Sharing My Story

(To continue on with my life with desktop
publishing and Quarkxpress.) This computer
desktop publishing software changed my
professional life in the late 1980s. Before
computer desktop publishing the graphic
designer needed to tell his typesetter the
number of columns of type for magazine
articles (the size and style of type and so
forth). Then the designer would get the
columns of type and photocopy them and
make several thumbnail and dummy/mockup
layouts for the publication.

With the advent of desktop publishing and
Quarkxpress (and similar programs) the
typesetting functions were absorbed by
the designer. Instead of having a separate
typesetter the designer became his own
typesetter and was able to experiment
with different layout ideas before the
actual typeset copy was printed out
(at first through an out of house
service bureau).

Quarkxpress and other desktop publishing
applications operate by using text boxes
(for the columns of copy) and picture boxes
(for inserting of photos and artwork into the
layout). These programs have numerous very
complex typographic functions that are much
easier to use that the most sophisticated
typographical equipment of twenty years ago.
In recent years the computer graphics software
giant Adobe has entered the field with it’s
InDesign application which is giving
Quarkxpress some very stiff competition.

The other college course that I am taking
is one using the computer program called
Adobe Photoshop. This application is the
graphic design and photographic industry
standard for manipulating photographs and
artwork. Do you want to make your photo
a little darker in certain areas? Photoshop
can do it. Do you want to eliminate an object
or person from a photograph? Photoshop can
do it. Do you want to get rid of dust spots and
other visual imperfections? Photoshop can do it.
Do you want to increase focus and sharpen up
a photo? Photoshop can do it. Do you want to
height or even change a color in a photo?
Photoshop can do it. Do you want to colorize
black and white artwork. Photoshop can do it.

As with Quarkxpress the above projects took
long and very complicated darkroom procedures
(multiple layers of film masking) to produce
before the advent of Photoshop. This program
not only duplicated these procedures within a
desktop computer application but has gone
beyond what could be done in the darkroom.
The digital revolution as it was called in the
1980s and 1990s was truly that.

The classes I am taking are more than just
refresher courses as I’ve never had actual
classroom training in these programs. My
training has mostly been by reading the
manuals. Next week I give some observations
on college students of the 21st century.