Tuesday, August 02, 2005
i am so not a technie
That's right. I should have known, really, from a long time ago. But I'm evidently not too good at taking hints.
***
Four years in University and I barely got IT lingo down. My peers would be in the midst of an animated conversation about the (blackbox) inner workings of some network or system or programme, and I'd be thinking to myself: I know they're speaking English so why don't I understand them?
At that time, I cut myself some slack because after all I was a Communications major (just stuck in the wrong faculty).
***
Today, just a week shy of the first year anniversary in my first job and I have to admit to myself that I'm not getting the publishing lingo down. At all.
Sure I can ramble off the trim size and bleed size requirements for the magazine; sure I can list out the printing specifications off the top of my head; and I sure can relay all the artwork jargon that my Creative guy mumbles off to the advertiser.
The only problem is that I sure can't tell one from the other.
Well (to cut myself more slack) I haven't been in the industry long, right? Feeling a piece of paper, I can probably tell you it's 105 or 128 gsm matt art paper.. or maybe a 270gsm art card. But that's it. I've only leafed through the magazine sufficient times to be able to identify those particular grammage.
Don't even get me started on finishes. And don't look at me funny like my vendors/ printing house reps do. Fine. I admit. I can't tell hotstamping from embossing and debossing (debossing?! I mean, it doesn't even exist in my trusty Colin's Cobuild!) and I can't tell a UV varnish from a gloss laminate.
I guess my next book isn't going to be Harry Potter. It'll be the Dummies' Guide to Printing & Publishing.
// posted by the commentator @ 5:19 pm 
Comments:
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It takes time to pick up the publishing lingo. I've been dabbling in it off and on for almost ten years, and even then I have to stop and thinking sometimes. What really crystallized it for me was visiting a printing company recently. It really puts everything into perspective --- and you finally get why it's called saddle stitching!
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