Discussion

By Bryan Gordon on Apr 09, 2021

Frank: You showed me some of my old text books from Ferris State. I wondered where they got off too, so you have them in the museum. You ask a really good question. Where are the new people in our industry going to come from? Who can afford to set up a comprehensive digital print laboratory? It may be that leading schools will have to partner with industry associations and have something like an apprenticeship program or an internship program where the student rotates to different shops and gets training on a variety of digital equipment. There is no easy answer to this question. - Bryan Gordon

By Jon Budington on Apr 09, 2021

Our recent experience with new inkjet technology is that the operators need less skill than traditional press operators, and the prepress departments need much more training. IT is what we need to attract today.

By Dov Isaacs on Apr 09, 2021

I contend that many of the current “challenges” are not operator training or even prepress training, but rather, training of content creators. The problems start way up-stream with content creators who know very little if anything about color management (“it looks great on the screen”), typography, and the ramifications on the printing process of design decisions they make and how they translate those designs into the files (i.e., print-ready PDF files) required for the production process. Unfortunately, requiring the teaching of these basics is not something that is going to win you popularity with many current graphic arts programs.

This is all made much worse by many Luddite print service providers (“if it ain't broke, don't fix it” types) who have yet to enter the 21st century in terms of their end-to-end print publishing workflows.

Demanding that customers provide PDF files with outlined text (degrades printed text quality and yields bloated, slow RIPing PDF files), pre-flattened transparency (yields artifacts since such flattening is highly resolution-dependent), and colors converted to CMYK (often without specifying which CMYK) actually yield more problems than if they required PDF/X-4 files with live text, embedded fonts, live transparency, and ICC color management.

Too many print service providers use antiquated workflows as a means to “blame the customer” when printed results don't match the customers' expectations. What part of “service” do these “print service providers” not understand?

It isn't as simple as having a small text book that can fix in one's pocket!

By Dean Bott on Apr 13, 2021

Not exactly on topic, but........Color Separation Techniques by MIles Southworth turned this industry from just a job to what is rapidly approaching a 50 year, incredibly rewarding career for me.