Vol. 1

Qualifications for a Great (SR!Graphics Arts Technology at Harper College, this is Susanne, howcan I help you?" This might be how a Customer Services Represen-tative (CSR) might answer the phone when a vendor calls. An orderis given to a CSR after it has processed by the sales person and es-timator, and at this point the vendor begins speaking directly to theCSR, who oversees the whole project. The CSR, also called theProject Manager, takes the information, writes the job ticket, man-ages the schedule and creates the press layout. He or she is who

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the client calls for all status information and questions, and overseesbilling. Professionalism is a very important requirement, and theneed to having a friendly and winning personality, be a good com-

~ municator, and have enthusiasm interacting with the vendors andI the people working on the project. Enthusiasm is energizing andcontagious, and can create a good environment to work in

cont'dpage 4• • •••...•• --..••••..•.•••• e-,:~ •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ....

RAM Pages, aprocess where itis RIPed, trapped,and a final file iscreated as a high-

K&M is a family owned 35-year- rez pdf. The next part of theold printing press in Schaumburg, process is the Spectraphotometer,we went to visit on May 5th. Bob, a measurement tool that reads thea salesman, works with the cus-tomers, and at K&M he is cMSO the files, creates a profile to make the

colors accurate so the press per-project manager and estimator- forms efficiently, Next they makewearing three hats. They produce 24" plates on an Epson 10600folders with pockets, postcards, contract plate prepress and Epsonbusiness cards, calendars, ban-H d tb d Stink Jet. The plating equipment in process called perfecting. Theynl.ehrs

t,~et~us. .e elscn e d po - pre-press is the AB Dick Plate use environmentally friendly inks,

19 pnn Ing: SIX coors an -.c J ~ (I l.' '._

"'I ;:p'e;r-~IE:.e: le~rO Graphlc-Artsl $.kIJ~ISIHallake VOU 1010 aSuccessful career!

......·······.'-...i' Gravure and Digital, Stock/paper

a darkroom. Bob said that thisbiggest problem in pre-flight arefonts, and high rezllow-rezgraph-ics. After Pre-press we went intothe back warehouse area wherethe presses are, K&M onlyprocess sheet-fed projects, noweb press. The brand names ofthe presses were Heidelberg (2-color 74 Speed master) and ABDick. There is a plate for the topand the bottom, so there is onlyone pass. This saves time, it is a

Jcall Nowfor enrollment information and •••••career planning. Call 841-925-6448 or ••••• Harper Collegego online al www.harpercollege.edu Go Forwerd

·Printing Process

pr -comes •the imageonto the paper, I -digital printing, the im - • - •the plate is transferred tober blanket on a cylinder, the rber blanket transfers or offsetsthe image onto paper. It is alsocalled Planography because theprinting area is flat, and on thesame plane as the surface of theprint plate. A rotary press ap-pears to have so many workingcylinders and mechanisms withink and paper feeds, it resembledan invention Christopher Lloydcould conjure up. There isSheetfed and Web Offset print-ing: the difference being thatsheetfed are individual sheetsand web is a continuous roll ofpaper. Offset Lithography is usedto manufacture books, maga-zines, newspapers (example, theviewin.g area at the Sun Times),commercial advertising, and

m,dryerpletely drythrough the nex ••absorbing another cocylinders are made of steplated with copper and a lightsensitive coating, most are nowlaser engraved. It can reproducemillions of perfect copies at an in-credible speed. Gravure is thebiggest rival to the Offset Lithog-raphy industry, and is used forhigh quality magazines like Na-tional Geographic, stamps, cata-logs, greeting cards, tiles,wallpaper and gift wrappingpaper. Gravure, also called ro-togravure, was invented in the

19th century by a photographer,Fox Talbot, as a means of repro-ducing continuous tone on a ro-tary press. The advantages arethe fiigh quality, high speed printswith rich saturated color, knownfor its remarkable density rangelight to shadows, it is the processbest suited for fine arts. And, it ismore economical for long printruns. The disadvantage is that itis only profitable for long printruns, and mistakes are costly be-cause you have to create a newcylinder, you cannot make cor-rections on the cylinder. Theprocess is similar to Flexography,utilizing rotary web fed paper andan ink bath, but gravure is usedfor more high end products, whileflexography is cheaper usingthinner inks, it is easier to makecorrections on the cylinder, and itis used for plastics, cardboardand food packaging.Digital

With the invention of pes,Macs, digital photography, laserand inkjet printers, and compati-ble software like Adobe, Digitalprinting began in the 1970sbecame a possibility for a ••in their own home. The· ••is not as commerciity as Offset Lith • ••Gravure, colorated and t •the ran .•buttp ,

bring the image up to color stan-dard like in Offset Lithography. Itis faster and there is less wasteinvolved than happens when set-ting up with a cylinder, but thereare limited paper and finishingchoices. It is used for personal-ized printing, variable data print-ing, e.g., printing up personalizedchildren's and family books, andPrint on Demand, for short-runproductions. There are differentkinds of digital print technologiestoday, including Electrophoto-graphic, which include xero-graphic, photocopiers, and theIndigo and Xeikon digital printengines. Dry or liquid toner isdeposited by varying its elect •static properties, and thenby absorption, chemicor heat. Digital litho f • •

puter to Plate deplate on pres • •using a noInkjet is •eithdi ••••

con't from page 1and get things done on sched-

!..,......~~---J ule. A vendor will make a judg-ment call about the companyby the way the CSR conductshimself with the staff, and thedegree to which he is knowl-edgeable about the industryand process, and the specificdetails of his project. He mustbe a good negotiator and beable to think on his feet. Heneeds strong people skills;their job is the most adminis-trative. If the situation calls forit he must be willing to worklong hours to oversee that aproject is completed on sched-ule. They need to be comfort-able with working with details,because the sales people willnot want to take responsibilityfor that, and the estimators,designers, photographers,etc., will only be aware of thedetails specific to their job.They also need moxie orcourage to be able to say ifsomething can't be done, orsay what needs to be said,and if they are strong enoughto be honest they gain re-spect. In reference to theGraphics Arts Workflow, theCSR interacts with the salespeople and estimators-deter-mining whether the choicesmade are feasible, interactswith photographers, designersand assembly-adding hisown creativity, is involved withprepress and preflight-mak-ing sure quality and accuracyis on target, proofing andpress, and is there to ship it tothe vendor or hand it to him.

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~ :m_ _I ~II. _!- J_III-Color Management/IT '

SalesPrepress

EstimatingScanning/Imaging

PressPreflight

Desktop/AssemblyBindery/

Finishing

Proofing Shipping

Plating