It has been a long-standing question – Is it better to get a computer guy, and teach him printing, or to get a printing guy, and teach him the computer?
There is no real simple answer to that question, as it is dependent upon the individual workflow in the facility, and what their individual needs are, but it does bring to light the issue that I feel is important to look at.
Since computers are becoming more commonplace, and the end-result of print has not changed much, it is still the prevailing wisdom that it is best to train a print professional on the computer rather than the converse. This is true in almost all cases, but every facility I have had the luxury of visiting has found at least one employee whom has a penchant for tinkering with software, computers, networks, and servers. This person is typically the one whom also has the mindset to explore and experiment, but it also bring to light the almost ubiquitous need for a printer to keep up on new and updated features and tools. This is most often best done by someone whom is an existing print professional, with an interest in tinkering. They are not classically IT trained, and most often began as a working in prepress, but they are the guy that people in the company look to when their computer isn’t working. While it may seem like a good idea to look for an IT professional from outside of the industry to fill this role, I contend that print professionals make the best support and R + D guys.
Desktop print production software has been refined by its 20 year tenure to extremely powerful, workflow tools, rather than nifty one-off solutions. Software tools have become serious about production.
Some of the most powerful aspects of the modern desktop applications stem from the need to eliminate the need for numerous repetitive operations.
Software developers have been listening to the squeaky wheels of our industry and making their tools more tailored to the true needs of all modern print facilities.
There is an insidious downside to this however. All of these new features require a user to change the way they do some things and to learn new ways the software allows things to be done, and often, the busy schedule of a prepress department of a print facility does not allow time for experimentation of these new features. This is why I mention that I often get looks of astonishment from users when I show them this. ’You mean I could have been doing this all along?’ is often the comment I get.
A brief scrutiny of the menus in components of the Adobe CS3, or XPress 7/8 is a sobering, and humbling experience. Desktop tools have reached a complexity that far exceed the ability of someone to learn all the nuances and capabilities without at least a breeze through the tutorials, or manuals. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
With that complexity comes power that can be unleashed in the hands of one whom has taken the time to explore those tools. This is why I feel it is imperative that nearly every print production facility dedicate time, money, and employee resources in ’R & D’ roles.
While it may seem to the accounting department that spending a significant amount of one of the workers time learning new software or researching new solutions is expensive, in my experience it almost always pays dividends many times that of the investment.
If this were a more common practice, I might receive fewer shocked looks when I show users some obscure features that they have had at their disposal for years, and never utilised. It is amazing to me how many people (I’m talking about really good professional prepress employees here) I show the Photoshop automation and batching features and they are almost embarrassed.
Users should not feel badly that they have not had the opportunity to explore the nuances of these applications with a busy rack full of jobs, and ever-decreasing timeframes to complete jobs. I still contend that the investment in time and training of the proper employee will pay off greatly as he/she is able to bring these new-found features to the department, and make everyone’s lives easier.
When I ran a desktop department at a large engraver in the mid 1980’s, my role quickly went from running film to the imagesetters, to finding better ways to do what we did. The end-result of my role changing to research was that the department worked smarter, and it allowed me to develop procedures that we never would have considered before I had been granted more time to explore solutions to problems.
It allowed our facility to compete with others who were much larger than ourselves, and it gave us a level of respect from our clients due to our deeper knowledge of workflow tools, and procedures.
It was a win-win all around, and it is a practice that even 20 years later, still makes sound business sense
and pragmatism.
So, give your Mac guy a little time to explore, attend conferences and seminars, and research. I assure you it is time and money well-spent.
