Production for Graphic Designers by Alan Pipes

From the Publisher

Computer technology has revolutionized the work of graphic designers and production professionals. To keep pace with those far-reaching changes, Production for Graphic Designers, Alan Pipes's classic text on print production, enters the computer age. Completely revised and redesigned, this new edition covers the most up-to-date technological advances in print production, fully explaining all the standard prepress and printing processes and including detailed coverage of direct computer-to-plate offset and small-run on-demand color xerography.

Production for Graphic Designers gives clearly written advice on preparing artwork for printers, examines the creative potential of typography in a digital environment and provides comprehensive coverage of illustrations, layout, and proofing -- in both computerized and conventional settings. In an all new chapter on the Internet, the author cuts through the technical jargon of downloading, HTML, search engines, and web sites to show the exciting opportunities that getting on-line offers designers. The author also gives expert practical advice on common problems by using "hot tips and cool tricks" boxes, as well as showcasing the work of the top pioneers in different fields of graphic design with six "Design Trailblazer" spreads. Production for Graphic Designers is an essential purchase for graphic designers of all levels of expertise, users of DTP software, and anyone changing from old to new technology.

Booknews

An appealing introduction to print production for graphic designers, covering the latest technology as well as historical developments. Chapters on text and type, illustration, mechanical prepress, digital prepress, on press, and the Internet feature a conversational writing style and color and b&w photos, illustrations, and explained diagrams. Includes reference appendices on standard sizes and trade customs of the printing industry, and a glossary. This second edition is revised to address the exciting changes in the industry since 1992, with a new chapter in the Internet and less emphasis on pre-digital methods of production. Also new are profiles of practicing designers and showcases of their work, and tips and tricks for overcoming common production challenges. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Product Details

• Table of Contents
• Forewords & Introductions

Table of Contents

Forewords & Introductions

When the first edition of this book was published, way back in 1992, computers were rarely seen in graphic design studios—there were some expensive turnkey systems around, mainly used for producing national newspapers—but the predominant means of layout was the mechanical. Now computers are not only ubiquitous in every area of the design-to-production cycle, but it is hard to imagine how books and magazines were ever produced without them. The drawing board has been confined to a quiet corner of the studio, and that once so expensive PMT camera to the scrapyard. A graphic designer without a computer and email account is an endangered species.

In prepress too, that once analog world of lenses, photographic emulsions, and baths of chemicals has gone digital. Direct computer-toplate, and even plateless print are becoming more familiar. Xerography and the newer digital print technologies are being used to produce customised short-run jobs on demand. And all the paraphernalia of prepress, currently the province of the repro service bureau, is being brought inhouse.

In the past few years a completely new medium (to designers at least) has shot to prominence—the internet. There was no mention of the internet in the first edition of this book. In the second edition it was deemed important enough to deserve its own chapter. Through the internet, designers are able to break the bounds of traditional print and incorporate dynamic online resources that could only have been dreamt about when the first edition was put to bed. Despite the rise of the internet, print is still a large part of our lives. According to Printing Industries of America, Inc, printing isstill one of the largest manufacturing industries in the USA—employing over a million people in almost 50,000 establishments, and selling over $55.7 billion of products in 1999. The industry is dominated by small- and medium-sized businesses, most employing fewer than twenty employees—along with their computers.

This completely revised third edition addresses the exciting changes that have taken place since the first two editions of Production for Graphic Designers were published. There is now an even greater need to master the fast-moving world of computing. Pre-digital methods of production are still important to know, but have been repositioned into a more appropriate historical and pedagogical context. A development in the second edition was to include, in-between chapters, inspirational profiles of important practicing designers along with portfolios of their work. This coverage has been expanded in the third edition.

I should like to thank the friends and colleagues who helped in the production of the first edition, particularly my editor Ursula Sadie at Calmann & King, picture researcher Elizabeth Loving, designer Richard Foenander, Chris Myers at Bookworm Typesetting, and Rosemary Bradley, who commissioned me to write it. Grateful thanks are also offered (almost alphabetically) to Aldus UK.(now Adobe) for a copy of FreeHand (now back with Macromedia) with which to produce the line drawings; Joty Barker of Face to Face; the staff of Brighton Polytechnic (now the University of Brighton) Library at St Peter's House; Jane Brotchie for access to her H P DeskWriter; Roger Burg of Monotype Typography; John Christopher of Strong Silent Type; Eleanor Curtis, formerly at the Royal College of Art, London; Bob and Sue Harrington of RH Design; Nikki Morton and Ruth Jindal for their help in locating and retrieving books; Stan Noble of Towers Noble Design; William Owen; Kanwal Sharma of Lewis Sharma Design;; Martin Shovel for the use of his StyleWriter; and Elvis the goldfish" RIP for his or her calming influenc;;e.

For the second edition I should like to thank my editor Damian Thompson at Calmann & King and designer Cara Gallardo at Area for making my text and picture ideas a joy to read. Cara also art directed the cover and chapter opening spreads, and I should also like to acknowledge and thank: photographer Toby McFarlan Pond; London Graphic Centre for the use of the keyboard introducing Chapter 2; Peripheral Vision, London, for the circuit board (Chapter 5) and cable (Chapter 7); The Pale Green Press, London, for the printing inks introducing Chapter 6. I would also like to mention Philip and Dave Clark of Brighton Print Centre for tirelessly explaining to me the finer points of practical printing; and finally to Lesley Ripley Greenfield, Editorial Director, College & Fine Art at Calmann & King for commissioning me to write this update.

For the third edition I should like to thank my editor Kara HattersleySmith at Calmann & King, whose encouragement and support contributed far more to this new edition than can be guessed from this small credit, Cara Gallardo at Area for once again designing my words and pictures into a pleasing and accessible whole, Michelle Clair at Tenazas Design, Kelli Daley at David Carson Design, Tim Kong at Tomato, Kevin Smith at Research Studios, Jane Spencer for lending me her precious books, and my colleagues at the Brighton Illustrators Group for providing images.

Alan Pipes, Spring 2001