For my final, I created a PowerPoint on Steve Jobs, his accomplishments, and his importance to the ADGA field. To view, click here.
Posted in Coursework, Uncategorized
United Federation of Teachers Print Facility
For our second-class field trip, we visited the print shop at UFT in downtown Manhattan. In this shop, prints that schools request are created and mailed from this facility. Prints like posters, visual aids, pamphlets, bookmarks, awards, even hall passes are printed. Oscar Rivera is the manager and one of the many overseers of this print shop, which services over 15,000 schools – public and private – in the New York downstate area (the five boroughs).
The shop is home to many advanced and old school printing machines that print, cut, laminate, and package materials. The Epson 9800 is one of the large-scale printers the shop is home to. This printer is mostly utilized to create posters and visual aids. It prints the image and/or text on paper, mounts the paper on foam board, and laminates it. The Ryobi 3200 PFA is a traditional printer. The maximum size of paper this printer can hold is 11×17, it can print on the front and back of the paper simultaneously, and uses a fountain solution (ink made of water and oil). The Han Jet press is a machine made specifically to create envelopes. It can produce over 130,000 envelopes within seven hours. The Ryobi 3404 is a digital color press. The machine produces a print by using lasers to “press” the image onto the paper. It also uses dot-to-dot registration for high quality prints and uses soy-based ink to print. This press machine costs about $450,000 on today’s market.
The manager also explained to us that the ink used to run one of the machines in the shop can range from about $30-$200 per press. In order to save some money, the shop associates uses a substance called gum arabic to preserve plates used for printing. The manager then took us to another section of the shop and introduced more press machines. The D.G. 175 is a web press, which prints from a roll instead of single sheets. This press machine is cost-effective because it can produce large quantities (over 500,000 sheets). It has 2 heads, which are used to print on the front and back of the paper, as well as folding and cutting the roll of printed-paper into sheets. It takes only one pressman to run this press.
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“Why Charging Just a Little Can Be Smarter Than Charging Nothing at All”
http://www.fastcompany.com/1353567/why-charging-just-little-can-be-smarter-charging-nothing-all
The article talks about why free technology isn’t a consumer’s first choice. Paying nothing for software sounds extremely appealing but you pay for what you get: nothing. The article compares the Chrome OS and Linux to Windows. You may pay a lot for the Windows OS but you don’t just get the operating system, you get a bundle of things including good customer and tech support. With Chrome and Linux, the software is 100% free and that’s it. People would rather pay good money than have problems somewhere down the line.
“Masters Of Design 2009: Why Coke’s David Butler Is The Real Thing”
http://www.fastcompany.com/1791289/masters-design-2009-why-cokes-david-butler-real-thing
This article talks explores the design challenges David Butler, Coca-Cola’s vice president of global design, is faced with while working for an international company. His job is to create a central design that is appealing to customers, and adds to the company’s already large corporate identity. Although Pepsi’s move to repackage Gatorade as G was indeed sleek, Butler’s Freestyle fountain tactic took the cake. This machine dispenses over 100 different Coke products. This design not only provides maximum variety, but addresses the problem of consumers moving away from carbonated drinks.
“For Adobe, the Future Is in the Past”
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/for-adobe-the-future-is-in-the-past/
In this article, Adobe announces Photoshop Touch that can be used to draw and create right on the screen – no paper necessary (unless you’re printing). This new application has most of he traditional tools artist would use to create designs such as paintbrushes, pencils, rulers, X-acto knives, etc. While artists have become used to creating and drafting with keyboards and mice, the new app brings back the past with its hands-on traditional but high-tech approach to digital art. Photoshop Touch was released for Android and iOS tablets in November 2011.
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