Gatlin International

Description

Printing courses from Gatlin International combine quality instruction and courseware with the convenience of online learning.

To effectively manage a printing jobs you must understand how print shops work. You must also know how to communicate with them, and how to identify the best design solution to suit your exact needs and budget.

Our 6-lesson printing courses will teach you the technical fundamentals of producing professional-looking print publications.

Each lesson includes hands-on exercises that teach you what you need to know at every step of the printing process.

You'll also learn how to choose the correct printing paper and Pantone inks, how to modify your printing materials and processes based on your budget. You'll use Adobe InDesign as you prepare designs for print, manage the various phases of the production process and produce high-quality printing work.

Our printing courses are ideal for novices as well as experienced printing professionals looking to enhance their existing skills.

Outline

LESSON 1 Welcome to the Land of Print

Any time you work with a printer, you've just landed two jobs: designer and production manager. What's required? Lesson One provides a thorough overview of the print production process. You'll look at the steps for communicating print jobs from a client to a designer to a printer. You'll also gain a foundation in the materials and techniques used in print jobs, from basic paper and inks to offset lithography and a step-by-step look at prepress and finishing. In the exercise, you'll go on a print scavenger hunt to build a library of processes and finishes.

LESSON 2 Software and Materials

With a foundation in printing processes in hand, Lesson Two takes you deeper into the techniques and materials used to create dazzling print jobs. You'll learn how and when InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop fit in to the process and you'll walk through a project that puts them all together. Special printing methods, such as digital offset and letterpress, are defined, as are methods of assembling and binding multi-page documents. Finally, you'll take a close look at papers and their specifications and methods of selecting spot colors, process colors, and varnishes. The exercise will challenge you to work with a set of print specs and design a save-the-date postcard.

LESSON 3 Designer as Communicator

The designer is the shepherd of the entire print production process. In Lesson Three, the client-designer-printer triangle is explored in depth, detailing the creation of creative briefs, print specs, and the all-important budget. You'll learn how to tie quality, budget, and time together for an efficient and attractive product and how to choose the right printer for the job. In the exercise, you'll create your own creative brief and print specs for a poster/invitation job and you'll research local printers.

LESSON 4 Designing Within Your Specs

Your creative brief and print specs get you nowhere without good design to back them up. Lesson Four focuses on translating your specs into real design using InDesign swatches, budget-friendly spot color tints, and image prep techniques in Photoshop. You will also explore some of the printing effects that can make a project really special, like embossing. You'll wrap up with a detailed case study of specs put into action for a budget- and eco-conscious annual report. The exercise challenges you to turn your poster/invitation brief and specs into a polished design.

LESSON 5 Problem Solving and Tweaking

Print designers are flexible folk with good tolerance for change. In Lesson Five, common types of changes in a print job are defined, including budgetary changes and editorial changes. You will learn how to manage a print estimate and adjust for budget cuts, and you'll explore a creative case study that managed the budget effectively. You will also learn InDesign techniques for scrutinizing and polishing document text. The exercise lets you find a creative solution when the invitation client has a major change in budget.

LESSON 6 Sending Your Design to Print

All done? Not until you prepare your print job for final production. Lesson Six covers the detail-intensive world of the preflight check and file preparation. You'll learn what items to examine and revise for hand-off to your printer, and you'll learn how to prepare a press-quality PDF and InDesign file package to send to print. The prepress and proofing processes are covered in detail so you'll know just what to look for in finalizing your jobs. The final exercise will ask you to put finishing touches on your poster/invitation project and fully prepare the job to go on press.

Additional Info

Languages

English

Course Length

60.00 hours

Duration of Access

Enrolled students have access to the class for six months. During this period, questions or assignments may be submitted at any time to the instructor. Each course lesson requires an average of 10 hours of study time.

Instructor

Paul Halupka specializes in print design, layout design, identity work, and typography. He has worked for leading design firms in Birmingham and Chicago such as 3rst, Scout Brand, and Faust where he has done work for such clients as McDonald’s and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Green and non-profit companies are his ideal clients and he holds a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Alabama.

Prerequisites/Audience

Courses are designed for adult learners interested in building skills and portfolio for a design career. To take the course, students simply require a computer (PC or Mac), an Internet connection (56 Kbps modem or faster), and any required software. For courses with software requirements, computers must meet software manufacturers' system requirements.

Requirements/Materials Included

To take this course you'll need Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator and basic experience in graphic design and the software packages needed for this course.

Certification

3 CEU

Sessions College is accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). Certificate programs are accredited by the Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools.