Category Archives: Education

These are blogs about education and training.

Danish designer’s logo makes a nice Chinese ideograph

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Brian Lawler

While participating in the ICC Symposium in Hong Kong this week I had a chance to visit and tour the Hong Kong Design Institute, a public post-secondary institution devoted to graphic arts, graphic design, interior design and industrial design. The … Continue reading →

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French TAGA chapter captures the Kipphan Trophy

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Brian Lawler

This year’s TAGA Conference featured something completely new: the French student chapter from Grenoble won first prize in the TAGA scientific journal competition. This is the first time a student chapter outside North America has captured the prize. The students … Continue reading →

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Bookbinding with needle and thread

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Brian Lawler

I am teaching a class in book design and bookbinding this quarter. I have 30 students in the class; they are working on their manuscripts and will soon be working on their book blocks and book cases. This involves printing, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Bookbinding, Education, Imposition and Pagination, Printing and Printing Processes, Typography | Leave a comment

The ETAOIN SHRDLU Express

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Brian Lawler

I was driving at about 60 mph on Highway 101 south of Salinas, California today, when I saw what appeared to be a Linotype keyboard in my rear-view mirror. Yes, it was a Linotype keyboard! attached to the rest of … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, History, Typography | 2 Comments

Cal Poly students win the annual Phoenix Challenge

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Brian Lawler

At a conference in San Antonio, Texas, two weeks ago, the student team from Cal Poly took top honors for their redesign and printing of packaging materials for Cal Poly’s student-made chocolates. These are the redesigned chocolate products produced by … Continue reading →

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2012 TAGA Student Chapter award

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Brian Lawler

Reported partly in-flight on my way home from the 2012 Technical Conference of TAGA On Tuesday evening, at the 64th annual conference of the Technical Association of the Graphic Arts, awards were presented to the student chapters of the organization, … Continue reading →

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A story of amazing proportion

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Brian Lawler

Back in the Awkward Years (1960-1984) we used to make paste-ups, then photograph them on large process cameras to make large sheets of film from which aluminum printing plates were made. Photographs were handled separately from line art, and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, History, Photography | Leave a comment

Attention all alumni

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Brian Lawler

While chatting with a fellow last night, I learned that he was “an alumni of Cal Poly.” The problem is that he’s not an alumni. He’s an alumnus. This is a problem word, one used almost universally incorrectly in our … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Language and grammar, People | Leave a comment

Working with the new iOne Display Pro

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Brian Lawler

I’ve been monkeying around with the new iOne Display Pro, a new color instrument from X-Rite that replaces the iOne Display instrument that some of us have been using for years. The iOne Display Pro, and its not-too-distant cousin the … Continue reading →

Posted in Color Management, Education, New technology, Photography | 2 Comments

How to read a micrometer

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Brian Lawler

Printers and prepress people often need to know things like the thickness of a sheet of paper, or the thickness of a blanket. We make calculations for packing, for folding, for the spine of a book, and more, using measurements … Continue reading →

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