Seventh in a series of articles on how to have a successful relationship with your Mac.
I'd like to take this opportunity to give some advice (much of it requestedŠsome of it not) and offer my opinion on the vastly misunderstood and abused term of DESKTOP PUBLISHING - or DTP for short. But first I must warn you that I am going to be brutally frank and painfully honest and may unintentionally insult some of my readers. Certainly that is not my intention. I truly hope to invoke food for thought, shed some reality on the topic and perhaps help those who seriously wish to pursue this incredibly fun, challenging and exciting career path.
Once upon a time, not too long ago, existed a highly skilled trade called "Graphic Arts." It was very specialized, therefore, most people performed only one job task such as designer, typesetter, paste-up artist, film stripper, plate maker or pressman (ooops! pressperson). Incidentally, in those days, most tradesmen (ooops! tradespeople) were men. In most cases, each person had completed an apprenticeship covering all aspects of this fascinating trade and after 5 years of training, they entered their area of specialty or expertise. Appropriately, they were paid well and respected for their skills. Equipment costs were significantly higher than they are today. For example: Scanner - $250,000.00, Workstation - $40,000 - Imagesetter - $100,000.00+. Compare that to today's new equipment: Scanner - $800.00+, Workstation - $2,500.00+, High Resolution Plain Paper Imagesetter - $6,000.00+, and you can see why almost anyone can afford to start up their own little business. Incidentally, today's equipment is smaller and will fit on top of most any desk - hence the name "Desktop." The Macintosh Computer quite literally put the ability to own a computer into anyone and everyone's hands. However, this has had negative as well as positive effects on the trade. Now anybody can go out and buy a computer and call themselves a Desktop Publisher! Unfortunately, these are the people who have given the term DTP a bad name. They have no idea about the proper use of typefaces, no understanding about kerning and spacing (if they even know the term at all), and they charge ridiculously low prices. These people are directly responsible for the tradehouses having to drop their rates accordingly - even though they are providing a superior product! As well, pay rates have suffered. Many tradespeople are making 30-40% less than they were making 5-10 years ago! These new DTPers are the ones who are producing boring newsletters, ugly, unimaginative business cards, and really bad looking brochures. It takes knowledge, skill and experience to produce a good looking and technically correct printed product. Sorry, folks, but if you have to ask what "Trapping" is, or what's the difference between RGB and CMYK, you should not be doing colour work at all. And if you think you can pull off a good colour scan on a 300dpi flatbed scanner - I can only say this - you CAN'T!
I'm sure by now you must think I'm on some sort of mission. I am - but not in a malicious way. It's important that these things be said. The trade is slowly coming back to it's once cherished reputation of skilled craftsmanship (ooops!! craftspersonship). This is largely due to those of you who now understand that there is a lot more to know about this complex and highly technical business than just owning a computer. Little wonder that many of our most respected tradehouses could not survive the arrival of the computer.
Bottom line, folks, is this: If you have an entry level computer, entry level software and entry level skills - please get yourself some professional training, professional software and a professional price structure. We will all benefit in the end.
I guess now you're wondering what is considered a professional system? First and foremost you need power and storage (as well as expandability). I'd have to say that a PowerPC 6100 is a minimum requirement - a 7100 would be better. 8 MB of RAM of considered a bare-bones minimum these days - 16-24 MB RAM preferred. Make sure you have about 500 MB of hard disk storage space. Trust me, by the time you load up your software, fonts and utilities, you'll have just enough space left to work comfortably without an immediate need for a removable backup system. You'll need professional software. There are only three main programs that I recommend: QuarkXPress, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. And as far as fonts (typefaces) go, insist on PostScript Type 1 fonts. Those TrueType fonts are nothing but grief if you are imaging your files on an imagesetter.
Sorry, but I've run out of space - and I have so much more to say. Next issue I will discuss software and system configurations in-depth - and if space permits (maybe I'll need a full page), I will get into peripherals (scanners, modems etc.)! I'm sorry if I have offended anyone in my efforts to give the Craft back to the Craftsmen (yeah, yeah, Craftsperson)!
So stay tuned to this column to learn more about your relationship with a Mac. Watch for these insightful articles: How to nurse a sick Mac back to healthŠCare and Feeding of the MacŠand more!
The Mac Lady is an independent web designer located in Vancouver, BC. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome and appreciated.
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