WORRIED! What will the future be for Prepress?

[Sparky]

I see what Matt is saying, "Marketing" since the craftsmanship of what was once a wonderful trade (I myself came up as a stripper 35 years ago) has gone by the way side, so to will our "in Nation" jobs that we do now. I think that what we must look at is where Marshall McCluen"s (sp?) "the Message is the Medium" is going to take us. I see standard common everyday printing being reduced to overseas vendors and all of our "pre-press" issues going with it.

Digital communication, both via video and audio are what's dominating our world today. Mass-media telecommunication, web design and marketing are what's going to be our future. :? :cry: :cry:

[mattbeals]

Web technologies, PDF for multimedia or e-books/e-zines, dynamic content delivered to multiple technologies, database work. Much everything is already in some form of a database. The next trick is to do something meaningful with that very data. So merge/purge, relational databases, knowledge mining etc. will drive the dynamic content (variable data printing, dynamic web pages) and delivery to different mediums. Such as cell phones, PDA (or their hybrid form), e-paper. Getting the databases to talk to each other, then getting them to speak a common language (XML for instance) for meaningful delivery will be the futre, or some large portion of it.

[pspdfppd]

I dunno Sparky, as far as I am concerned.....I used to do all that tough back breaking stripping myself and I think today my "craftmanship" level is at a much higher level than before.

Just try and teach someone who knows nothing about what you are doing on a daily basis and they will think you are some kind of "God".........

[Sparky]

Originally Posted by pspdfppd

I dunno Sparky, as far as I am concerned.....I used to do all that tough back breaking stripping myself and I think today my "craftmanship" level is at a much higher level than before.

Just try and teach someone who knows nothing about what you are doing on a daily basis and they will think you are some kind of "God".........

I know exactly waht you say. I wasn't implying our craftsmanship was going away, cause we ain't gonna loose that

What I think is, that real craftmanship doesn't exist "out there" any more, and our customers just aren't willing to recognize it or pay for it :cry:

All I hear just like everyone else ie "outsource, outsource, outsource"
I'm sick of it :evil:

PS, I am a GOD 8)

[gig0]

Matt, your premedia post intrigues me. Would you happen to have any links that would give more insight as far as our field is concerned? Being in my 30's, I'm asking myself the same questions about where our industry is going and what I can do to stay ahead of the curve or at least be prepared.

[Litho9745]

Sorry, what is "Premedia"?

[Litho9745]

What is "Premedia"? I never heard of that in prepress.

[rhctp]

Most of what people consider premedia is a prep house the designs the pages, imposes them, and then send out DTP files that are not to be manipulated. In Premedia they usually have massive data bases that cover multiple clients with millions of images for instant usage. A good example is the way some Premedia places work with NASCAR advertisers. They have cameras set up on the track that constantly take pictures. Then in a month or so when they want to print say #18 on the second turn of the track at lap three. They have instant access to that image available for print. You could go on and on with different scenarios but it merges everything from origination to completion into one place. At least that is what I have seen so far.

[LadIndy]

Originally Posted by Sparky

I know exactly waht you say. I wasn't implying our craftsmanship was going away, cause we ain't gonna loose that

What I think is, that real craftmanship doesn't exist "out there" any more, and our customers just aren't willing to recognize it or pay for it :cry:

All I hear just like everyone else ie "outsource, outsource, outsource"
I'm sick of it :evil:

PS, I am a GOD 8)

I'm glad that this topic has sparked the interesting responses that I'm getting. I DO NOT WANT to WASTE all the skills and knowledge that I have gained over the years (Since Compugraphic typesetting for me) by starting over in some other field, say walking dogs. I want to capitalize on those skills and knowledge and apply them in this field, print, web or whatever. However, since there are so many programs and so little time, I'm trying to figure out where to start while I still have a full time job to pay the bills. I want to stay current and a little ahead of the curve to make myself marketable for a long time to come. (esp. if Bush wants to mess around with my social security). I'm really good at what I do and I really love doing it (most of the time) and want to continue. These forums have become a great place for us in the industry. Keep those questions and answers coming.

[willisnr]

Some interesting articles
http://www.printingnews.com/pages/is...6401/ipa.shtml


http://ep.pennnet.com/Articles/Artic...ICLE_ID=193937

Cmpletely biased, but hits the nail on the head..
http://printadvertising.com/2004/09/...int-media.html

Prepress is certainly fast moving, I still love what I do, and am still learning a great deal after 13 years. I have seen a lot happen in that time - it's places like PPF that keep me on top of what's going on in such a rapidly changing environment..