I have written many posts and tweets as a different persona than the one I chose for this class. As the Sheetwise Designer I have written about graphic design and the tips and tricks that I have learned in my career. Because I needed to create an anonymous persona for this class, I wanted to stick to what I know (graphic design) but find a different angle than my existing online presence.
As The Design Shrink I sought to tell my personal struggles in the design industry. I wanted to bring solace to those designers who find themselves burned out and angry in an unforgiving profession. I was once a burned out and angry designer. It took me a long time to gain confidence in my work and I have struggled to show that confidence in my writing. In the few posts that I am personally happy with as The Design Shrink, I discovered that I might one day be good at telling the stories of my own personal journey.
Unfortunately, through our last assignment of searching for alternative publishing opportunities for The Design Shrink, I discovered that my persona as The Design Shrink doesn’t have a focus that would garner many readers as an online presence should. I focused on writing about my own experiences as a designer and have realized that my experiences aren’t interesting enough to propel The Design Shrink into legendary status. Maybe one day, when I have 40 years under my belt, The Design Shrink will re-surface and write an entire book detailing my adventures. But for now, The Design Shrink must be retired.
I am now left with a quandary. I am well versed the field of graphic design and could write post after post about the knowledge I have gained, but I would like to test the waters in writing about a completely different field of interest. I am in the process of building an interactive kayaking trip report website focused on filming and documenting overnight kayaking/camping trips throughout the country. I have been gathering information and filming some of the trips I have taken already, but have yet to launch any online presence for the website.
I propose to write as Paddle Savvy in an effort to jump start our online presence in anticipation of the future website.
Paddle Savvy will be an outlet for kayakers looking for a river they have yet to paddle. The website will focus on safety and providing information that is currently difficult to come by. PaddleSavvy.com will provide one place for all of the information needed for over-night kayaking trips. Kayakers will be able to find the water levels for rivers, where to put in and take out, and where safe parking areas are for overnight parking. The proposed trip reports will include videos of the trips where possible, maps and written reports detailing any issues that could be encountered along the way.
My online persona for the second half of this semester will focus on garnering interest in overnight kayaking/camping trips, and writing trip reports for those rivers I have already traveled.
My writing has improved with practice and I think I am ready to launch the early stages of PaddleSavvy.com.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Friday, October 4, 2013
Publishing Plan
As The Design Shrink, I thought it possible to assist my fellow designers through storytelling. By telling my personal experiences of fighting my way through an unforgiving profession, I sought to ease others minds and help them realize that criticism of their work shouldn’t be taken as a slight against them personally.
Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be much interest in publishing articles of this style. I looked through multiple magazines in an effort to find one that might be a possible fit for my writing, but sadly I couldn’t find any.
How Magazine is dedicated to the graphic design industry, but most of the published articles focus on interviewing specific designers. My writing focuses only on my own design experience which doesn’t seem to be what they are looking for. On the How Magazine website they write “writers must exhibit a thorough knowledge of their subject matter, as well as the ability to incorporate the character of the creative(s) about whom the article is written.” While I have a thorough knowledge of the subject matter, I only incorporate my own character the articles I have written.
After discovering that How Magazine wouldn’t be a good fit, I tried Graphic Design USA. Graphic Design USA is a similar publication to How Magazine with a few extras. They do seem to have a few articles posted that are editorial in style rather than only interviews, but again I was forced to conclude that the pieces I have written as The Design Shrink might become redundant and might not be a writing success.
After looking through more publications focused on graphic design, I came to the same conclusion. I am forced to conclude that while I enjoy writing as The Design Shrink, the focus I have created for the persona is not one that would garner many readers.
Thinking as a designer and always coming up with new ideas, the only viable option I have thought of for The Design Shrink stories is to convert them into a comic strip. Unfortunately, converting the stories to a comic strip would mean paring down the writing that I took so much care to create. I might in the future create an interactive comic strip to portray the stories I have told as The Design Shrink, but for now sadly, The Design Shrink must be retired.
Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be much interest in publishing articles of this style. I looked through multiple magazines in an effort to find one that might be a possible fit for my writing, but sadly I couldn’t find any.
How Magazine is dedicated to the graphic design industry, but most of the published articles focus on interviewing specific designers. My writing focuses only on my own design experience which doesn’t seem to be what they are looking for. On the How Magazine website they write “writers must exhibit a thorough knowledge of their subject matter, as well as the ability to incorporate the character of the creative(s) about whom the article is written.” While I have a thorough knowledge of the subject matter, I only incorporate my own character the articles I have written.
After discovering that How Magazine wouldn’t be a good fit, I tried Graphic Design USA. Graphic Design USA is a similar publication to How Magazine with a few extras. They do seem to have a few articles posted that are editorial in style rather than only interviews, but again I was forced to conclude that the pieces I have written as The Design Shrink might become redundant and might not be a writing success.
After looking through more publications focused on graphic design, I came to the same conclusion. I am forced to conclude that while I enjoy writing as The Design Shrink, the focus I have created for the persona is not one that would garner many readers.
Thinking as a designer and always coming up with new ideas, the only viable option I have thought of for The Design Shrink stories is to convert them into a comic strip. Unfortunately, converting the stories to a comic strip would mean paring down the writing that I took so much care to create. I might in the future create an interactive comic strip to portray the stories I have told as The Design Shrink, but for now sadly, The Design Shrink must be retired.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
My Favorite Typo
Perhaps it was a Freudian slip, a Parapraxis. Whatever you want to call it, it lives in my memory as my favorite typo.
It was a typical summer day in Charleston, the kind where the humidity makes you sweat the instant you step out of the air-conditioning. The tiny window unit in my office was running full blast but not making much of a difference. My boss told me there was a new customer who had walked into our lobby and needed a flyer design.
I was hesitant due to the fact that the company is located in an area where customers aren’t known for walking in. I met the man in the lobby, and got the impression after chatting with him for a few minutes, that this wasn’t going to be easy. I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was an uneasy feeling that I wasn’t able to place at the time.
The man handed me a digital camera that he told me contained photos of some of the clothing in his store for use on a flyer. He also gave me hand-written content he wanted included. I took the job, but for some reason I walked back to my desk lacking my usual confidence.
I sat down and got started. I connected the camera to my computer and opened the folder containing the photographs. It is difficult to ignore photographs once a folder containing them is open, and there were hundreds of images on the camera. I had to scroll through all of them before I reached the images of the clothing. My eyes couldn’t help but see some of the personal family photos that were contained on the camera.
I am not one to get involved in the affairs of other cultures, but a few of the images were difficult for me to ignore. The images were of a hot summer day, just like the one we were having and the location of the photographs was familiar. It was one of the beaches in the area where bikinis aren’t in short supply. But the clothing his wife was wearing in the photographs didn’t quite fit the scene. She was wearing a black robe, from head to toe, and looked as if she were about to keel over from heat exhaustion. She was wearing a Burka. I don’t want you to get the wrong impression from what I am writing, I firmly believe in freedom of religion and never consider myself in a position to judge, however when I reached the images of the clothing that her husband was selling in his store, I judged.
The racks in the pictures were filled with lacy, backless, half shirts for women. The clothing looked like it would barely cover one tenth of the person wearing them. It was then that I looked down at the hand written content. At the top, in big lettering, were the words “Sexiest Women’s Clothing in Charleston.”
I was confused. Clearly the man was adhering to a set of standards for his personal life that he ignored in his business dealings. It was hypocritical.
Being a diligent designer, I shrugged my shoulders and did my best to ignore my disgust. I went on with the design and did what I could with the photographs and the content. The first proof was sent.
Instead of emailing back with changes, the customer chose to show up in the lobby to inform me of my mistakes face to face. After the meeting, that feeling was back in the pit of my stomach.
I went back to my desk and made the changes. We went through five proofs in the same manner, before he was satisfied and approved the file for printing.
The days past and I went back to my normal work routine. On the third day, my co-worker, who is notorious for finding typos, called me. She found a mistake on the flyers for my hypocritical customer. I couldn’t figure out what the mistake could have been since I remembered running a spell check before sending the file to print.
She brought the finished flyers to me and pointed out the mistake. In big letters on the front, I had miss-typed “Sexiest” and instead typed “Sexist” so the first line of type read “Sexist Women’s Clothing in Charleston.”
I was in tears from laughing when my boss came into my office. I had to explain myself. Thankfully, he too laughed and decided that we wouldn’t point out the mistake. We would cross our fingers and hope that the customer didn’t see it until after the flyers were paid for.
My boss personally handed the finished flyers to the customer and accepted payment. We both breathed a sign of relief when he drove away, and we never heard from him again.
The story I have just told should be documented as proof of the theory of Freudian slips. Typos are a constant in my profession, but this one will live in my memory as my favorite.
It took me a day or two, after the flyers were paid for, to figure out what the uneasy feeling was that I felt every time I met with that customer. There was a slight condescending tone that the customer had with me. It was so well crafted I didn’t immediately recognize it. I have experienced that type of attitude before, but never that well masked.
Beware to any sexist customers that may cross my path: my mind will eventually let you know what I am feeling.
It was a typical summer day in Charleston, the kind where the humidity makes you sweat the instant you step out of the air-conditioning. The tiny window unit in my office was running full blast but not making much of a difference. My boss told me there was a new customer who had walked into our lobby and needed a flyer design.
I was hesitant due to the fact that the company is located in an area where customers aren’t known for walking in. I met the man in the lobby, and got the impression after chatting with him for a few minutes, that this wasn’t going to be easy. I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was an uneasy feeling that I wasn’t able to place at the time.
The man handed me a digital camera that he told me contained photos of some of the clothing in his store for use on a flyer. He also gave me hand-written content he wanted included. I took the job, but for some reason I walked back to my desk lacking my usual confidence.
I sat down and got started. I connected the camera to my computer and opened the folder containing the photographs. It is difficult to ignore photographs once a folder containing them is open, and there were hundreds of images on the camera. I had to scroll through all of them before I reached the images of the clothing. My eyes couldn’t help but see some of the personal family photos that were contained on the camera.
I am not one to get involved in the affairs of other cultures, but a few of the images were difficult for me to ignore. The images were of a hot summer day, just like the one we were having and the location of the photographs was familiar. It was one of the beaches in the area where bikinis aren’t in short supply. But the clothing his wife was wearing in the photographs didn’t quite fit the scene. She was wearing a black robe, from head to toe, and looked as if she were about to keel over from heat exhaustion. She was wearing a Burka. I don’t want you to get the wrong impression from what I am writing, I firmly believe in freedom of religion and never consider myself in a position to judge, however when I reached the images of the clothing that her husband was selling in his store, I judged.
The racks in the pictures were filled with lacy, backless, half shirts for women. The clothing looked like it would barely cover one tenth of the person wearing them. It was then that I looked down at the hand written content. At the top, in big lettering, were the words “Sexiest Women’s Clothing in Charleston.”
I was confused. Clearly the man was adhering to a set of standards for his personal life that he ignored in his business dealings. It was hypocritical.
Being a diligent designer, I shrugged my shoulders and did my best to ignore my disgust. I went on with the design and did what I could with the photographs and the content. The first proof was sent.
Instead of emailing back with changes, the customer chose to show up in the lobby to inform me of my mistakes face to face. After the meeting, that feeling was back in the pit of my stomach.
I went back to my desk and made the changes. We went through five proofs in the same manner, before he was satisfied and approved the file for printing.
The days past and I went back to my normal work routine. On the third day, my co-worker, who is notorious for finding typos, called me. She found a mistake on the flyers for my hypocritical customer. I couldn’t figure out what the mistake could have been since I remembered running a spell check before sending the file to print.
She brought the finished flyers to me and pointed out the mistake. In big letters on the front, I had miss-typed “Sexiest” and instead typed “Sexist” so the first line of type read “Sexist Women’s Clothing in Charleston.”
I was in tears from laughing when my boss came into my office. I had to explain myself. Thankfully, he too laughed and decided that we wouldn’t point out the mistake. We would cross our fingers and hope that the customer didn’t see it until after the flyers were paid for.
My boss personally handed the finished flyers to the customer and accepted payment. We both breathed a sign of relief when he drove away, and we never heard from him again.
The story I have just told should be documented as proof of the theory of Freudian slips. Typos are a constant in my profession, but this one will live in my memory as my favorite.
It took me a day or two, after the flyers were paid for, to figure out what the uneasy feeling was that I felt every time I met with that customer. There was a slight condescending tone that the customer had with me. It was so well crafted I didn’t immediately recognize it. I have experienced that type of attitude before, but never that well masked.
Beware to any sexist customers that may cross my path: my mind will eventually let you know what I am feeling.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Niche Market - Preflight Outsourcing
If you take a look in your purse or pockets, there will be a
mix of new technology with the old.
As much as people keep saying that printing is a dying industry, your
cell phone is probably sitting right next to printed items in your pocket. From receipts, packaging and tags, to
even the credit cards in your wallet, printing is involved in it all, and yet so many of the designers I come in contact with on a regular
basis have very little understanding of the printing process.
Having had 13 years of experience both running the presses
and creating designs for others to run on the presses, I have a great respect
for those who take what I design and make it look incredibly good in print. I
also have a great respect for those designers who take the time to learn the
printing and finishing process before heading straight into print
design.
The division between design and the actual physical labor
involved with finishing a print design is growing. At one time the pressmen and plate makers were considered the artists of the printing industry, now the artists (called graphic designers today) rarely even come in contact with the people who make their designs come to life on paper. This division causes a bottleneck
between the design process and the presses. Designers know too little about the printing process, creating files that take hours to prepare for the presses. A print ready file should only take minutes to send to the press.
It is at this bottleneck that the pre-press department usually sits. The pre-press department takes
files that are submitted for print, and preflights them (ensures that they are print ready files) and
then prepares the necessary items needed for printing on the presses (layout and plating). Already one of those processes is
being phased out due to the increasingly more sophisticated plating equipment
being offered on the market. The
plating process is beginning to be combined with the press printing process.
A press runs by using plates, almost like negatives in film printing, for a
print job. Typically the pre-press
departments for printing companies are held responsible for the layout and
creation of those plates.
Companies like Heidelberg have been creating increasingly more
user-friendly software and hardware for the creation of those plates, enabling
the actual pressmen to layout and create their own plates from the files that are submitted to
them.
Since this takes one task away from the pre-press
department, and design is increasingly being outsourced to design houses, that leaves only one task left for the
pre-press department to handle, preflight. Preflight is the process for reviewing and ensuring files are print ready before
they are plated. Once the task of plating becomes the pressmens responsibility, preflighting doesn’t seem like a job that needs to be
kept in-house.
I propose a web based pre-press
company be created in order to offer printing companies the opportunity to
outsource the preflighting of documents rather than pay the overhead of
employing someone directly for the job. Preflighting a document takes minutes, and it would be hard to justify the cost of employing someone directly to handle such a simple and easy task that has been automated by multiple software companies.
Not only could this be a useful tool for printing companies,
it could be a tool for designers. Designers can receive feedback on a job
before sending it on to the printer, possibly avoiding the mistakes that can
happen if a file is not a print ready file.
This new company would eliminate the bottleneck of files by creating an outlet for designers to send their files for input before sending to the printing company. This would ensure that files only take minutes to prepare for the presses leaving the printing company to be able to spend more time on making the designs come to life on paper.
The printing industry is changing, we need to make sure we change with it.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Wikipedia Entry - Kelsey Printing Company
The Kelsey Press Company was started in Meridian Connecticut by William A. Kelsey in 1872. The first press was designed by William A. Kelsey himself with the help of Gamaliel Snow, and was first advertised in Youth’s Companion for December 19, 1872.
Kelsey made the mistake of advertising a product that he had yet to manufacture and the original press design turned out to be a design that didn’t work.
Although his first press design failed to be a workable press, he created a new design for a 3”x5” press, named the Exclesior, which subsequently sold for $5 per unit. Because of the small size of the press and its low cost, it became a popular product for use in homes and offices rather than in large printing operations and has been cited as a factor in the rise of amateur journalism. Kelsey advertised the unit as a product for young boys and entrepreneurs which became his signature advertising ploy.
The first Excelsior Presses were produced by E.M Lockwood on contract in his own lawnmower sharpening shop and then in the factory Kelsey for production in 1876. His first press was inked by hand but was made self-inking in 1875. The company quickly grew due to the demand for personal presses, and because the Kelsey Press Company also supplied its customers with other printing supplies such as cards, ink, and type.
The company became incorporated in 1905 and through its success managed to beat out or purchase many of its competitors. One competitor in particular was the owner of the first building that the Kelsey Press Company leased for its offices, James Cook. When Cook realized the success that William Kelsey was having in the business of producing personal table top presses, he tried his hand at the same business, but Kelsey managed to beat him out and eventually bought J. Cook and Company. Below is an excerpt from William A. Kelsey regarding his competition that clearly shows the contempt he had for Cook.
“It having come to our notice that J. Cook (and Co), envious of the business success of our establishment, and aping its mode of business, has endeavored to steal some of our customers by offering certain articles, purporting to be put up like ours, at a price less than ours. Lest some be misled we give notice that We Will Fill Orders For Anything This Party Offers, Or Ever May Offer Or Advertise, At Five Per Cent Less Than His Prices... We make this offer because of the despicable character of the competition we propose to Kill. Healthy competition we welcome, but the other kind we mean to Fight till a different course is adopted than aping our plans Entirely.” (Connecticut Advertiser, May 1877)
The Kelsey Press Company produced many models of presses during its 120 years. Some of the models are the Junior (2x3”), the 3x5 Excelsior and 3x5 Excelsior Model “N”, 5x8 Excelsior and 5x8 "Victor" models, The 6x10 Excelsior, 9x13 Excelsior, and the 7x11 "Star" press.
The company continued manufacturing presses of all sizes until it succumbed to the waning demand for personal presses and had to close its doors in 1993.
The Excelsior press had its hand in building printing companies for 120 years, and is now a sought after antique for collectors around the world. There are many stories of how the Excelsior press was the first press owned by the starters of many printing companies still in existence today.
Many collectors still buy, sell and use the Excelsior presses today.
Citations:
Gillespie, Charles Bancroft. An Historic Record And Pictorial Description of the Town of Meriden, Connecticut: And Men Who Have Made It... A Century of Meriden "The Silver City.". Meriden, Conn.: Journal Publishing Co., 1906. Pages 61-63.
Harris, Elizabeth M. Personal Impressions: The Small Printing Press in Nineteenth-century America. David R. Godine Publisher, 2004.
Web Sources:
excelsiorpress.org/kelsey.html
http://users.bestweb.net/~bpress/res/art/kelsey1.html
http://www.thefossils.org/horvat/aj/lowcostpress.htm
The photos used in this posting are considered public domain with the exception of the first image listed. The image was used in the book Personal Impressions by Elizabeth Harris. If I were to attempt to make this a Wikipedia.org entry I would seek out permission from the publishers of the books in question in order to use the images.
 |
| Advertisement from December of 1872 in Youth's Companion. |
Kelsey made the mistake of advertising a product that he had yet to manufacture and the original press design turned out to be a design that didn’t work.
Although his first press design failed to be a workable press, he created a new design for a 3”x5” press, named the Exclesior, which subsequently sold for $5 per unit. Because of the small size of the press and its low cost, it became a popular product for use in homes and offices rather than in large printing operations and has been cited as a factor in the rise of amateur journalism. Kelsey advertised the unit as a product for young boys and entrepreneurs which became his signature advertising ploy.
 |
| Kelsey Company Advertisement 1938 |
The first Excelsior Presses were produced by E.M Lockwood on contract in his own lawnmower sharpening shop and then in the factory Kelsey for production in 1876. His first press was inked by hand but was made self-inking in 1875. The company quickly grew due to the demand for personal presses, and because the Kelsey Press Company also supplied its customers with other printing supplies such as cards, ink, and type.
The company became incorporated in 1905 and through its success managed to beat out or purchase many of its competitors. One competitor in particular was the owner of the first building that the Kelsey Press Company leased for its offices, James Cook. When Cook realized the success that William Kelsey was having in the business of producing personal table top presses, he tried his hand at the same business, but Kelsey managed to beat him out and eventually bought J. Cook and Company. Below is an excerpt from William A. Kelsey regarding his competition that clearly shows the contempt he had for Cook.
“It having come to our notice that J. Cook (and Co), envious of the business success of our establishment, and aping its mode of business, has endeavored to steal some of our customers by offering certain articles, purporting to be put up like ours, at a price less than ours. Lest some be misled we give notice that We Will Fill Orders For Anything This Party Offers, Or Ever May Offer Or Advertise, At Five Per Cent Less Than His Prices... We make this offer because of the despicable character of the competition we propose to Kill. Healthy competition we welcome, but the other kind we mean to Fight till a different course is adopted than aping our plans Entirely.” (Connecticut Advertiser, May 1877)
The Kelsey Press Company produced many models of presses during its 120 years. Some of the models are the Junior (2x3”), the 3x5 Excelsior and 3x5 Excelsior Model “N”, 5x8 Excelsior and 5x8 "Victor" models, The 6x10 Excelsior, 9x13 Excelsior, and the 7x11 "Star" press.
The company continued manufacturing presses of all sizes until it succumbed to the waning demand for personal presses and had to close its doors in 1993.
The Excelsior press had its hand in building printing companies for 120 years, and is now a sought after antique for collectors around the world. There are many stories of how the Excelsior press was the first press owned by the starters of many printing companies still in existence today.
Many collectors still buy, sell and use the Excelsior presses today.
| Listing of Officers at the time of incorporation - Kelsey Press Company, 1905 | ||
| Name | Title | Photo |
| William A. Kelsey | President |  |
| F.C. Edgerton | Vice-President |  |
| F.L. Huntington | Treasurer & Superintendent |  |
Citations:
Gillespie, Charles Bancroft. An Historic Record And Pictorial Description of the Town of Meriden, Connecticut: And Men Who Have Made It... A Century of Meriden "The Silver City.". Meriden, Conn.: Journal Publishing Co., 1906. Pages 61-63.
Harris, Elizabeth M. Personal Impressions: The Small Printing Press in Nineteenth-century America. David R. Godine Publisher, 2004.
Web Sources:
excelsiorpress.org/kelsey.html
http://users.bestweb.net/~bpress/res/art/kelsey1.html
http://www.thefossils.org/horvat/aj/lowcostpress.htm
The photos used in this posting are considered public domain with the exception of the first image listed. The image was used in the book Personal Impressions by Elizabeth Harris. If I were to attempt to make this a Wikipedia.org entry I would seek out permission from the publishers of the books in question in order to use the images.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Argument Rewrite #1
Most of my clients give a little gasp when I tell them what
my hourly rate is. What they don’t
realize is that I charge less than most designers in this area. Many of the design agencies charge double
what we charge for the same services.
The problem with the field of graphic design is that it is underestimated as a profession. I am not sure where this general attitude came from, but if I ever pinpoint the reason and time, I will do my best to build myself a time machine to alter history forever.
Being told daily that your work is not worth the same as everyone else’s has had a major impact on the egos of designers everywhere. A divide among designers has cropped up, some have an ego that has grown too large in order to keep the harsh criticisms from causing damage, and the others have almost non-existent egos that allow the customer to walk all over them because they believe that their work is not worth the same as everyone else’s.
The problem with the field of graphic design is that it is underestimated as a profession. I am not sure where this general attitude came from, but if I ever pinpoint the reason and time, I will do my best to build myself a time machine to alter history forever.
Being told daily that your work is not worth the same as everyone else’s has had a major impact on the egos of designers everywhere. A divide among designers has cropped up, some have an ego that has grown too large in order to keep the harsh criticisms from causing damage, and the others have almost non-existent egos that allow the customer to walk all over them because they believe that their work is not worth the same as everyone else’s.
I am here to give designers hope. Here are a few solid reasons why hiring a
graphic designer is worth every penny.
Customers end up
paying the same amount for a pre-press designer to fix files they created,
as they would have on a designer to create the files from scratch.
As good as you may be with Publisher, Word, MAC Pages or any
other program that you think you can design in, all of these programs do not
produce print ready documents.
What do I mean by print ready? I mean that the black ink is set to 100%
black ink only, that the colors are converted to CMYK, and that if a bleed is
needed it will be built into the final file.
If you really are good with Publisher, Word, MAC Pages or any other
program, then you will know that all of these items are possible to achieve in
those programs, but not easily. If you
have no idea what it is I am talking about, then you shouldn’t be attempting to
design things yourself anyways, hire a designer!
As a pre-press designer for a printing company, I have seen
first hand what those types of files can produce and it is not pretty.
Most of the time, I have to spend hours adding bleeds and
converting colors just to get those files through our file processing system,
and even then they almost always don’t print the way the customer intended.
Every print shop will charge you an hourly rate if they have
to spend a lot of time fixing a file before printing. Most of the time the hourly rate they charge
for fixing a file, is the same rate as they charge for graphic design.
If you are going to pay a design fee, you may as well send
it to a designer from the start!
Professional designers have either spent years figuring out
what works and what doesn’t when it comes to layout, or they spend a lot of
money on an education to learn those same lessons. Personally, I learned things
the hard way.
The price you pay for
a designer incorporates either the education they have received, or the amount
of working experience they have.
Early in my career, I spent a lot of time sending files that were rejected by printing companies time and again, but after 13 years, I can now explain
that the price we charge for my services is worth every penny.
If you are skeptical about what price you are paying for a
designer, ask. Ask them where they
learned their trade and ask them for samples of their work. Their work should reflect the price you are
being charged.
Even if the price seems high, a professionally designed ad
or marketing piece is well worth the money.
Professionally
designed items have more impact on target audiences.
I don’t think anyone would argue against the concept that a
good design is more effective than a bad design. Take a look at the sample below.
Which design would you prefer? Design A was a file sent to me by one of my
customers (I have left off the company logo and information in order for my
client to remain anonymous). The file
was designed in Microsoft Publisher.
Luckily my customer was smart enough to realize that what they could do
in Publisher didn’t make the impression they wanted, so I created Design B for
them.
Design B isn’t much different from their original design,
but you can see that even a slightly more professional design makes a
difference in the overall impression of the piece. Instead of looking sloppy, the company looks
organized. Instead of looking like a
business that cuts corners whenever they can, the company looks like they are
willing to spend a little money to make their customers happy.
If a design turns even one customer away from using your
services, then your design has failed.
Hiring a professional designer will ensure that the advertising or
marketing piece will have the impact that you are looking for. Not only will the final product look better, but your target audience
will respond in kind as well.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Image Resolution How-To
The Internet is a perilous place to look for photographs for use in print design. Because of the wide availability and ease of search for images on the web, there has been an influx of design work that attempts to incorporate images pulled from websites, and most of the images on the web are not optimum for printing.
Since the web is constantly being streamlined for faster download times, images used in web design have been down-sampled, making them quick to download and small enough to view well on screen, but not large enough for professional printing.
So how can you figure out whether or not images from the web are high-resolution images (good for printing) or a low-resolution images (good for screen viewing)?
In order to understand why not to use images from the web, you must first understand what resolution means. Below is an explanation of resolution as posted on About.com by Sue Chastain:
Knowing the definition of resolution is a good start to figuring out how to determine if the image you have is good enough quality for printing, but you will need to take some further steps to determine exactly what the resolution (PPI/DPI) of that image is. Below is a step-by-step processes you can take to find out if the image you have downloaded from the Internet is high-enough resolution for printing.
How to determine the image resolution of a photograph downloaded from the Internet:
If you do happen to find an image online that is high enough resolution to print, the image may be copyright protected. There are better ways to find images to use for design. Stock photography websites (istockphoto.com, shutterstock.com, corbisimages.com, etc.) allow you to purchase a license to download and use high resolution versions of many professionally photographed images. These sites are great tools to help you avoid the pitfalls that can occur when you attempt to design using images pulled from a website.
Since the web is constantly being streamlined for faster download times, images used in web design have been down-sampled, making them quick to download and small enough to view well on screen, but not large enough for professional printing.
So how can you figure out whether or not images from the web are high-resolution images (good for printing) or a low-resolution images (good for screen viewing)?
In order to understand why not to use images from the web, you must first understand what resolution means. Below is an explanation of resolution as posted on About.com by Sue Chastain:
Resolution is a measurement of the
output quality of an image, usually in terms of samples, pixels, dots, or lines
per inch. The terminology varies according to the intended output device. PPI
(pixels per inch) refers to screen resolution, DPI (dots per inch) refers to
print resolution, SPI (samples per inch) refers to scanning resolution, and LPI
(lines per inch) refers to halftone resolution.
How to determine the image resolution of a photograph downloaded from the Internet:
iOS operating system
(MAC)
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1. Find
an image on-line that you want to download by searching images using a search
engine such as Google or Bing.
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2. Right
click on the image in your website browser and select >Save As.
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3. Save
the file to your computer in a folder that you can easily find. It might help to rename the photograph
something you will remember.
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4. Navigate
your way through your computer to the photo you saved in step 3.
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5. Right
click on the image file and select >Open With.
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6. Select
the program >Preview from the drop down menu that appears.
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The file
will automatically open into the program you selected.
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7. Once
the file is open in Preview, select >Tools from the menu at the very top
of your computer monitor. (See Image iOS.1)
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8. Select
>Adjust Size from the drop down menu. (See Image iOS.1)
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A new
dialogue box will open, displaying the image width and height.
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If the
measurements for the width and height don’t appear in inch measurement, then
select the drop down box to the right of the width and height to change the
rules to inches. (See Image iOS.2)
| ||
|
Make sure
that the “Scale Proportionally” and “Resample Image” boxes show a check mark
before continuing on to the next step. If these two boxes do not have check
marks, check the boxes to enable the “Scale Proportionally” and “Resample
Image” options.
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9. Change
the resolution of the image to 300 pixels/inch (for our purposes, PPI and DPI are considered the same)
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Because
the box labeled “Scale Proportionally” is selected, the width and height of
the image will change automatically based on the resolution that you
choose. Once you change the resolution
to 300 PPI, the width and height measurement that you see are the largest
size that the image will print without losing its quality. If you print the image larger than the size
indicated in this dialogue box, the image be fuzzy.
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Windows Operating system
|
1. Find
an image on-line that you want to download
| ||||
|
2. Right
click on the image in your website browser and select >Save As
| ||||
|
3. Save
the file to your computer in a place that you can easily find it. It might help to rename the photograph
something you will remember.
| ||||
|
4. Navigate
your way through your computer to the photo you saved in step 3.
| ||||
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5. Right
click on the image file and select >Open With
| ||||
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6. Select
the program >Paint
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7. Once
the file is open in Paint, click the Paint tab located at the top of left of
the window, highlighted in blue. (See Image WindowsOS.1)
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8. Select
>Properties from the drop down menu. (See Image WindowsOS.2)
| ||||
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A new
dialogue box will open displaying the image width and height and DPI (print
resolution).
If the measurements for the width and height don’t appear in
inch measurements, then click the option to change to inch measurement.(See
Image WindowsOS.3)
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Typically
images pulled from the Internet will have a DPI of 72 or 96, which are the
recommended size for easy downloading.
Since the image pictured is 120 DPI at a width of 3.4” and a height of
2.7”, the size of the image will be 2.5 times smaller at 300 DPI than the
size of the image at 120 DPI.
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9. With
some simple math we can determine the actual size of the image when changed
to 300 DPI.
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Divide
300 by the exiting images DPI.
(Formula: 300÷Image DPI) 300 ÷ 120=2.5 | ||||
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Then
divide the width by answer to formula 1 above, in this instance the answer is
2.5: 3.4÷2.5=1.36
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Divide
the height by the answer to formula 1 above 2.4÷2.5=.96
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After
doing this small amount of math, I have determined that the image size of the
example image at a print resolution of 300dpi will be 1.36” x .96”. If you print the image larger than the size
calculated, the image will be fuzzy.
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If you do happen to find an image online that is high enough resolution to print, the image may be copyright protected. There are better ways to find images to use for design. Stock photography websites (istockphoto.com, shutterstock.com, corbisimages.com, etc.) allow you to purchase a license to download and use high resolution versions of many professionally photographed images. These sites are great tools to help you avoid the pitfalls that can occur when you attempt to design using images pulled from a website.
Lesson Learned: Pulling
images from the Internet for use in print design is a mistake.
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