The ol’ Print Shop
What seems like eons ago, I think about three eons to be exact, I worked in a quick print shop. I was the graphics person. While I was there many other designers (I use the term loosely) came and went. But there I stayed, like the one unbroken cue on a pool hall rack.
It was a great little job that introduced me to a lot. It taught me, among other things, about good and bad design and how to work under a deadline. Well, the job really didn’t teach me much about design, I kind of absorbed it as I went along and read all I could from outside sources. It was easy to spot the designs I didn’t like (which was most of them). And it got easier and easier to pinpoint the reasons for why I thought a particular design was good.
Since I was interested in graphic design to begin with, it was easy to learn and I quickly picked up the basics from sources like Adobe Magazine (now defunct), and several design books. Adobe Pagemaker and Photoshop were the two big tools and I used every feature they had (which wasn’t many, looking back) to try and make my job easier.
Probably the greatest thing I took away from that job was a Brian-shaped best friend. Thank you Tom & Sue for hiring him and dumping him in my department!
Here is a Quicktime virtual photo of my old office–hideous that the space was.
Use the mouse to click and drag around the photo. Press [shift] and [ctrl] to zoom.
Things to look for:
- Two crappy PCs
- A crappy GCC black and white laser printer
- A slow scanner that was on its 2nd or 3rd blub
- Buzz Lightyear (to infinity, and beyond!)
- An ancient Sony Discman on top of the stereo (I can’t even find it on WalkmanCentral.com!)
- Jenny’s puppy picture as my desktop wallpaper
- My Jurassic Park foam art (more on that and others in another post)
- The Gerber label machine (below the JP art) (a fun device that added diversion to my day)
- Movie posters (my feeble attempt to minimize the deplorable look of the room–I can’t even make out what they are with the glare)
- The smell of mundane work output with speed
No comments yet.
Leave a comment
