What makes a good artworker?

[AlexTheBird]

Hi everyone,

I'm going out with my friend for dinner this evening, and she wants my advice on getting herself some freelance work. However, she doesn't really know if she can market herself as an artworker if she doesn't know every single technical thing that can go wrong with a piece of design work going to print. Has anyone stumbled upon a 'what you should know as an artworker' test anywhere on the web? I'm curious!

(and to clarify, I realise there might be a difference in terminology between countries as to what I would call an 'artworker' - my notion is that an artworker is someone with high level skills in Pshop, InDesign, Quark, Illustrator etc.... who can get a job ready to go to print, but doesn't necessarily do much conceptual design.

(Although I'd class myself as both a graphic designer/artworker anyway as I have to do the whole shebang!:))

Thanking you all!

[AlexTheBird]

oooh - and if this has been posted elsewhere - my apologies. I did a quick search but nothing for 'artworker' came up, oddly.

[Bob]

I call that kind of worker either a junior prepress operator or a desktop publisher. Both quite respectable positions. If she's very good at it she could even approach design studios who often struggle in this area and would be happy to have somebody who actually doesn't MIND taking over this stuff, if they can really 'see' what they're after and be able to take their pieces through to hand-off stage..

[PrintDriver]

Production Artist comes to mind as well.
However, a production artist should work toward a printer's spec. And all that takes is a phone call or an email...

[Buda]

I guess that's what we call a mac operator. Someone that take instruction but isn't actually very creative. More like a seamstress than a fashion designer.

There are things that can potentially be set up incorrectly in every job. I guess the best thing to do is to keep an open relationship with the print and to be easily contactable to correct any file problems. Always have your contact details attached to every job, CD etc.

[PrintDriver]

I happen to be a very proud production artist. Don't let anyone tell you it doesn't take creativity to be one. Sure you might be working from supplied templates but you still need an artistic eye to set properly pleasant cropping of images and get that type to work out in a visually appealing manner.

[Bob]

I agree with PD completely. Of course, it's a question of degree, and how much of that you need, or want.

It reminds me of the laugh I had the other day while reading the description of a 'staff development' workshop that was being offered here called "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff' and all about how reducing the obsession with details reduces stress. That kind of philosophy would go over well in design OR production, right?

I betcha it's being presented by a manager.

[PrintDriver]

Hmmm...maybe I shouldn't sweat the due date so much. I mean, why be obsessed with a small detail such as a date on a calendar?
LOL!

[Eggles1]

I guess that's what we call a mac operator.

Now THAT's a term I find highly offensive and it makes absolutely no sense. The implication being that if you can operate a Mac you can do prepress. Such nonsense.

[Ned]

...wouldn't that also imply that a PC is a better platform for creative non-production designer-types?

[urstwile]

Puhleeze, let's not make this one of those threads. Mmm-kay?

[Bob]

You mean, we should try and keep this 'PC' (politically correct)?

I think old PCers like myself sometimes can't help but indulge in a little dream that someday, maybe forty years from now, when we're all toothless and in adult iDiapers--that some big shot from AIGA, or some other large graphic design industry rep, will announce at a press conference, that yes, they're sorry that they slammed all those doors in those PC-only job applicant faces (after spitting on them) for so many years.

And as a token gesture of apology, the term "Mac Operator" and "Mac Designer" will be officially banished from the Help Wanted sections of all design trade mags. And what the heck, here pops, enjoy your free iPod.

(I thought I forgot the nineties, but they really were nasty to PC designers... weren't they?)

[urstwile]

LOL Broacher.

Nah, I just meant puhleeze, not another PC vs. Mac thread. It's so 1990's. I don't think it really matters anymore.

[Bob]

It may not matter, you're right. But as someone who experienced professional anti-PCism first hand, at a critical point in my career, I can't help but get a little cynical at the historical revisionism that's gone on around that battle. It's like, it never really happened.

"History is just one f***** thing after another." -- 'Rudge' character from 'The History Boys'

[urstwile]

Well, I never hated PC's on principle, just hated 'em because whenever we would get a job in (in the 90's) to separate on a PC, it was hell on wheels. Fonts were an issue, compatibility with the imagesetter was an issue (if they'd even speak at all), etc.

That's all changed now. Thus my revisionist viewpoint. <wink>

[AlexTheBird]

Well, if it helps the overused term that people use when they refer to me at work is 'give it to the mac monkey over there' when my actual job title is 'Visual Image Designer.'

LOL! :)

Thanks for all the responses - I shall pass them on to my friend.

[LeftBrain Artist]

Has anyone stumbled upon a 'what you should know as an artworker' test anywhere on the web? I'm curious!

Just to clarify - what you're calling "artworker" is pretty much a graphic designer.

I don't know if there's a test out there, but we can make one. Here's a start, feel free to add anything you think that graphic designers should know.

1) Quote something from Monty Python. Anything will do.

2) Quote something from Monty Python, and now you can't use the Holy Grail.

3) True or False: When Chuck Norris plays Oregon Trail, his family does not die from cholera or dysentery, but rather, roundhouse kicks to the face. He also requires no wagon, since he carries the oxen, axels, and buffalo meat on his back. He always makes it to Oregon before you.

4) What does N.A.N.K.A stand for?

5) True or False: when Morea reaches 666,000 posts, the rapture will occur. (Stop her before its too late!)

[Eggles1]

Well, if it helps the overused term that people use when they refer to me at work is 'give it to the mac monkey over there' when my actual job title is 'Visual Image Designer.'

If anyone called me a mac monkey, I'd slap their face.

I prefer them to ask me to 'wave my magic wand' over something.

[frankster]

I prefer them to ask me to 'wave my magic wand' over something.

Diiiiirty boy!:eek:

[Samakimoto Graphics]

Sweating the small stuff is important.

I remember when I started out in layout (books, manuals and publications) I would be so stressed out on detail that I'd print out chapters of the documents to read through during my bus-ride to and from work to check for hanging hyphens and that "Meters" was spelt "Metres" and such.

I still do but I eventually worked out a system that was less stressful with time.

[panzer]

Diiiiirty boy!:eek:


Lol frankster

i dont know about mac operator but isnt this job called "Repro" now



and how do i delte an a post or can i ?

like above :(

[urstwile]

I took care of it for you Panzer. :)