Observation Experience

Desktop Publishing Standard VII

I observed the Colorado City Record, a small weekly newspaper published in our town, being put together for publication. I spent four hours on a Tuesday morning observing the newspaper staff as they finalized their stories, typed them, proofed the copy, and put the finished copy on the layout sheets. The staff said that most of their stories come from local activities, local news, schools (we have three school districts in our county), and a few articles that they pull off of the Internet. This newspaper is basically a community newspaper with very few national or world wide events being covered. The newspaper is put together by hand on layout pages and then taken to a nearby town for printing. I watched as each staff member contributed their part to the process of creating the newspaper.  I saw how each piece was important to the whole and how the staff members had to be timely in completing their part in order for the paper to be completed on time. This reinforced the concept of team/group work that we have participated in during the TATC courses. 

It was interesting to watch the staff use the modern technologies; software, computers, scanners, digital cameras, Artwaxer, and copier, to create the columns, ads, and photographs, and then use the "cut and paste" method to actually put the paper together.  They used scissors to cut out the different pieces of the paper, ran the pieces through the Artwaxer to put a wax coating on the back of the pieces, and then "pasted" it together on the layout pages.

I observed the different concepts put into action that were taught during the Desktop and Extended Desktop Publication courses. The staff used many of the terms that were taught and concepts such as white space, proximity, balance, repetition, alignment, contrast, and type contrast for emphasis. They had to deal with file compatibility, customers bringing in ads, stories, etc. right before the deadline, and faxed pictures that were not usable, and did so in a very professional manner.

The observation experience was very interesting to me.  I wanted to gain knowledge about and observe a 'real world' application of desktop publishing.