2 4 O Z M A G A Z I N E w w w . o z o n l i n e . t v

Blurring the chalk lines between designer and printer.Blurring the chalk lines between designer and printer.Blurring the chalk lines between designer and printer

…there was the designer.Creating on canvas with paint and watercolor,olor,olor pasting t, pasting t, ype with wax or spray adhesive,and cutting Rubylith for cylith for cylith f olor separations. C. C. ollating their client’s idea in’s idea in’ to a magnum opus of color and style.Brochures, b, b, ooks, magazines, magazines, ,ads, p, p, osters, banners, banners, , signs, signs, .Each and every work a moment of stylistic grace.And it was good.

Until the masterpiece was wrenched from their hands, bundled with all its asso, bundled with all its asso, ciated parts, pack, pack, -aged within a blank envelope and given over to the most unknown and misunderstood entities in the world of static infortic infortic inf mation.

The Printer. (Insert screams of terror here.)

As melodramatic as it may sound, this has been the ongoing and inherited attitude between designer and printer for decer for decer f ades.VerVerV y little was offeras offeras off ed in the way of coordination and cooperation when it came to creating, r, r, eceiving and delivering the product. It. It. f any aspect of the final render was incor-rect or a mistake was caught post-finishing, b, b, oth sides raised shields and armed photon torpedoes.

Unfornfornf tunately the printer had a secret weapon hidden within its phaser banks . .hidden within its phaser banks . .hidden within its phaser banks . . . . . the designer . the designer . ’s ’s ’signature.

The stress most designers face when looking over a printer provided proof rivals the pressure of any corporate position on Wall Street. Heet. Heet. ow can they really be sure everything will go as they envisioned it when all they have is a cream colored proof of their vision with blue type?

Not much has changed with signing proofs tofs tof wenty years later,er,er but the r, but the r, oles of artist and printer have undergone some mighty twists, t, t, wists that have forforf ced both sides—printers especially—to take another look at the relationship.

And what has pushed this should-be symbiotic rapport into a new era?

The DThe DT igital Age.

Desktop publishing heralded all sorts of twists and turns, sho, sho, ving more cogs and wrenches into the wheels of the printing industry.The supposed ease of placing the control of design, col of design, col of design, olor and finishing into the hands of the every-day consumer turned soccer moms and high school students into designers overnight.

A plethora of designing applications flooded the market, and the pr, and the pr, inter was foras foras f ced to find ways to translate electronic files onto the press.What could the traditional film and flat printer do? Those who couldn’t keep up financially with the changes went out of business.Those who remained learned the new technologies.

Story by Phaedra M.Weldon

Layout and design, Scout and design, Scout and design, ott Banks of BadStudio

w w w . o z o n l i n e . t v O Z M A G A Z I N E 2 5

Unfortunately the technology outgrew even the designer.

Suddenly designers had to understand two different computer platforms, whether it be PC or Mac, the applications required by the printers for output, file formats, scanning technologies, terms such as RIP, DPI and REZ which seemed to change daily as large-scale inkjet printers pushed out screen printing and off-set. Even the types of advertising changed for the designer and printer—keeping an eye on the ever changing patterns in advertising, including the large format print for construction sites, billboards as well as the ever expanding car wrap—both industry positions have a lot to keep up with.

Yes. You read that right.

Both positions. Nothing makes a stronger product than a well-oiled, symbiotic relationship between printer and designer in the beginning stages. And here in Atlanta, there are printers who have been through the learning lessons and have made strides above and beyond the call in the area of printer/designer relationships.

“You know, we used to have to work a week on a book layout—now we’re down to a day—and six cups of coffee.”

In the past ten years, printers have been very much aware of this chasm. Why? Because a large percentage of career printers today started out on the other side of the chalk-drawn line. They have been artists and designers, they have stood inside those early printing companies and sweated those proofs, stood by those sheet-fed and web-fed presses, and they understand both worlds. Many times the experience from being on the outside as well as the inside can help a printer understand the internal financial burdens better.

And these individuals and their companies are a fountain of information readily available to the fresh-faced art school graduate. And though the designers of today haven’t quite grasped the impact such experience and know-how can improve their work in today’s market, printers are making that knowledge as accessible as they can.

It’s called Customer Service.

“I used to design out of my basement and had a very poor relationship with printers,” said Ben Huber, Vice-President at Graphics Worldwide. Huber, along with Ken Raymond, Graphics Worldwide’s President—who brings over 40 years of printing to the company—have built their tradi-tional off-set company, specializing in high-quality four color and two color brochures, magazines and books, slow and steady. “I discovered that most printers have insufficient prepress operators because of the rising expense of finding someone who knows all the applications needed,” says Huber.

Throughout the industry, one of the key growth positions in any printing company has indeed been the prepress operator. Once known as the “stripper” or lithographer, the individual respon-sible for translating the art boards into film and then “stripping” them onto flats for the printing presses to print, has now gone electronic. Prepress operators have to know the platforms. They have to know the applications designers use (from anti-quated files from Microsoft Publisher to the Adobe Creative Suite III). Customer support means talking clients through saving files for the best output, which also requires understanding of computer networking and how an ftp site works.

Printers today understand that same knowledge has to be made available to the designer/client in as many ways as possible. And communicated in simple terms. Otherwise the relationship between the two will never improve. Not only are these prepress operators key in the performance of the company, but many times the lifeline between printer and designer.

“Most problems that arise now in print work can be solved with a simple phone call or email,” as Huber summarizes. “Having this experience, I can talk anyone through collecting fonts for output, and give advice on saving layered Photoshop files as an .eps format. Not all designers are going to know that an .eps format can produce a higher quality print resolution, since vector and text layers can RIP at 2400 dpi. That’s the printer’s job to relay that information.”

And what the artist/designer and client must understand in today’s industry is that the printer is ready to educate everyone. They are more than willing and able to make the job go as smoothly as possible.

“Open, two-way communications is a necessity,” says Linda Coatsworth, who’s been in the industry since 1975. Linda worked as an account represen-tative for three years with Color Reflections, one of Atlanta’s premiere large format digital printers, retired for two years and then came back in a marketing position. “Our motto is slow down, ask and listen to what’s needed. Just as important, we have found that using the team approach, includ-ing our own rep/specialists in the initial design stage to explore all avenues, allows the full team to be able to recommend the best options to render the ‘wow’ that the client expects.”

Color Reflections opened in 1990 and was the first color photographic lab to offer 24 hour produc-tion. The company began in a 3000 square foot facility with three employees and today has grown to 20,000 square feet with 23 employees. Color Re-flections continues to offer “firsts” to the communi-ty – the first Cruse Camera, the first Durst Lambda, the first multi-function UV printer for both rigid and roll materials, the first HP XL-Jet 16’ solvent printer, and soon another first for fabric printing. Their complete range of products continues to revolutionize the large format imaging market.

And in ever improving their customer relation-ships, Color Reflections has developed its own winning team break down:

Left image, photo credit: Graphics Worldwide Printers, artist’s reproduction; Carwrap below, Color Reflections, worked closely with Lowe Engineers to use their design idea, and to make their concept a reality.