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Dec. 10th, 2003 11:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kirkcudbrightTonight was my last class of the semester (allegedly Desktop Publishing - Layout and Production, but really Another Introduction to Quark). We presented our final projects (book cover, postcard, and newspaper ad), and -- que mirable -- actually spent some time critiquing them. Usually, the instructor glances over the projects, declares his satisfaction, and moves on. I can't tell you how motivating that is, especially in a design class.
Next week was supposed to be the last class (I just checked, because I do sometimes get these things mixed up). The instructor never taught anything like the full 3 hours of the class, and frequently left after 2 hours. According to the course catalog, the course "Introduces students to the complexities involved in preparing their designs for print: electronic page layout and design, proofing, specifying inks, trapping, cropping, overprinting, printing separations, proofing, and more." The instructor never even mentioned the words "trapping," "cropping," or "overprinting."
And yet... And yet, I stayed up until 4am on Monday night working on this, I worked on in during work hours yesterday, and I finished it during work hours today. Leaving aside what this says about my work habits, it says I wasn't motivated to start the project, but I was motivated to finish it. I could have slapped together anything (anything, really), but I would have seen the difference, and it would have bugged the shit out of me. Besides, if I have designs to be a designer, I can't have a portfolio full of crap pieces. But Lord, it's a lot of tweaking, and moving things an eighth of an inch.
And after the instructor left, and I was on my own, and my grade was cast in stone, I spent another hour re-tweaking the book cover. Because I hadn't actually assembled it and wrapped it around an actual book until right before class, and the inside flaps were too narrow, and everything was too close to edge of the boards by about half an inch.
Next week was supposed to be the last class (I just checked, because I do sometimes get these things mixed up). The instructor never taught anything like the full 3 hours of the class, and frequently left after 2 hours. According to the course catalog, the course "Introduces students to the complexities involved in preparing their designs for print: electronic page layout and design, proofing, specifying inks, trapping, cropping, overprinting, printing separations, proofing, and more." The instructor never even mentioned the words "trapping," "cropping," or "overprinting."
And yet... And yet, I stayed up until 4am on Monday night working on this, I worked on in during work hours yesterday, and I finished it during work hours today. Leaving aside what this says about my work habits, it says I wasn't motivated to start the project, but I was motivated to finish it. I could have slapped together anything (anything, really), but I would have seen the difference, and it would have bugged the shit out of me. Besides, if I have designs to be a designer, I can't have a portfolio full of crap pieces. But Lord, it's a lot of tweaking, and moving things an eighth of an inch.
And after the instructor left, and I was on my own, and my grade was cast in stone, I spent another hour re-tweaking the book cover. Because I hadn't actually assembled it and wrapped it around an actual book until right before class, and the inside flaps were too narrow, and everything was too close to edge of the boards by about half an inch.
