The difference between Design and Mechanical Art
By Beth MacKinnon
Posted on November 7, 2002, with the author's permission.
Probably the best and most readily understood analogy to grasp the difference between Design and Mechanical Art or the Designer and the Mechanical Artist, is to compare them to the Architect and the Engineer.
The Designer works out the solution for any project based on the intellectual exercise that results in the best possible graphic or three-dimensional solution.
They use a broad range of references, innovation and experience to visualize how a concept or strategy can become a tangible reality. This is done much in the way an architect considers spatial relationships, the geography of the terrain (planned building site) and the client's need when designing a new home.
In the same way, a Mechanical Artist will prepare the infrastructure upon which the Designer's vision can build and take form. They create the series of blue prints or layers that will in turn make the vision printable.
Using the engineering analogy again, it is generally understood that a building plan has many layers: the electrical drawings, the plumbing drawings, the elevation and the flat plan as examples.
The same is true of the mechanical file. The Quark file is equivalent to the flat plan. It is the blueprint or grid into which the various visual elements such as logos and photographs will be imported using software such as Photoshop or Illustrator.
The story to be told will be built into that same quark file or grid using Fonts. The skill of making something eminently readable, but not at once noticeable for the style of the letters, can be compared to electrical wiring. The true wiring expert will make your lights, appliances and garage door work on command and will also be able to follow the intricate plan that lays out the entertainment system so none of the wires show, yet there is sound all over the house. You will know when something's wrong, but don't tend to notice it as long as it works. Try to wire your own home or install a new bathroom without training.
The same is true of typography. The better the typographer, the more training and experience they will have had, the more seamless the links created between the layers in the mechanical file. If anything is mis-wired now, it will show up in the next phase, one way or another.
In the end, with all the pictures, logos and words placed into the grid or Quark file, (the brick & mortar is up, the roof is on) the Print Producer, or the contractor in our analogy, can bring in the painters to finish off the job.
Pre-Press and Printing
Pre-press is the preparatory work. In our analogy, it's the guys who sand the walls, putty the windows, and put the crown molding up around the ceiling.
Pre-press is the interpretation of the digital mechanical file information into the various formats required by Lithographers for sheet-fed printing, web printing, magazine, newspaper page impositions, or the various formats required for outdoor, large format. It can take the form of traditional acetate film with a printer's dot pattern or it can itself be a digital file, converted to the specified format required by the printer. Of necessity, this is the last time a 'real' proof will be seen and this should be viewed as an opportunity to rectify any glaring errors.
This final proofing phase is often referred to as the 'Disaster Check' phase. It is not an opportunity to mull over copy points or the colour of the suit you wore to the Photo shoot.
Printing, keeping with the analogy, is the fine finishing. Cutting in the edges for the final paint colours, hanging the wallpaper, and making sure the appropriate handles are on all the cabinetry. Upgrades and downgrades on materials can happen here. Poor workmanship shows up here too.
Printing is fairly self-explanatory. It's ink on paper. It can be a simple, one colour application or it can be a very complex series of pages with differing combinations of colours and protective varnishes or water based coatings.
Sounds simple enough. But ink on paper is also an art form. It depends on the simple science of burning the desired information onto metal plates and allowing ink to print in some places while preventing it from printing in others.
The intricacy of achieving perfection in printing is why it is considered an art. It depends on age-old skills merged with wonderful new technologies, and the art part of it is the best combination of chosen methodologies to deliver the perfect product. That comes down to judgement based on experience.
The perfect product has all images sharply and clearly reproduced. There are no unexpected 'blobby bits'. The correct page follows the page it is supposed to, even though they must print out of order. The colours reproduce faithfully. The glue is sufficiently strong to hold the product together. The paper doesn't crack noticeably when it's folded.
The more elaborate your project and the greater the number of pages, the more finishing details such as gluing or cut-out shapes, the more time you will have to allow for your project to be completed.
Additionally, the larger (size-wise) your project is, the more you are restricted by the number of available suppliers who have the equipment to complete your product. It's just a common sense thing – the larger the capital investment required to purchase the equipment, the fewer the number of players on the field.
So now that we've got talent, skill, and materials figured out, what any project needs is planning and hitting all your target dates to keep your project on track and on budget. Everything has to fall into place before the building can go up or the ribbon gets cut. (Getting tired of the analogy yet?)
There are many ways of going about the steps that lead to a printed product being available for the marketplace.
It is up to the Print Producer (or contractor) to pick the best method. That choice is based on the objective of the printed piece, the intricacy or number of elements that make up the whole, the quantity required, the budget available, the time frame allocated for delivery, and the equipment or specialists available to achieve the desired result. The best combination, with the most checks in the 'can-do' column will get the nod.
All projects have their own special needs but there are three things one must always bear in mind: Time, Budget, and Quality. The absence of any one of those things compromises the other two. They are interrelated.
A Post-Printing Project Example
A project that involves several elements, such as a phone handset box, will require the following things to happen post-printing.
The printed paper has come off the press perfectly. Now it will glue successfully to its cardboard stiffener. It will cut out without tearing or scuffing in the die-cutting machine. It will fold together and form the desired shape. It will ship to a warehouse on time.
At the warehouse it will move along an assembly line to have a tray placed inside it. The handset will be placed in the appropriate indentation for it. A handbook, printed elsewhere, will be placed on top of that along with ownership and warranty documents. The box will be closed. It will be scanned for inventory reports and for shipping documents. It will be shrink-wrapped, placed on skids, loaded onto trucks, and delivered to marketplace.
In many instances, it will cross borders and go through customs with all the proper documentation intact. And all within the time frame set out at the onset of the project, providing we have not forgotten to insulate the rafters or hurricane-proof the basement.
Beth MacKinnon is the Director of Print Production at Taxi
Advertising and Design, in Toronto.
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