The Photoshop Work Area

If you’re familiar with Windows or Mac programs, you’re probably familiar with some of the elements of the Photoshop work area display.

The Photoshop work area consists of three main elements: the menu bar, palettes, and the toolbox, as summarized in table below. Of all these elements, the one you’ll use the most is the toolbox. This element contains many of the tools you’ll need to create your magic.

Elements of the Photoshop workspace

Element	Description
Menu Bar	The menu bar allows users to perform common functions such as opening and saving files, copying and pasting, accessing specific palettes, and applying effects to images.
Palettes	Palette is just a fancy word for dialog box. The palettes float around — atop your images. Palettes contain added controls for Photoshop, such as extra controls for color.
Toolbox	The toolbox contains multiple tools for creating, selecting, and manipulating images. Press an icon on the toolbox to select a tool. To select an additional tool (one that’s not one of the displayed default tools), click and hold the right-facing arrowhead found at the lower-right corner of some icons. Pressing this small arrowhead brings up a column of alternate tools you can select. The toolbox is where you’ll be spending much of your time. Thus, we’ll explore this element in more detail in the following pages.

In this tutorial:

1. Getting Started with Photoshop
2. Style Requirement for Logos
3. Starting Photoshop
4. The Photoshop Work Area 
5. Creating a New Image  
6. Working with the Toolbox