What is Lorem
August 22, 2005Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting
industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever
since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and
scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only
five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting,
remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with
the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and
more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker
including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Graphic Arts is not Fine Art
May 20, 2005Graphic arts is not fine art. True, there are some graphic artists that
produce artwork that customers will buy and hang on their walls, but
this is just another of the many specializations. For the most part, we
are production workers required to produce artistically pleasing
production work. The image of the “starving artist” does not belong in
this field at all. We are stuck (for lack of a better word) with the
requirements of production and that will always limit our artistic
expression. Another serious problem: deadlines! Our customers can’t
wait for us to produce that most wonderful design or graphics, they
need it now! Companies planning marketing campaigns see the production
of printed materials as only part of their efforts; we too, must see
our efforts as such and avoid disrupting the rest of their timetable.
And don’t forget budget. Someone has got to pay us for our efforts and
that will limit our creative efforts. True art cannot be limited but we
must constantly face these limitations that will always keep us from
being true fine artists.
What is CMYK Color?
April 18, 2005CMYK refers to the printing inks used in four-color process printing. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black are the colors used to produce full-color photographs and designs. (An approximate representation of these colors is below.) These colors can be combined and printed to emulate a wide number of other colors. If you look carefully at a printed color photograph in any magazine or book, you’ll see that it’s made up of rows of tiny dots called a halftone screen. The dots work together, at different angles, to fool your eye into seeing a full spectrum of colors.
For a graphics file to be printed in CMYK, it must be converted or created in that color mode. When film is produced, a different sheet of film is created for each color. For the computer to tell the machine that produces the film, an imagesetter, what to put on each sheet of film, the computer image must be in CMYK format. Colors in a page layout program must also be specified in percentages of the four colored inks.
So, why do we refer to these four ink colors as CMYK and not CMYB? Well, quite simply, it’s so that no one will be confused into thinking that the last color is Blue rather than Black.
SRC: mydesignprimer
Article from VGA
March 31, 2005What graphic arts isn’t
There are also a number of misconceptions that you should be aware of because you may get advice that is not exactly correct for graphic arts industry in general. Many of these ideas are the results of experiences in small segments of the overall industry and really cannot be applied across the entire field of graphic arts. Realize that the field is actually a giant collection of specializations so you shouldn’t stress the value of any one specialization and ignore others.
Today’s graphic arts is not yesterday’s paste-up! Many years ago a lot of graphic artists did paste-up, or actually assembled type and illustration images onto boards with glue or wax (not paste, which was found to be unacceptable) producing finished pages for graphic projects. Today we work on computers also setting type that yesterday typesetters sent as finished type to paste-up artists. Today’s graphic artists must be highly trained in typography; both mechanical typesetting as well as having a good sense of typographic quality. Today’s graphic artists also must manipulate photographic and other images as part of their work where in the past other technicians working on large cameras did that work. This adds the responsibility of working with images making sure they will print properly as well as look nice. Yesterday’s paste-up artists did very little of this. You see, today’s graphic artists do everything that yesterday’s paste-up artists did and a lot more! Yet people have this lingering mentality about the past. Be careful. There is much more to today’s graphic arts jobs than ever before. It is much more technical so don’t think of it as yesterday’s glue bottle work!
Graphic arts is not fine art. True, there are some graphic artists that produce artwork that customers will buy and hang on their walls, but this is just another of the many specializations. For the most part, we are production workers required to produce artistically pleasing production work. The image of the “starving artist” does not belong in this field at all. We are stuck (for lack of a better word) with the requirements of production and that will always limit our artistic expression. Another serious problem: deadlines! Our customers can’t wait for us to produce that most wonderful design or graphics, they need it now! Companies planning marketing campaigns see the production of printed materials as only part of their efforts; we too, must see our efforts as such and avoid disrupting the rest of their timetable. And don’t forget budget. Someone has got to pay us for our efforts and that will limit our creative efforts. True art cannot be limited but we must constantly face these limitations that will always keep us from being true fine artists.
Another problem comes from the opposite extreme. Many people get the mistaken impression that graphic arts or desktop publishing is something like word processing. The field of word processing as developed as a result of streamlining business communications where letters and memos can be produced quickly. The result is that artistic expression has been programmed out of existence. Formats and layout standards are given and must be strictly adhered to. The design of pages is simply not done. No time is wasted on layout because the speed and efficiency of the communications is the number one requirement. As a result, word processing programs have been written and procedures developed to streamline the process. True word processor operators need to know little about typography, layout, design, graphics and art. True graphic arts is the result of careful design consideration and a complicated process of assembly that simply will not do in the world of word processing.
But beware of anyone reducing the incredibly complex and diversified field of graphic arts to the level of word processing which can be learned in a short period of time; which, by its very nature, has been simplified. Many people do not separate the two, especially those with strong business backgrounds whose objectives favor the streamlining of communications for the ultimate good of the operation of a business. This is quite wrong to consider for true graphic arts.
Another misconception is that word processing and graphic arts (desktop publishing) use the same programs. This is not exactly true as word processing programs are streamlined and simplified and real graphic arts programs are made to be as versatile and complex as possible to allow for more and more possibilities of artistic expression. Office programs simply do not allow for the kind of artistic expression we need as true graphic artists. Anyone telling you otherwise does not have a clear concept of the entire graphic arts industry; just a concept of what may be considered a specialization of the overall graphic arts industry called “creative office communications”. Beware!
The last problem is that of the experience of a word processing technician wishing to become a true graphic artist. Since word processor operators are trained to streamline their communications productions, their experience is not aimed at true graphic arts production. Many times people with word processing backgrounds are not hired for this fact alone because they do not show their experience as being able to seek creative solutions but instead to limit creativity to accepted word processing standards. Word processor operators who wish to move on to creative positions in this field should experiment with the real programs and assemble a portfolio that shows they are capable of producing artistic and creative work. Word processing experience alone is more of a liability!
Copyright 2000, R.P.Duzniewski
