DESIGNER’S TOOL KIT

Shortly after the Designers Tool Kit was shown at the Graphics Gathering, we were invited to show it at the Palo Alto Cultural Center as part of an exhibition called On-Line. The day before the exhibit's opening, the San Jose Mercury newspaper printed a photograph of Nelson Van Judah drawing on the graphics tablet. At the same time, I stood behind him, explaining the features.

Stephen C. Gruber, a staff writer at the San Jose Mercury, wrote an article titled "Computer-Aided Art: She's Drawing On The Electronic Side Of The Brain."

"Lucia Grossberger traced a pen over a piece of paper connected to electronic gadgetry and a face formed on the computer screen. The face had an orange tint, the hair brown. Grossberger moved the pen to another part of the paper and pushed it down. The face turned blue, the hair a darker blue. This is computer art, a creation of the 1980s and, until now, an art form only for those wealthy enough to afford a computer. It is now available to anyone who wants to try it. It is part of a new display called "On-Line" at the Palo Alto Cultural Center." Stephen C. Gruber

Palo Alto, CA- Lucia Grossberger is surrounded by kids. They crowd around her ooh and aah while she creates images on a color-video screen. With a touch of a pen to a graphics tablet, she creates an abstract design and then fills it with striking colors. By pressing a box on the tablet, she is able to "reflect" her picture, flipping it over to its mirror image instantly.

The images that she is drawing are being generated on an Apple II computer that is connected to an Apple Graphics Tablet. What provides her with flexibility and the potential for artistic creativity, however, is software that she has designed with her partner-husband Harry Vertelney and programmer David Rifkind.

Called "Designer's Toolkit," the program, which is a product of Grossberger and Vertelney's company Eclectic Electric, will soon be made available to software buyers by Apple Computer. John Markoff Infoworld, April 5, 1982,