A “Revisited” blog post indicates that I reread the original and used AI-assisted tools (e.g., Grammarly) to improve grammar and word choice.
First published April 09, 2014.
Phoumany Phouybanhdyt (Class of 2014) ‘s thoughts:
Lucidpress is advertised as a design and layout app for making print and digital documents. Recent reviews which we examined have been favorable. I am impressed with what this application can do, although I encountered a few problems while learning to use it. Presently, Lucidpress is still in its Beta version, so I hope these gremlins will disappear when it transitions away from a Beta version on April 21st, 2014.
To explore the features of Lucidpress, I made a sample print flyer, print invitation, and digital newsletter. Overall, I think Lucidpress is relatively easy to use. You can work from either a template or from a blank slate. The tools and options are not difficult to maneuver.
The look of this application is very sleek and organized. When working on the digital newsletter, I could add a live hyperlink, embed videos, and even use a scrolling effect for the text box. Inside the digital newsletter I created, one could click a text link that redirected the user to a Facebook event in a new window. Lucidpress allows the user much room for creativity.
Things I especially liked. What I love about Lucidpress is the sleekness of the products you can produce and how easy it is to use. Of course, I still have a lot to learn, and the full capabilities are far beyond what I have explored in the hour I took to investigate its capabilities. This app allows one to do what Microsoft Publisher can, but more! Another neat feature of Lucidpress is linking it to Google Drive and sharing it with team members. This allows multiple users to collaborate on the same project and share comments.
Moreover, one can share the finished project in various ways: Embedding it on a site, sharing a link, or sending it via e-mail. This application is currently accessible in its Beta stage when you make a free account. I would highly recommend this product.
Things in Need of Improvement. A couple of problems I encountered while using Lucidpress included issues with video embedding, hyperlink embedding, and sharing the project. With the videos, I could get them embedded, but when I previewed the document, the videos failed to play. I had some initial issues embedding a hyperlink, but this may have been a fluke. Regarding sharing the project, I attempted to create a link and tried copying and pasting it into a new browser. I could get the link copied, but when in a new window, it refused to give me the option to paste. This issue is also apparent when pasting the link into a document and other locations. Sharing via e-mail appeared to go through to a Gmail account, but a Microsoft Outlook account failed to receive the invitation to view. More trials will need to be done to figure this out.
I created an example with Lucid Press with a fellow research assistant, Angela Wong.
We then solicited opinions on this blog piece review and your experiences with Lucid Press with a survey using SurveyMonkey.
