Defining Print Communications Desktop Publishing

Historical Moments in Print Communications Cavemen draw on cave walls Languages/Alphabets developed Hieroglyphics developed in Egypt God shares The Ten Commandments on stone tablets Types of Paper invented Vellum from skins of sheep or goats Papyrus later developed from reeds Paper as we know it, finally invented from wood pulp in 1867

Historical Moments in Print Communication Codex Sinaiticus (4 th Century) First non-scroll book Monks copy Bibles by hand Gutenburg prints Bibles with his movable type printing press in 1455 Only printing professionals involved in printing from then until recently Martin Luther posts the 95 Theses

Historical Moments in Print Communication In 1621 the first book, The Whole Book of Psalmes, is printed in America The first true newspaper, The Oxford Gazette, is published in England in 1665 In 1833 Louis Daguerre exhibits the daguerreotype, the first photographs. Willard Kiplinger prints the first newsletter in 1923 The Kiplinger Washington Letter

Historical Moments in Print Communication The computer is introduced but is mainly command line-oriented (DOS) Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) emerge in the early 80s with the Apple Macintosh (stolen from Xerox PARC) Aldus PageMaker is introduced by Paul Brainerd in the early 80s for the Macintosh and interfaced with Apple’s LaserWriter

Historical Moments in Print Communication Multiple computer applications developed that allow anyone with a computer and a printer to publish A glut of poorly designed publications proliferate throughout the world Why does this happen?

Print Communication The challenge of designing print communications lies in the fact that there are no hard-and-fast rules If there were concrete rules, computers could replace us all and everything would be uniform (boring) In this class, we’ll think in terms of tools, not rules Guidelines, techniques, applications, etc. This semester we will familiarize ourselves with the tools of the trade

So What is Desktop Publishing? Using design skills and computer hardware/software to mix text and graphics in the production of a printed publication Not since the very earliest days of printing has it been possible for one individual to have complete control over design, typesetting, and printing. But this power doesn’t magically transform you into a designer, it’s just a tool of the trade

Before Desktop Publishing Everything had to be pasted into place Text had to be typeset professionally Graphics had to be resized manually Lines and boxes were drawn by hand White-Out was heavily used See pages for more details DTP takes the place of way we used to compose a publication, but not the writing, photography, binding, distribution, etc.

Example: Lest We Forget 1989 Yearbook Used layout sheets done in triplicate to layout pages Used a pica ruler to determine how much room text would take Had to wait for blue line proofs to see if text calculations were correct 2000 Yearbook Use PageMaker to layout pages Text is typed and manipulate on screen Laser copy and blue line proofs are checked for errors

Example: Lest We Forget 1989 Yearbook All photos had to be manually cropped and labeled for placement Color photos had to be resized at Wolf or Mid-South Color Labs 2000 Yearbook Photos can be scanned, resized and placed Color photos can be scanned or enlarged at publisher

Communicating In Print February 8, 2000 Desktop Publishing

Communicating in Print Before you even turn your computer on, make sure you understand your communication goals Can you communicate your message if you don’t know what your message is? Yes, but it will be dumb luck or the wrong message Planning is critical to the communicating and design process

Communicating in Print Before communicating anything, it is necessary to identify: Your Reader – who you’re talking to Your Subject – what you’re saying Your System – how you’re saying it Your Attitude – your baggage Let’s look at these in more detail

Your Reader Who is the intended audience for your piece? The definition of your audience will drive many of your design decisions Child vs. Adult, Accountants vs. Skateboarders, Americans vs. Japanese, High School Grads vs. Ph.Ds

Your Subject What is the basic message you’re trying to communicate? The definition of your subject will drive the way you position the elements in your piece If the design isn’t arranged correctly, your message can be miscommunicated

Your System What format or medium will best communicate your message to your reader? Know your technological possibilities and limitations Desktop printer or other Final Output Device Print Shop What paper will it appear on? Dream first, then seek the tools to accomplish your goals

Your Attitude The perspective you bring to the table Humility – be willing to admit you need help if you get in too deep Conventional – be willing to look outside of the computer system to accomplish a project Collector’s – be willing to educate yourself by collecting ideas from others (swipe file) Experimental – be willing to play

Additional Items to Identify What similar messages have my readers encountered from other sources or competitors? How does this publication relate to my other publications?

Our Technological Environment February 8, 2000

Technological Environment - Hardware Computers (Macs and PCs) Monitors (varying sizes and resolutions) Printers (inkjet, laser and film) Scanners (flatbed and film) Other input devices (digital cameras, video, etc.) Network (campus and internet) The trick is to know when to use what

Technological Environment - Software Word Processing (Word, WordPerfect) Publishing (PageMaker, Quark) Drawing/Photo Manipulation (Illustrator, PhotoShop) These aren’t definitive definitions of these applications - some may cross over into the other

Homework Bring in your first 4 items for your Swipe file Logon to eGroups and enter your information