Pasteup
Pasteup
There's a definite trend for artwork to be finished completely on the screen, particularly for those from a non-artwork background. Whether this is good for quality and creativity is a debatable issue.
The screen can be restrictive, or time consuming, for some special effects that are trivial with a pair of scissors. Why spend ages getting a perfect repro of someone's companies logo onto the machine when you know it's a one-off and you have a perfectly good hardcopy to hand?
There's a good reason to work totally on screen for work that is going to negatives (for long runs and super quality) because the publication goes straight from the imagesetter to the press, with no neg prep required, which keeps costs down. But for bromide, or laser work this argument doesn't really apply because no particularly special skills or expensive equipment are needed to do pasteup.
So when would you want to do things the old way?
We often layout a page on screen up to the point of pics, and then pasteup traditional darkroom photos and lineart, because it keeps the data files tiny and fast to work with.
You can work several smaller jobs on one page too, or even put the customer's business card in the middle of the letterhead page, so you're only up for one bromide. Just cut them up afterwards and present them on boards to keep it classy.
(I will admit that we occasionally come unstuck if we misjudge the customer and there are a lot of rounds of changes, because we then keep having to pasteup proofs, thus eating up any gain that we might have had. Luckily, these jobs don't come along often enough for me to want to change the way I work.)
In some packages putting even the simplest coupon box on an angle is a lot of work on the screen. But if you finish the page, and then just but it out and restick it's fast and easy.
Developing a few pasteup skills is well worth it, even it it's just to do a last minute fix on an error. It's amazing how the typos suddenly glare at you once they're on a bromide. That's why everyone at Type Tamer is trained to wield a blade; if your "oops" can be fixed on the board, that option will always be offered first and usually on the house too! It saves both an output and a deadline.
Printers are used to seeing artwork pasted onto boards, and often with a cover over it to protect the artwork.
The more expensive the agency - the thicker the board and the fancier the cover. I've seen some agencies use stuff thats beautifully glossy and printed with their logo just to cover artwork. Nice if you're charging enough, but a simple white cover with your sticky label in the corner does the job without any loss of dignity!
If your printer needs flat-art (no pasteup) for his platemaker (a few do) don't let that put you off, you can copy or bromide the page at the end to keep him happy.
Why not experiment with a pair of scissors and a few laser prints. Hey, if you mess it up you can always go back to the motherboard for another copy!
