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Somewhere back around 1993, I was working for a small dating magazine, based in the back of a printing plant. We used Pagemaker on very slow machines to print out pages of text with spaces left to hold artwork that we pasted in place. This was camera-ready. When the pages were packed along with multiple pages of instructions, they were sent to be "shot-to-film". This was done elsewhere, because the print shop we worked out of was set up for a different kind of printing. But we did have a film maker there and so, the following year, we started getting enough horsepower to use Quark and Photoshop (v 2.5) and output our own film.
Outputting our own film was actually more work at the time, but also more satisfying, as we were able to look beyond cut-up pieces of paper that we hoped would come back from the printer the way we intended, to seeing the film from which the printing plates would be made. It was in this way that I learned the limitations and potential for the printed page and what was required in design and production stages to get a finished product looking the way it was intended.
Since going to work in the Graphics Industry, I have spent more than a few years freelancing, which has so far afforded me the opportunity to learn diverse approaches to problem solving. I have worked in advertising, publishing, direct mail, packaging design and medical information amongst others as both a designer and a senior production artist. Sad to say, I really enjoyed the tense, deadline driven environment of magazine and trade show work. Who could imagine anyone wanting that punishment - on purpose! If I were to choose a description of my career, it would be of a print geek, one who understands the limitations of print and designs accordingly. I have done numerous press-checks, set-up my own files in print-shops pre-press rooms and even began my career working for a small magazine out of a print shop. But more than that, I have done a lot of web work. In 1998 I would spend 3 weeks of each month, 10 - 12 hours a day, putting out a magazine. The fourth week of each month was spent building a web site to put up the pages we worked on all month. And I did this for several years! |
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