Reply To: Why are designers so shy?

Pariah S. Burke said:

Designers aren't as well trained these days. …

My friend Sandee Cohen told me she recently met a couple of fresh-out-of-design-college kids who had never been told anything about prepping for print, who had spent only a day learning about kerning and leading.

I've gotten used to printers and magaizine people saying they like to work with me because they never have problems with what I send them. I used to think “Well, of course. What did you expect?”, but I've discovered that this isn't the norm.

Here's how bad it can get: Recently a contact at Lamar (the billboard folks) called to thank me for some client artwork I'd sent them for digital highway displays, because “it was perfect.” It turns out that “perfect” meant that I designed to a 1400 pixel by 400 pixel spec using (drum roll) 1400×400 pixels. This is rocket science? (The idea that it's unusual is actually a little scary. Perhaps that's another thing not taught in design school: read the mechanical specs.)