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"The change from
traditional to electronic publishing, imageaking, and
image processing has transformed the technology, the terms, and the jobs familiar
to clients and graphic artists since the advent of hot type and offset
printing. It is not an overstatement to compare the scope of this change to
the introduction of the Gutenberg movable-type printing press."
Excerpt form Pricing and Ethical
Guidelines Handbook, copyright © 1997 Graphic Artists Guild.
The computer is a creative tool. Like pencils, airbrushes, and
other tools of expression, computers do not generate work by themselves but
require a skilled creative professional trained in the technical requirements
of software and hardware to produce high-quality results. And as our clients
have found out, the computer is not necessarily a time-saving tool. The multiple
creative choices offered, the ready opportunities for changes during a project,
and minor-to-disastrous technical glitches can add hours or days to an estimated
schedule.
In this document, we provide our clients with a brief look at how
new technologies have altered the traditional design and visual communications
processes. In hope of increasing the awareness of our potential clients
prior to a job contract is signed and of streamlining the client-artist
relationship, we pinpoint the potential areas of misunderstanding that may
arise in this high-technology environment between our clients and our staff.
High-tech graphic design issues
Rooster Graphics as the graphic designer and the client should
establish common understanding about the production stages of electronic
design to better agree on job responsibilities, quality control, and
price breakdowns.
Sophisticated software has brought traditional typesetting tasks into
the graphic designer's realm. Now, the designer typesets the client's copy.
Rooster Graphics owns hundreds of different font styles as well as
software for customizing, "letterspacing" and "kerning" them to maintain
creative control. In return, we prefer our clients provide their text on
a disk in a digital format. If not, the client is charged for the conversion
to digital format.
Our technology allows us to scan in your photographs and illustrations
in low or high, production-quality resolutions. These scans are imported
into page layout software for scaling, cropping, positioning and digital
alterations and retouching to achieve the designed artistic effects. If
the project involves any photos or illustrations provided by the client,
we request our clients to provide us with their digital copies on disk
(if available), or alternatively with high quality photographic prints.
We can of course have our professional photographer associates to create
the photographic images you need in your finished products.
It should also be noted that high technology has brought designers, image
setters and printers overlapping in-house capabilities. At Rooster
Graphics, we can color-separate the multi-color images or documents, or
otherwise prepare your job for "prepress" before the traditional-media printing
instead of outsourcing these tasks to an "imagesetter" or "service bureau".
Finally, the Internet and our Web presence allows us to provide
project status reports to our customers on a regular basis. Our clients
can view the current state of their graphic design project by accessing
a password-protected document on the World Wide Web.
Areas of
common misunderstanding
- micro-management: The expanded ability of a client to
access our work-in-progress can tempt a client to micromanage, try too
many alternative designs, or make unnecessary changes. It is more
efficient for all if the client reserves comments until we present our
results at appropriate stages of the project.
- complexity of electronic revisions: Clients occasinally
assume that electronically produced comps or Web images of a design are
finished designs or designs that can be revised in a jiffy without cost.
The client should understand that even apparently simple changes such as
changes in the size of logo beyond the original require fine-tuning if
quality is to be retained. At Rooster Graphics, we try to
continually educate our clients about software and hardware limitations
and explain the parameters of the work included in each job estimate or
contract.
- file ownership: There is also a tendency for a client to
seek disk or electronic file ownership as an afterthought to an otherwise
specific job assignment. Such electronic files could be used by a client
as a template for subsequent or ongoing use. As such, the ownership of the
digital file must be negotiated separately, or in advance of receiving a
quote for the complete job.
- electronic production: Electronic production, or "prepress",
is a large area of possible confusion. These technological aspects of
rendering a completed design camera-ready or press-ready can now be
performed at our computers, at an imaging center, or at the printer,
depending on the quality requirements, the client's budget, and individual
suppliers' capabilities. The party that provides electronic production bears
responsibility for its satsfactory conclusion.
High-tech illustration and art issues
With the new technology, artistic
approaches to electronic illustration now implies much research is
done on-screen or online to access art previously created by the
illustrator or stock photography and copyright-free art databases.
Sketches can now be transmitted by modem or a portable electronic
storage medium to our clients, or be accessed by them directly on
the Internet in password-protected documents.
If the client requests a transparency or other non-digital form of
the illustration, the output cost is billed separately. If film
output is requested, we bill the client for the film separately and
Rooster Graphics becomes responsible for the quality of
the film, and the accuracy of the "trapping" (a highly technical
registration skill that helps avoid print registration problems by
creating overlapping areas of adjacent colors).
Areas of
common misunderstanding
- sketches: As in graphic design projects, our illustration
clients typically assume that a sketch they are viewing on a monitor is
complete or close to completion, when in fact much more work would be
required to render that drawing, even if approved, ready for delivery.
At the sketch stage, many clients also mistakenly assume that changes to
concepts, color tratments, or sketches to accommodate alternative page
layouts are easy, quick, and cost-free. At Rooster Graphics, we try to
continually educate our clients about software and hardware limitations
and explain the parameters of the illustration work included in each job
estimate or contract to prevent potential conflicts.
Clients shod be aware that in current trade practice, a change in the
shape or concept of any illustration is considered a "client revision"
billable to the customer unless it occurs quite early in the sketch phase.
- trapping: The potential for "trapping" exists in some of
our illustration and design software. However, since trapping requires
dismantling an illustration and assigning the appropriate colors and
traps to the individual components based on the selected printer's
specifications, paper stock used, etc., it is a demanding and
time-consuming skill. Clients may not understand trapping intricacies or
may think that a computer "just takes care of it." Regardless of who
provides the trapping service, the client's budget should allow for it.
- file maintenance: Clients are responsible for maintaining
an illustration presented in an electronic file in good condition to ensure
successful printing. We advise that the client make any backup copies of
these files upon explicit permission from Rooster Graphics. (This
does not grant any additional rights of reproduction.)
Website development issues
Website design and development is
the most technical and dynamic version of visual communication means. Some
of our customers unfamiliar with the internet have various questions about
what WWW really is, the differences between the WWW
and the traditional media, and how business is conducted
on the WWW. For a brief discussion of such issues, please consult
the Internet Primer page.
The standards for coding Web documents and the capabilities and types
of side-features accessible through a Web document (such as "electronic
commerce", "secure transaction", and "push" technologies) are
continuously evolving at a rapid pace. The browsers that "pull" the Web
documents from the Internet are also in a constant state of evolution.
At Rooster Graphics International, we spend a considerable
amount of time and resources to keep abreast of these standard and software
changes to offer our clients the state-of-the art.
With the Internet technology, artistic approaches to electronic
visual communication now implies much research is done on-screen
or online to access art previously created by our illustrators and
designers or stock photography and copyright-free art databases.
Our work-in-progress can be accessed by our clients on a daily basis
on the Internet under password-protection.
Graphic design and electronic illustration are integral components of
successful website development, with the additional complexity brought by
the fact that while the viewers' canvas size is fixed in print media, on
the computer, MAC or PC, anybody can resize their "desktop areas" or
"windows" to alter the canvas. All of our expectations from our clients
and all points of possible misunderstanding noted in the
High-tech graphic design issues
section and the High-tech illustration
issues section of this document are equally relevant for Website
development, and should be reviewed by our Website development clients.
Other points that should be noted are as noted below.
Areas of
common misunderstanding
- site-compatibility: As in traditional media visual
communication projects, our Website development clients typically assume
that a web document they are viewing online is complete or close
to completion, when in fact much more work would be required to integrate
that page in the remainder of a Website, possibly requiring the revision
of many other site documents. Clients shoud be aware that most of our
design and development time will be spent on such administrative integration
stages.
- complexity of web page revisions: Clients occasinally
assume that electronically produced Web pages are designs that can be
revised in a jiffy without cost. The client should understand that even
apparently simple changes such as changes in the size of logo beyond the
original require tedious fine-tuning of the whole web document (as well
as the logo image file itself) if quality is to be retained. At
Rooster Graphics, we try to continually educate our clients
about the original text-based nature of the Internet and its page
composition limitations, and about software and hardware limitations,
and explain the parameters of the work included in each job estimate or
contract.
- micro-management: The ability of a client to access our
work-in-progress on a daily basis can tempt a client to micromanage, try
too many alternative designs, or make unnecessary changes. It is more
efficient for all if the client reserves comments based on our presention
of our intermediate results at appropriate stages of the project.
- non-standard technologies: In cases where
a client demands the use of newly-evolving, experimental, "beta-version",
or non-standardized technologies on their web sites, the associated
research and software acquision expenses are considered items separately
billable to the client.
- browser-compatibility: There are many different web browsers
out there, with many differing capabilities. Some can color cells inside a
table while some can't, some can handle JavaScript codes while some can't,
etc. The development of a website that achieves a consistent and beatiful
look under multiple browsers is a time-consuming task. We bill our clients
separately for validation of their websites for browsers that are not
standard at the time when the job is commissioned.
- monitor-compatibility: There are many different computer
monitor types. Some large, some small. In addition, users have individual
control over their "desktop resolutions" and "window sizes". The design
of Website that perform equally well under all canvas-size conditions is
an art, requiring careful planning and validation. Unless otherwise
requested by the client, we optimize our Website pages for being viewed on
the most coommon monitors (14", 800 by 600 pixels). Upon request, we can
validate your Websites for larger or smaller desk areas. These additional
services are separately billed.
- ISP-compatibility: We can develop and electronically store
and maintain your Website in-house on the Rooster Graphics
International Web Server. Alternatively, we can design the Website
on our Web Server, and then transfer it to the server machine provided by
your own ISP (Internet Access Provider). Finally, and preferably, we can
design, develop, store and maintain your Website on teh machine of your
own ISP. The transfer of a Website form one ISP to another one requires
always careful and sometimes extensive revisions of all Web documents in
the Website and is billable to the client as a separete espense.
- file maintenance: Unless otherwise contracted for, clients
are responsible for maintaining their Website files in good condition to
ensure successful access by visitors. We advise that the client make any
backup copies of all website files on physical storage devices upon
explicit permission from Rooster Graphics. (This does not grant
any additional rights of reproduction or "mirror sites" located at
different WWW addresses.)
Output issues
Occasionally, our customers will need
hardcopy outputs of our sketches or designs (rather than their images on
the password-protected Internet documents) for examination and approval
purposes. The resolution of outputs is measured in "dpi" (dots per inch).
The more dots per inch, the higher the quality of the printed image.
Work we produce digitally can be output in a large number of ways,
from low-resolution (72 dpi) to very-high-resolution (3,600 dpi) print or
photographic methods. These output costs are billed separately to our
clients. Our clients should be aware of the output options available to
them.
- b&w paper and film output: Standard Laser printers can be
used to obtain eceonomical medium resolution (upto 600 dpi) b&w outputs
of color or b&w work. There are also a variety of machines available to
output computer files onto resin-coated paper (RC paper) or onto positive
or negative film. Resin-coated paper is of perfect reproduction quality,
analogous to traditional photostats of repro copy used in mechanicals.
- digital color output: There are many different brands
of color printers, also capable to provide monochrome and b&w output,
ranging in capability from low to high resolution. Thermal wax (thermal
transfer), ink jet, four-color-proces laser copier, and dye-sublimation
are four common pinter types. Each maker and model also varies in
capability and resolution (upto 720 dpi).
- digital proofs: Digital high-end proofs for
precision-checking color can be made from electronic files. Digital
Matchprint and Approval are two common
types. Although the quality available from digital color printers is
improving continuously, we continue to rely on these match prints and
bluelines for final client approval before printing in traditional media.
For Website publications, the lower-resolution digital color output
printers provide a sufficient alternative.
- photographic output: Photographic transparencies can be
output from files via a number of software programs. New cameras can
record images digitally so they can be directly imported into imaging
software.
Transparencies can also be made in various sizes and resolutions from
electronic files by an output device called a film-recorder. CD-ROM's are
also used to store photographic output.
- direct digital output: Computer-generated art may go
directly to production without ever seeing the light of day on a piece of
reflective (paper) copy. No information is lost when moving directly from
electronic file to electronic file. So this procedure is faithful to the
original screen image. Resolution depends on the file's specifications.
At Rooster Graphics International, we have in-house b&w paper
(600 dpi) and digital color output (720 by 600 dpi) facilities. For other output modes, we
outsource output requests to service centers .
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