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The long road
As computers moved into design departments, there were those of us who adopted them with wonder and excitement and those who kicked and fought and died off like the dinosaurs and Bestine victims. While the transition could have been seamless, in most cases it wasn’t. As art director at one publication, in the far-off distance of 1994, the art department still used layout boards. Although they had the latest power Macs (6100s, I seem to remember), they were used as typesetting devices and the printouts were pasted to the boards, sent out for bluelines and then shot for film. Images were Xeroxed and placed on the boards for position and size and the original art was photographed and stripped into the film. While I tried to convince the elderly editor that full digital production was possible, his answer was, he “liked the feel and weight of the boards in (his) hands.” “Yeah…like your *#%$!” I replied…or thought to myself. I really don’t remember after some years of using Bestine. After one particularly bad issue of original art being submitted to me at the wrong size, I stayed late, cloning extended space for the images to fit properly and then prepared digital files for half of the magazine. It was a gamble that would either lose my job or make for a wonderful evolution in our work process. When the magazine was published and we held our “debriefing” of how each page looked, the editor threw a tirade at how half the magazine looked like “crap.” I asked which half he didn’t like and as expected, it was the digital half he liked. The gamble worked out: instead of me being sooooo fired, as a compromise to the editor’s wish to hold something in his hands we agreed to affix printouts of the digital pages onto layout boards. The publisher was more then happy that over $2,000 per issue was saved by switching to full digital production. The staff was happy to be able to create the magazine issues in a fourth of the time it had taken using the old methods of production. The President of the publication was happy she could increase the number of issues we put out in a year without having to add staff. Oddly enough, right up to 2001, I ran across companies that were just adding computers to their art departments. Again there were those who couldn’t wait to start using the digital tools and those who refused and were gone. I suppose for those who refused to change, there was only one way to wield an Exacto knife but Photoshop would change every year or so.Was it the “good ol’ days?”
Despite the health hazards and rampant insanity, there were some great things about this whole “hands-on” process. When type was sent out for galleys, it signaled the end of the workday. Since type was due at the typesetter (which was a business across town as it wasn’t done in-house) by 7:00 pm, nothing else could be done after 6:00 pm and we went home. With computers setting type instantly, the 9-5 day became a 24-hour possibility most employers welcomed with glee and evil laughter. Editors didn’t understand the paste-up and mechanical page and seeing what went into it with all the smoking and such, they seldom if ever made changes to the layout design. With computers, editors, writers and janitorial staff feel they can ask to see what an image looks like blown up, shrunk down or moved left-right while they stand over the designer’s shoulder, usually drooling and breathing heavily. Although glue products were highly toxic, the fumes provided a legal and fun way to get high at work while bad memories were wiped from the brain cells that carried them. With computers, designers have to sneak off to the back stairwell to huff from paper bags to get high. Food stuck to layout boards was a hazard, so we were encouraged to take a lunch hour out of the office. Computers are impervious to most sandwiches and so we are seldom allowed to wander far from our desks, just in case of a fourth or twelfth design change from an editor or marketing person pops up in the middle of the day and they need to “see it for themselves.” Doing production by physical paste-ups required a steady hand and good eye to make sure everything was square, even, and clean of dirt and smudges for the best printing. Computers do that all for you so even a “Shaky-nerves” McGee can produce clean, straight lines and type. Nobody but designers understood how to do paste-ups and mechanicals, so we were considered demigods and walked the halls like untouched giants. Now that even four year-olds have computers with image software, everyone is a “designer” and we are just “overpaid crybabies.” The good news is: we know we are not “overpaid crybabies.” We are talented and adaptable, “underpaid and underappreciated professionals” who get to evolve with technology. Hold THAT in your hands, naysayers! For more scenes and fun facts from the days of killer art supplies, visit the Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies. Do you remember these tools and have your own stories of those days or are you young enough to be thankful for computers and are frightened by these instruments of torture?Speider Schneider
Speider Schneider is a former member of The Usual Gang of Idiots at MAD Magazine and has designed products for Disney/Pixar, Warner Bros., Harley-Davidson, ESPN, Mattel, DC and Marvel Comics, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon among other notable companies. Speider is a former member of the board for the Graphic Artists Guild, co-chair of the GAG Professional Practices Committee and a former board member of the Society of Illustrators. Follow him on Twitter @speider or add him on Google+
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