Test yourself!
Just like in any profession or hobby, the interrelated worlds of printing and graphic design have many ins and outs, lots of important details and according to who you ask- very specific tools, processes, shortcuts and insiders’ tips. There are plenty of resources to help anyone better understand the design process and its follow-through to a great printed product- from books and magazines to blogs with tutorials and instructional videos. While all of us at Colourtime consider ourselves to be experts, any professional can benefit from a little brush up from time to time. If you consider yourself to be a desktop publishing connoisseur, here are a few tests you can take to see how you measure up:
The first one has to do with color in general and hue specifically. According to Wikipedia colors with the same hue are usually distinguished with adjectives referring to their lightness. This test shows four sets of color swatches with the varying hues mixed up between them. You have to rearrange the swatches so that the spectrum is correct.
Now good designers know how to effectively use typography to completely change the look of any composition. Pre-press technicians must have almost encyclopedic knowledge of fonts as they are often missing in files sent by customers and they must locate or find a suitable substitute for the missing font. This test, presented by www.ilovetypography.com could use some improvement, but it is tricky and even you experts may find yourselves forgetting the difference between script and calligraphic!
Now, I did spend a good chunk of time looking for quizzes out there covering a variety of appropriately print-related topics such as inks, paper, composition and white space, even software shortcuts, but no luck. I did, however find what appears to a SERIOUS online review and final exam broken down into eight separate quizzes:
1. What is Desktop Publishing?
2. Page Layout
3. Prepress
4. Printing, Printing Presses
5. Elements of Design
6. Principles of Design
7. Typography
8. Text Composition
These quizzes are based on the material presented by the site itself- so their validity as the absolutely correct answers across the board certainly varies. I also found some of the questions irrelevant based on each printers’ own work-flow and preferences. One question in the pre-press section asks the difference between a contact proof, a contract proof and a press proof. In the print world you will also hear the terms soft proof, blue-line proof, final proof, customer proof…the nomenclature is essentially unimportant as long as you understand the concept. If you have a few minutes go ahead, see how well you do on the About.com final exam.
These tests are not only useful to those who work in the print world, they are also helpful to customers of the print world- whether you are a designer or just an independent business owner, familiarizing yourself with the print process makes you a better, more informed customer and ultimately increases the probability of the product turning out exactly how you want the first time around.
P.S.- As many print designers are also web designers, (the two worlds are converging at an alarming rate) I include a fun quiz that doesn’t actually test any knowledge on your part, rather it asks you to check adjectives that describe you from a long list of possible choices. It only takes about 3 minutes at the end of which you find out based on your answers which of the 144 named HTML colors describe you. The colors are found based on hue (how you think), saturation (how much you do about it), and lightness (the effect you think it has). Apparently I’m paleturquoise #AFEEEE!
Posted in For Your Information, Graphic Design, Print Industry, Tips and Techniques | No Comments »
