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Published May 26, 2010 by Rebecca Matheson

What I am learning – working in design/prepress

It has been an interesting four months or so. A steep learning curve in many regards. I am currently working in a design/prepress place where (unfortunately) the design is fairly template driven so the steepness hasn’t been so much on the physical design aspect where I would genuinely like it to be – but very much in the work environment. As some of you already know, it’s not exactly job I’d hoped I’d get straight out of finishing my design degree but…

Let me share some things I’ve learnt:

  • Never, ever underestimate the value of good colleagues. It makes everything so much more bearable
  • Asserting yourself (when appropriate) is okay, good and healthy
  • Always recognise and honor the immense value of a company who places high priority on taking care of their staff (Ergo you were and are amongst the cream of the crop – now morph into a design studio please and take me on!)
  • How to operate a digital press (2 kinds actually), laminator, programmable guillotine, shrink wrapper, drill punch
  • Much improved knife skills (Scalpels and metal rulers friends! Nice not nasty!)
  • Better understanding of paper and paper grammage/stock etc.
  • The secret joy in watching the plastic shrivel when you shrink-wrap something
  • Keep tabs on your pay
  • The importance of correctly designed fonts
  • A full day goes very quickly
  • Task Lists are ALWAYS fun to tick off
  • Some jobs (as in tasks) just suck, and always suck, but they have to be done so you just get on with it
  • I am more detail focused than I even realised – I think this may have developed further over the last year, so much so that I have been told several times to ‘Stop being so anal and just get on with it’.
  • The later you eat lunch, the quicker the rest of the afternoon goes, sometimes it is only by necessity
  • Phones are not the scourge, they are actually quite useful
  • Questions = faster learning, smarter doing

Work

graduate graphic design prepress Work

Published January 23, 2009 by Rebecca Matheson

Weighing up Multimedia vs. Graphic Design

Lets run with JEALOUS all over my face and leaking out my fingers.

This is the nicest blog I have ever seen. Functionaly, navigation, interactivity (in how it draws you in) – it’s all superb. Naturally, it’s the guy who also designed the WordPress logo. I truly love web design and have a niggling regret now and then that I did the swap from multimedia to communication design. Yes the Deakin course was the wrong one, but I can’t help thinking I should’ve gone to Swinburne Multimedia over Swinburne Communication Design. At least my sideline love affair with CSS can continue and perhaps one day I will reach the point of worthy of making such a splendid website. For now I must continue to hack away and try things in my spare time. A little more injection of ambition and risk might be good too.

Jason Santa Maria

Design Uni Web Design

Blogs graphic design Uni wordpress

Published December 30, 2008 by Rebecca Matheson

Wacom

For Christmas Geoff bought me a Wacom tablet! I first came into contact with the idea of a tablet when I was about 15 and was very close to buying one and never actually did- possibly a good thing, as I’m sure the technology has come a long way since then. Unfortunately technical difficulties with a faulty pen slowed anything happening until today (Replacement is going to take a while so we went and bought another pen). I am rather excited as I’ve had the privalege of using one at uni before and they add a totally new dimesion to drawing on to the screen. As I’ve only really had experience of using a Wacom in Flash doing rough drawings for animation, it’s going to take some time to work out the intricracies of it all. If you know of any good online sources for info/tutorials etc. I’d greatly appreciate it.

Create Design Technology

graphic design pen tablet Technology wacom

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