Bleed for Your Art?

If you worked in a design studio before 1989, you were surrounded by an assortment of tools that are seldom used today. Before the computer became the primary tool for design, designers used X-Acto knifes, T-squares and rapidograph pens to build “mechanicals” which were used to produce printed material.

 

It was a craft - methodical almost surgical-like in process.  First, you had to spec your type to find out how it would fit within the allotted space of the design. Then a typesetter set it based on a marker comp layout produced by a designer.  Later it was manipulated in a darkroom on a stat camera and output on film paper, then waxed or spray mounted onto the mechanical boards. 

 

Each element on the page of the design was crafted by hand. Mistakes could not be undone with the click of a mouse and were costly or dangerous. In fact many designers my age have a scar or two as a souvenir of a late night slip-up with an X-Acto knife.  Blood, spray mount, rubber cement, wax - it was a messy, smelly job and only the skilled production artist could keep their work clean.

 

If a client wanted a change, they waited until the next day to see it. If the client was in a different time zone, it might be several days. What used to take a week to create can now be accomplished in a couple of hours.

 

Some designers might gripe about the amount of time they have now to complete a task, but the deadlines didn’t get shorter. The process has become more efficient by removing several people (collaborators) - allowing the happy designer more control.

 

 

I am grateful the only use I can find for a T-square these days is for a back scratcher!