I can see myself changing my mind several times because I can set as many pages I want or I can choose to design only one. I don’t have to worry about compatibility issues and I can import Quark files, Corel files, Adobe files or anything I want and all are fully editable. I can click on any picture because I want to edit a little,  I have all the tools and filters from Photoshop and I can do what I want, I can even set the color mode on spot.

As I progress with my project I might need some pies and charts, well this is not a problem anymore, I  have all the tools to create them inside the actual file.  I can collect the project with a click of a button and don’t have to purchase a plug-in for this. I can save whatever format I want and, if then I need to make an animation I just open the timeline and start animating.

Endless possibilities …but when? Adobe makes great updates on their software but I still dream at the ONE.

The human eye can detect an amazing range of light energy, but what happens to it from there is a matter of psychology, and not necessarily color science. Color represents a strong part of our emotional association fields, a sort of resonant touchstone to which we tie ideas and subconscious feelings. Studies have shown that a person’s overall mood and perception of events can be influenced by the colors of their surroundings.

If you ask most people their favorite color, they’ll tell you it’s a shade of blue. But why? The intonation applied to these colors is entirely based on individual perception. To some, blue connotes peace, wisdom, or depth; to others, it suggests depression or distance. The soft values you associate with colors not only determines how you respond to them, but tempers their appearance in your eyes and mind.

Even societal pressures influence your perception of color.  What is a great advertising campaign in Tokyo it won’t be appreciated at the same level in South America for example. Different countries have their own cultural references and color expectations. There are still some international agencies that will use the same campaign in different countries with only adding translation. The result is not always a happy one. For example while in Western cultures Yellow represents happiness and joy, in China Yellow  is seen sacred and for the upper class (imperial). The conclusion? Sometimes research work is mandatory before designing.

The anti recession measures announced in Romania in the last days really came as a shock to everybody. After two very bad years for the media, we are faced with new challenges.

In the last two years the recession really eat the young advertising agencies and killed those publications that had a smaller number of readers.

Another sad news is the closing of the “XtremPC” magazine that after 12 years as leader for IT fans has closed due to financial problems.

The budgets are smaller and smaller and people panic, the first reaction is to act like an ostrich. Should we all hide until the storm is over?  Is this the solution?

My answer is NO WAY, don’t hide, try to reinvent yourself. If printing costs are very high then reorganize your magazine, make it smaller, use recycled paper, sell it cheaper than usual so more people can afford it . Don’t lose  the people, propose them a part-time schedule until things are better, use that time to reinvent your services. Go on-line, spread the word. Don’t have money for a state of the art website? Make a blog or a Facebook page, the important thins is to be present, don’t put your head in the sand.

All these economic problems have left a mark on designers too. Many are left without jobs or have a hard time in finding projects. The problems from media is affecting all in a way or another. Many designers had to lower the prices to keep the clients, others gave up on freelancing for a steady job that brings a safer income, others had to rethink their career. Some clients are so careful with their budgets that they prefer to hire the cheaper designer no matter the quality of work.

The times are hard but same rule applies here: DON’T RUN, DON’T HIDE. Is important to be present no matter the times. Thinking positive is a good way to improve things no matter how hard they are.  Not having a job is not cool but take advantage of the extra time and promote yourself. Improve your portfolio, talk more with other professionals, go to seminars, do whatever makes you feel better. Get involved in cultural projects even if they are not paid, working Pro Bono is a great way to meet people and add new designs to your portfolio.

Things will get better, I’m sure of this. Until then keep your head high and do the thing you do best

Not lost forever..hope

Filed under: My perspective, On the web, Work Tagged: anti-recession measures, budgets are smaller, designers struggle with the recession, hard time in finding projects, hide until the storm is over, keep your head high, not having a job is not cool, recession kills budgets in advertising, The recession in Eastern Europe ]]> http://dtpfaq.com/2010/07/08/the-recession-in-eastern-europe-and-how-it-affects-all-people-from-media-including-designers/feed/ 0 dtpfaq recession xpc-dvd-cover-no61 http://dtpfaq.com/2010/07/07/projects-behind-the-scene/ http://dtpfaq.com/2010/07/07/projects-behind-the-scene/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 08:05:48 +0000 Irina Gingu http://dtpfaq.com/?p=709 ]]> Working as a graphic designer .. hmm how hard is this? I noticed that most people who are not in the business don’t know exactly what this job is about and how things work. We just presume they know but how can they? I don’t know what other jobs are about in detail and I’m not sure I would understand all if someone would explain it.

There is no standard recipe to follow to become a designer. The most important thing to remember is that this doesn’t happens over night. Tones on hours are spent on study and practice. Depending on the specialization a designer  has knowledge of arts, different design software , fonts, colors, printing, branding, media, web and so on.  Talent is another thing that not all people have, “seeing” and understanding how things should look is not coming natural to everybody.

I noticed there is a wrong perception about design projects, people tend to think that if a project is small in size it will be done faster and will cost less.  I wish for things to be so easy but unfortunately they are not. Sometimes the smallest design can be more difficult than a brochure if we think at vector art and how everything is built line by line.

I don’t know if you noticed but most of the time the client doesn’t know exactly what he wants so there is extra work in finding what the project is about. I have to ask the proper questions, adapt the terms to the client understanding, find more about the business and competitors. This part is pretty time-consuming but is necessary to know what road to follow in terms of design.

After this part is completed I must send some drafts. To be able to make drafts I need to gather all available content in one place and start creating. For each sample I send there are at least two or three samples behind that the client never has the chance to see.

After I send the samples I wait for the feedback that is not always very clear. Sometimes I have to meet with the client and talk minutes or hours, this is time-consuming too.

So, a project involves lots of communications, research work, creating sketches and then making digital drafts, making lots of changes until the client is happy and then preparing the files for all media formats. Preparing the file for print is another thing, after the client says OK he wants the file to be sent to the printer in a few minutes. I always have to explain that printers don’t accept files that don’t conform with all printing standards and some preparation of the file is need it.

All these steps consume time, this is something that people should know. When you hire a designer that says he will create a 8 pages brochure in 3 hours I advice you to think twice. Good designers don’t rush, they will give you a fair time estimate because they know what each step is about and how much time it takes.

If you are interested in a Digital Prepress Service Provider then you might want to consider these questions:

1. What formats and platforms do you accept for digital work?  Ask about their supported software and transportation media.

2. What are your rates?

3. Do you offer any training or technical support?

4. What type and size imagesetters do you use? Some facilities can output only letter- and tabloid-sized page films. If your work is larger than this, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

5. How often are your imagesetters calibrated? (this should be done on daily basis)

6. What screening options are available? More and more establishments are offering stochastic screening and other types of custom screening. Ask for samples and a description of the steps involved in getting the most out of such technologies.

7. Do you offer scanning and color correcting services? Ask to see samples of their work, as well as their scanning equipment. Be leery of any facility offering critical color if their only device is a flatbed scanner. Also inquire about using Desktop Color Separation files.

8. What color proofing systems are available? Viable systems include laminate systems, IRIS inkjet, calibrated Fiery (or another color laser printer), and bluelines.

9. What trapping services are available? Some service bureaus use dedicated trapping software but charge considerably more for the service. Others use a combination of dedicated software and manual techniques. Others include a certain amount of trapping in the overall cost of output.

10. Who will be the primary contact? Will you communicate only with a salesperson? Or are you encouraged to contact the people responsible for processing your file? Choose a system that makes you most comfortable.

11. Do you have your own print shop? Many service bureaus, in order to remain competitive, have “closed the loop” by acquiring or merging with conventional print shops. This can be a great benefit, especially if you choose to have your project printed at their facility. It is likely that their production specialists can optimize their film output for reproduction on
their presses.

Questions for a Commercial Printer

1. Do you accept digital files? No one should feel obliged to hand over files to a printer for processing if you don’t feel comfortable with his level of digital experience. Also note that some printers, under the auspices of providing digital services, merely farm out the work to a service bureau and then mark up the cost by 20–30%.

2. What are your rates? If possible, ask about cost breakdowns for representative samples of your work to get a better idea.

3. Do you offer any training or technical support? Most printers encourage designers to call with even the tiniest inquiries. Find out the proper people to contact with such questions.

4. What prepress services do you offer? Ask for input on what prepress services might be more cost-effective if performed conventionally.

5. Are both sheet- and Web-fed presses available? By describing the nature of your projects to your printer, you can determine how these best suit the needs of your work.

6. How many colors can be printed in a single run? Many print shops run four-color jobs on two-color presses, which make press-checks almost impossible without using a densitometer. Stochastically screened images and five- or six-color jobs are also more difficult to print successfully and take more time to complete.

7. Do you offer high-fidelity color printing? Typically, only shops possessing six-color presses offer this service. Ask for samples printed on their presses.

8. What is your average turnaround time? The industry-standard turnaround time is 10 days, from the day the printer receives the files. Ask about their typical press schedule, and inquire about rush rates (or if they even accept rush jobs).

Bibliography:  “Print Publishing – A Hayden Shop Manual”

The 33rd Nikon Photo Contest International, sponsored by Nikon, is an international photo contest designed to provide an opportunity for photographers of all skill levels around the world to communicate and contribute to photographic culture. In recent years, the contest has been held every other year.
Since it was first held in 1969, this contest has steadily gained popularity with photographers from around the world with more than 320,000 photographers submitting over 1,310,000 photos. More than 18,000 photographers from 153 countries submitted over 51,000 photos for the 2008-2009 contest. These numbers represent records for the largest number of entries by the most applicants from the most countries ever, making the Nikon Photo Contest International a truly international event.

This year’s categories

Entries for the 2010-2011 contest will be accepted for two categories. The first category is a free subject category (A) and the second entitled “Energy” (B). Photos of any subject or theme are invited for the free subject category. Entries for the “Energy” category should be photos that capture the energy of sights and subjects that inspire, motivate or excite you or viewers. Photos covering a broad range of subject matter from throughout the world are expected for both categories.

The Emerging Talent Award is awarded to provide younger photographers with an opportunity to share their photos and a goal towards which they may work, and many photos are entered by young photographers each time this contest is held.

53 prizes awarded by a panel of international photographers

Entries will be judged by photographers currently active on the world stage. Of a total of 53 prizes awarded, one photo will receive the contest Grand Prize, 16 photos from each category will receive first, second and third prizes, four photos entered by photographers aged 29 or younger will receive Emerging Talent Awards, and 16 Emerging Talent Award runners up will be selected.

Winners will be announced in June 2011 with an exhibition of the winning photographs planned.*
The goal of the Nikon Photo Contest International is to provide an opportunity for photographers to express themselves and to share their own feelings and impressions with people around the world through their photographs.

Find out more about this contest

When you buy a font, you buy the right to use that font to create a printed product. This means that it is perfectly legal to supply a font to anyone involved in the process of designing with, printing, or reproducing the font, like freelance designers, service bureaus, or print shops.

It is also legal to hold client fonts, but don’t use them for any other work but the client’s. This is the difference between copying and pirating. It’s pirating if you make money by using a font that doesn’t belong to you.

It is legal to change or edit fonts using specialized programs. Legally, typefaces cannot be copyrighted; only the coded information used in creating the font files can be. So, if you make a couple of microscopic changes in a typeface , you have a font you can use freely, or even sell.

A hard drive failure, you deleted accidentally a project folder or reformatted the entire drive, deleting everything. It’s impossible to plan all disasters, but by backing up your work, you can keep your  data safe. When something does occur, you’re able to restore your files and keep working.

Backup refers to routinely updated copies of your most commonly used files. Your type library and image libraries should already exist on an external hard drive, and your  applications and operating system can be restored from the original hard.

Fortunately, backing up your work is easy. It only requires duplicating your files to a location where they won’t be affected if something happens to your computer. This could be an external hard drive,, a company server, or another workstation connected over a network. It can be performed manually by clicking and dragging or automatically.

Backing up manually is as easy as dragging the folders onto an external hard drive, Do this as you prepare to go home, letting the files copy as you walk out the door. If you follow this simple routine, you will never lose more than a few hours of work. When copying, you can replace previous backups with current data.  Whatever method you choose, make sure your external hard drive, is clearly labeled and that everyone knows not to touch it.

Always keep in mind the limitations of the media you choose. It must be large enough, reliable, and durable. There are plenty of products you can choose from and you can have hundreds of GB in an external hard drive, as big as a business card.

• Logos. Often-used graphics such as corporate and credit card logos need to be portable, easily edited, and consistent—all of which PostScript artwork provides.

• Stylized type. The points and paths used in vector-based artwork are virtually identical to the shapes used to create the characters of your favorite typefaces. This makes Illustrator and FreeHand the perfect tools for editing and enhancing customized type.

• Refining traced images. It’s possible to convert a pixel-based image to vector-based shapes. This is done by tracing an element with paths, either by hand or using an automated program. This technique is not suitable for every pixel-based image; simple black and white shapes work best, like a line art scan of a logo that only exists in printed form. By converting the image to outlines, you can edit, scale, and output it just like any graphic created in Illustrator or FreeHand. Both tracing methods, however, rarely turn out perfect artwork the first time around. Most often, you need to open the graphic in your vector-based editing program, use its Bézier tool to refine the shapes, and re-save before incorporating it into your layout.

• Fonts and specialized font characters. Most font designers use Illustrator or FreeHand at least in part when creating new digital typefaces. After drawing the characters, they can import or copy and paste the outlines into a font development utility.

• Graphs. Illustrator features a fairly robust toolset for creating updateable graphs, similar to the ones found in programs like Microsoft Excel. You can choose from different graph  types, dynamically change the represented values, and most importantly, prepare the image for output in a high-res print.

• Photo-realistic images. In a pixel-based graphic, every single pixel can have a different color. Even areas that appear to possess the same value, such as a flesh tone, are actually the result of thousands of slightly varying pixel colors. When applied to an image like a full-color scan, this phenomenon can reproduce the same subtle shades and tones found in nature. In fact, Photoshop’s color adjustment tools enable you to target and edit specific parts of an image’s tonal range, relieving you from the impossible duty of attacking pixels one by one. In a vector-based graphic, every colored element has to be defined as a separate shape (with the exception of gradients and patterns, which offer limited functionality). Attempting to reproduce a continuous tone image with points and paths would require so many shapes that the file wouldn’t print, and so much time that the deadline would surely pass before you finished. The effect is similar to reproducing a photograph using nothing but stencils.

• Extremely complex images. The more shapes a vector-based graphic contains, the more time it requires to create, the harder it is to edit, and the longer it may take to output. There’s really no limit to the number of objects you can build into your artwork. Some designers even auto-trace finely detailed line art or color images, in an effort to create illustrations with a distinctly “computerized” look. When working this way, proceed with caution; they may result in PostScript errors during output, especially on older printers.

• Drawing by hand. Even though these applications are often called drawing programs, they really aren’t well-suited for the free and natural style associated with the concept of drawing. Although the tools and commands separate you from the knowledge that you are writing PostScript code, PostScript has very strict parameters that the program won’t (and shouldn’t) let you violate. This prohibits you from being freely expressive, a must when drawing by hand. If you want to incorporate hand drawings in your designs, you have two choices: draw on paper and scan it, or invest in a pressure sensitive tablet.