Seeing the work that I mostly do now, you would never guess that the only degree I hold is for Visual Communication (Graphic Design). For many years I worked as a print and publications Art Director, not even sure if that title exists any more. I was good at it and I loved it so much. The stress, deadlines, intense negotiations, last minute Canadian press checks, and the countless best practices you had to follow. It all made up some of the most exhilarating and eventful years of my life and just in time for me to turn 21 and learn how to drink.
Every now and then I get to jump back into that world and work with a print house. Sometimes I feel like a blind man when it comes to the higher level hardware and programming stuff that find myself working on more and more. I am learning quickly, but I do get stuck from time to time. Talking to a printer about a print job though… that is more like watching a tennis match at Wimbledon. Though I am not up on the latest print tech, I can speak the language well. There is no need to dumb things down.
“I need single sided full color prints on 7mil vinyl stock and can you run that on digital because we only need 4 of each out of 20 prints. What is the turnaround?”
I know that this makes me a total geek, but I totally get off on these types of exchanges. In some ways I am sad that the pace of tech will inevitably make printed media obsolete. However, if I live long enough to see it, I will enjoy telling stories of how we once put ink on paper.