Graphic Design Software You Need to Learn for Graphic Design Employment Cow Gum and Scalpels I've been working with graphic design software as a Mac/PC-based designer since 1994. My first job in design was actually in 1987, whilst Macs were still getting a foothold in studios internationally. Then I had (if you can picture the scene) a drawing board, a pot of Cow Gum, a spatula, a metal ruler and a scalpel. These were the tools of my trade as a paste-up artist; no graphic design software in sight! I'd receive pages of text from the typesetting machines downstairs. These I would slice up with my scalpel and roughly lay out on the page. Any photos or illustrations would need to be resized by the guys in the darkroom and passed to me to add to the layout. If the image was a fraction too large or small, back to the darkroom it would go for re-shooting. Once the layout was to my satisfaction I'd paste the art board (which had coloured margins resembling today's default InDesign or Quark XPress page) with Cow Gum, which would stick everything in place. An expanding dry lump of the same Cow Gum would be used like an eraser to clean the paste board of glue - thus: “paste-up” artist. By today’s standards it was a tortuous process. Notice also the “artist” part of the job title. It might not sound very artistic, sticking text and photos to a page, but having an eye for what looks good on a page was as relevant then as it is today. Apple Mac Graphic Design Software Revolution The landscape of today’s graphic design industry is unrecognisable in comparison. In just a few years the way the entire industry worked was changed - it was like a mini industrial revolution for graphic designers. Suddenly graphic design software made it possible to print proofs out instead of sticking them together and photocopying them! Deadlines became shorter as clients realised that they could get the same amount of work out of a studio in a quarter of the time. Today a simple advert that would have taken a paste-up artist three or four hours to assemble can be put together to a press-ready standard in minutes (assuming the design has already been thrashed out). And it can be proofed by e-mail instead of post or fax. And after being signed off it can be e-mailed to a publication - which has freed designers from the large in-house paste-up studios - freed them to set themselves up as freelancers and independent studios. Of course this is all old news - and there are a tremendous number of young graphic designers out there who did not experience the dubious benefit of learning the business at a drawing board covered in glue!

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Cow Gum and Scalpels

I've been working with graphic design software as a Mac/PC-based designer since 1994. My first job in design was actually in 1987, whilst Macs were still getting a foothold in studios internationally. Then I had (if you can picture the scene) a drawing board, a pot of Cow Gum, a spatula, a metal ruler and a scalpel. These were the tools of my trade as a paste-up artist; no graphic design software in sight!

I'd receive pages of text from the typesetting machines downstairs. These I would slice up with my scalpel and roughly lay out on the page. Any photos or illustrations would need to be resized by the guys in the darkroom and passed to me to add to the layout. If the image was a fraction too large or small, back to the darkroom it would go for re-shooting.

Once the layout was to my satisfaction I'd paste the art board (which had coloured margins resembling today's default InDesign or Quark XPress page) with Cow Gum, which would stick everything in place. An expanding dry lump of the same Cow Gum would be used like an eraser to clean the paste board of glue - thus: “paste-up” artist. By today’s standards it was a tortuous process.

Notice also the “artist” part of the job title. It might not sound very artistic, sticking text and photos to a page, but having an eye for what looks good on a page was as relevant then as it is today.

Apple Mac Graphic Design Software Revolution

The landscape of today’s graphic design industry is unrecognisable in comparison. In just a few years the way the entire industry worked was changed - it was like a mini industrial revolution for graphic designers. Suddenly graphic design software made it possible to print proofs out instead of sticking them together and photocopying them! Deadlines became shorter as clients realised that they could get the same amount of work out of a studio in a quarter of the time.

Today a simple advert that would have taken a paste-up artist three or four hours to assemble can be put together to a press-ready standard in minutes (assuming the design has already been thrashed out). And it can be proofed by e-mail instead of post or fax. And after being signed off it can be e-mailed to a publication - which has freed designers from the large in-house paste-up studios - freed them to set themselves up as freelancers and independent studios.

Of course this is all old news - and there are a tremendous number of young graphic designers out there who did not experience the dubious benefit of learning the business at a drawing board covered in glue!

Cow Gum and Scalpels

I've been working with graphic design software as a Mac/PC-based designer since 1994. My first job in design was actually in 1987, whilst Macs were still getting a foothold in studios internationally. Then I had (if you can picture the scene) a drawing board, a pot of Cow Gum, a spatula, a metal ruler and a scalpel. These were the tools of my trade as a paste-up artist; no graphic design software in sight!

I'd receive pages of text from the typesetting machines downstairs. These I would slice up with my scalpel and roughly lay out on the page. Any photos or illustrations would need to be resized by the guys in the darkroom and passed to me to add to the layout. If the image was a fraction too large or small, back to the darkroom it would go for re-shooting.

Once the layout was to my satisfaction I'd paste the art board (which had coloured margins resembling today's default InDesign or Quark XPress page) with Cow Gum, which would stick everything in place. An expanding dry lump of the same Cow Gum would be used like an eraser to clean the paste board of glue - thus: “paste-up” artist. By today’s standards it was a tortuous process.

Notice also the “artist” part of the job title. It might not sound very artistic, sticking text and photos to a page, but having an eye for what looks good on a page was as relevant then as it is today.

Apple Mac Graphic Design Software Revolution

The landscape of today’s graphic design industry is unrecognisable in comparison. In just a few years the way the entire industry worked was changed - it was like a mini industrial revolution for graphic designers. Suddenly graphic design software made it possible to print proofs out instead of sticking them together and photocopying them! Deadlines became shorter as clients realised that they could get the same amount of work out of a studio in a quarter of the time.

Today a simple advert that would have taken a paste-up artist three or four hours to assemble can be put together to a press-ready standard in minutes (assuming the design has already been thrashed out). And it can be proofed by e-mail instead of post or fax. And after being signed off it can be e-mailed to a publication - which has freed designers from the large in-house paste-up studios - freed them to set themselves up as freelancers and independent studios.

Of course this is all old news - and there are a tremendous number of young graphic designers out there who did not experience the dubious benefit of learning the business at a drawing board covered in glue! ( jobs employment )

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