In 1998 I graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. I spent 5 years working on a BA in Graphic Communication (GrC). This degree is one of only a few in the country that focuses solely on the printing industry. I learned about paper stocks, print estimating, ink viscosity, typographic, hand stripping, digital pre-press and actual press operation. I may be the only person I know to have run a Heidelberg litho sheet-press and who has stood on top of a running three-story Goss newspaper press. Cal Poly is proud to be the only university west of the Mississippi that student-prints it’s own daily newspaper. I still have fond memories of taking layouts from the Journalism students at 8pm in order to shoot negatives and make printing plates.
Within the department, I selected a concentration on Design Reproduction Technology. By doing so, I took courses in the art department and additional courses on design tech with GrC. I was being trained to work in a printing company and act as the bridge between designers who wanted something made and the printers who had to get that art on paper.
Well before I reached graduation I knew that working directly in printing was not for me. I was very interested in computers and had already been working on the web. While I still appreciate my printing education, I don’t wish that I was working closer to that industry.
Recently I came to the realization that I really never left the direction of my concentration. Today, I work for a design agency where I represent the technology side of each project. My job is to work with our clients and work with the other designers to ensure that our concepts will work. We have to balance every idea with the limitations of client deployment environments and engineering skillsets. I also help to articulate design concepts through prototype development. Lastly, I work with clients and the general design industry through education about how to connect design and development.
My Design Reproduction Technology trained me to translate design to print. I use much of what I learned now to translate design to web/mobile/device and PC. Thanks Cal Poly, your “Learn By Doing” model was a success with me!
