistic ability. But every diagram I ever tried to create looks like it was drawn by a third grader.”

Or maybe: “I wish I had the budget to hire a professional graphic designer to add some polish to my reports and proposals, but the simple charts I create with Excel will have to do.”

Although you may not realize it, you probably use business graphics all the time. And not just simple pie charts you’ve thrown together quickly with Excel. You’ve created business graphics over the years, if you’ve done the following:

Sketched a few boxes with names in them to show the chain of command in your business. If so, you’ve drawn an organization chart, one of the most common business graphics. (Hopefully, your name was in the box at the top.)

Planned your office’s layout by sketching some lines to represent the walls, then drawn some rectangles to show where you want desks, chairs, and shelves. If so, you’ve created a floor plan. (Hopefully, your office was the one in the corner, with the big window overlooking the lake.)

Drawn lines through a calendar to show how long it should take to complete various stages of a project. If so, you’ve created a Gantt chart.

Sketched the steps necessary to complete a task such as filling out and submitting a medical insurance claim, using boxes to represent the steps and arrows to show how one step flows to the next. If so, you’ve created a flowchart.

Then, maybe you’ve taken the tools that happen to be lying around — typically Word, Excel, or PowerPoint — and dropped a few clumsy rectangles or circles on the page, plopped down some text to explain what the shapes represent, and then scratched out some lines to connect things together.

So you see, you’ve been creating business graphics all along. But you’ve been doing it the hard way. You’ve used crude drawing tools to create things that the tools were never intended to create, and you might have spent most of your time trying to get things to line up or be the right size or color. Then maybe you’ve added some cheesy clip art or shadow effects in an attempt to make your drawing look halfway decent.

Most of the time, what you end up with is a drawing that barely communicates the message you originally intended, is difficult to make even the slightest change to later on, and looks terrible.

That’s where SmartDraw comes in. Unlike most other programs, SmartDraw doesn’t consider business graphics an afterthought. The whole point of SmartDraw is to create sensational business graphics — not just graphics that look good, but graphics that, in some cases, practically draw themselves because they have built-in intelligence.

And SmartDraw isn’t limited to just one kind of business graphic. It’s designed to create dozens of different kinds of business graphics. When you learn how to use the core set of drawing tools presented in the first eight chapters of this book, you’ll be able to draw just about any kind of business graphic imaginable.

Comparing SmartDraw to Other Drawing Programs

Before we get too far into how SmartDraw works and what you can use it for, we need to point out some key differences between SmartDraw and other kinds of drawing programs.

To start, realize that SmartDraw is designed to create business drawings, not artistic or technical drawings. The best known examples of artistic drawing programs are Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw. These programs are designed to be used by professional artists and photographers to create professional-quality art. Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw are sometimes used in business to create the more artistic variety of business graphics, such as company logos, flyers, posters, and so on. But their primary purpose is artistic, and their primary users are professional graphic artists.

The best known technical drawing program is AutoCAD, made by Autodesk. Drafting and computer-aided design (CAD) programs are designed to create precision technical drawings that represent real-world objects, such as buildings, bridges, or roller coasters.

Give me a vector, Victor!

One useful way to classify drawing programs is the distinction between bitmap and vector drawing programs. SmartDraw is a vector-based drawing program.

Here’s the skinny:

A bitmap drawing program is a program that treats graphics as a big collection of dots called pixels. Bitmap images are also referred to as raster images. Adobe Photoshop is the best-known example of a bitmap graphics program.

A vector drawing program is a program that treats graphics as actual shapes rather than as a group of pixels. The program keeps track of all of the characteristics that make up each shape in a drawing, such as the type of shape (for example, a circle, rectangle, line, and so on), as well as other properties like the exact size and position of the shape, the shape’s color, and so on.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of drawings. Bitmaps are usually best suited for photographs and other types of artistic drawings. Vector images are best suited for business graphics and technical drawings.

The key difference between a bitmap drawing program and a vector drawing program is that when you draw an object in a bitmap program, the drawing doesn’t keep track of any information about the object except the pattern of pixels required to display the object. For example, a bitmap drawing program doesn’t know that a circle is actually a circle or that a line is actually a line. Instead, everything in the entire image is just a big blob of dots.

In contrast, a vector drawing program is essentially a database that keeps track of information about all the various shapes that make up the drawing.

An important consequence of this is that you can easily scale vector drawings. With a bitmap image, the picture becomes coarser the more you zoom in. If you zoom in far enough, the image becomes a big blur of dots. In contrast, you can enlarge (or reduce) a vector drawing as much as you want and it still remains perfectly clear.

Note that the distinction between bitmap and vector drawing programs isn’t absolute. In particular, vector drawing programs can include bitmap images embedded within the drawing. You learn how to incorporate bitmap images into your SmartDraw business graphics in Chapter 8.

Both of these types of drawing programs require great artistic or technical skill. And they both have a long learning curve to master. Plop a typical computer user down in front of a program like Photoshop or AutoCADand he or she will spend hours just trying to figure out basic things like how to draw a simple rectangle or how to select an object that appears to be sitting in plain view. These are powerful programs, but they’re anything but easy to use.

SmartDraw doesn’t fit into either of these two categories. Although you can use SmartDraw to create drawings that are artistically pleasing and encompass some degree of technical precision, SmartDraw has an entirely different purpose than Photoshop or AutoCAD. SmartDraw is designed to create a wide variety of commonly used business graphics, diagrams, and charts using lines, simple and complex geometric shapes, and other ready-made objects that you can simply drag and drop onto your drawings.

Here are some of the key features that set SmartDraw apart from other types of drawing programs:

SmartDraw comes with hundreds of predefined drawing templates that you can start from to create just about any kind of business graphic. And we really mean hundreds — it has more than 1,900 templates in all. In fact, one of the most challenging aspects of using SmartDraw is choosing the perfect template for your drawing from among the vast array of templates.

SmartDraw is a vector-based program. It keeps track of the individual shapes that make up a drawing rather than the individual dots that make up a picture. (For more information, see the sidebar, “Give me a vector, Victor!”)

SmartDraw requires very little artistic skill to create great-looking drawings. Throughout the program, you’ll find features designed to help you create drawings that look professionally drawn. Most of the time, all you have to do is drag and drop predefined elements onto a predefined template and apply predefined formats and themes.

One of the most important features of SmartDraw is its built-in intelligence — that is, the Smart in SmartDraw. Most graphics programs are little more than digital versions of an artist’s tools: canvas, paint, brushes, easel, and so on. The tools are great, but you’re on your own to use them to create something worth looking at. In contrast, SmartDraw contains intelligence that actually helps you draw your graphics. It’s almost as if a skilled graphic artist is sitting next to you, nudging your mouse in the right direction as you create your graphics.

You’ll see plenty of examples of this intelligence throughout SmartDraw. For example, when you create an organization chart, the software takes care of the tedious task of connecting the boxes to each other with lines. All you have to do is drop the boxes onto the page in their approximate locations; SmartDraw snaps the boxes into the exact right spot, then automatically draws the connecting lines.

SmartDraw is less expensive than other graphics programs. Last time we checked, Microsoft Visio sells for about $400; Adobe Illustrator about $600; and AutoCAD LT — the simplified version of AutoCAD — is nearly $1,000. In contrast, you can purchase SmartDraw for under $300.

Knowing What You Can Do with SmartDraw

SmartDraw is a powerful program that you can use to create any type of business graphic you can conceive of. If you haven’t opened SmartDraw yet and looked at the list of templates in the left-hand panel, you might want to try it now. You find the following categories:

Accounting & Finance

Human Resources

BPM & Six Sigma

Landscaping

Calendars

Maps

Cause & Effect

Marketing Charts

Certificates

Mind Maps

Charts

Network Design

Decision Trees

Org Charts

Education

Project Management

Engineering

Retail & Planograms

Event Planning

Simple Diagrams

Family Trees

Software Design

Financial & Estate Planning

Storage Design

Floorplans

Storyboards

Flowcharts

Strategic Planning

Flyers

Timelines

Forms

Web Design

Gantt Charts

This list doesn’t even include the subcategories that are found within most categories. For example, you’ll find seven subcategories under Human Resources, including Employment Forms and HR Scorecards. And under Marketing Charts, you’ll find 34 subcategories, including Affinity Diagrams, Competition Matrix, Competitive Analysis, Marketing Trends Summary, Strategy Maps, and Venn Diagrams.

In short, SmartDraw can create almost anything you can imagine, and probably quite a few things you never imagined. You’ll probably never use more than a handful of these diagrams, but even that handful — especially the core business graphics — have the power to radically improve the way you do business.

In the following sections, we show just a few of the most commonly used templates, just to give you a feel for the types of business graphics you can create with SmartDraw.

Flowcharts

A flowchart is a diagram that graphically shows the steps that must be followed to complete a procedure or task. Flowcharts, also known as process charts, were the foundation of SmartDraw version 1.0 in 1995, and the flowchart tool remains one of its most powerful and distinctive features, even today. SmartDraw simply excels at making flowcharts.

If the very idea of a flowchart makes you cringe, relax. It’s true that flowcharts are often used for complicated and technical applications such as managing an oil refinery or launching the space shuttle. But flowcharts aren’t just for mind-boggling applications like those. Every business has processes. And even if your company’s most complicated process is mailing a package or taking a phone call, a flowchart is often the best way to document and improve that process.

SmartDraw comes with more than 40 templates for creating various types of flowcharts. Figure 1-1 shows just one example.

Flowcharts are so powerful in SmartDraw that Chapter 11 is devoted to them.

Organization charts

Everyone has seen an organization chart — those diagrams that show the management structure of a company with a box for each employee and lines to indicate who reports to whom. Many of us have suffered the thankless and tedious task of drawing them. SmartDraw can’t remove the thankless part from the task, but it can definitely help with the tedious part. Figure 1-2 shows an example of an organization chart — an org chart, as SmartDraw calls them.

Figure 1-1: A flowchart.

The best part about creating organization charts in SmartDraw is that SmartDraw practically does all the work for you. SmartDraw automatically takes care of drawing the lines that connect the boxes to one another and indicate the working relationships. You can drag boxes around the page, and SmartDraw automatically adjusts the entire chart to match the new configuration.