Perspectives

Tomorrow, I’ll be showing up at the Kentucky Primary to cast my vote for, among other things, who I want to have the Republican nomination for President in the national elections this coming fall.  I’ve been watching primary election results since very early this year, itching to have my say, but now, when it finally comes time for me to vote, my vote no longer counts.  Why?  Because the states who had their primaries early in the year decided the Republican nominee long before it came up for vote in Kentucky.  Now I am left asking why my vote doesn’t count?  How many votes have been swung in favor of the wrong candidate (forgive me, McCain) simply because the right candidate was forced to drop out early because more liberal states got to vote first?

This seems to me to be a grossly unfair system.  Why do the first two or three states to hold primaries get to decide for the rest of us?  Public opinion is demonstrably easy to sway, so it makes sense that the winners of the first few states are going to be the ones that the next states to hold primaries will vote for.  And on an on.  But this seems to me to sway the election in favor of the bigger names and budgets–those with the staying power to keep their campaigns going for months.

I don’t need a candidate to come stand on a platform somewhere in my state and tell me what he’s going to do for me personally to know who I want to vote for.  I don’t need the candidates to have to spend thousands of dollars trying to buy the votes for each state as it comes up on the docket.  I want to know what candidates plan to do on a national scale.  How they stand on the issues that matter to everyone, not some labor union in Michigan.  After all, that’s what congressmen are for, not the President.  Presidential candidates should be concentrating on the big issues that matter to all Americans, and they should be able to state these stands through national televised debates and by communicating with the non-profit voter information associations.  So with all that in mind, why can’t all the states hold their primaries at the same time, just like the national election, so that a handful of states do not have the power to sway the nominee elections?

Yes, I’m a little bitter.  I know that when I go in and make my selection for Presidential nominee tomorrow, my vote doesn’t matter in the least.  But don’t worry, I’ll vote tomorrow, and since my vote is completely useless, I’ll use it to vote for the person I really wanted to see win the nomination but knew never had the chance–Alan Keyes–according to sample ballots, his name is still on the the Kentucky ballot.  Too bad I can’t switch parties and vote against the person I least want in the national elections on the Democrat side, but I guess that’s only fair since this keeps avowed party supporters from swaying the other party’s nomination.

Anyone want to state their support for holding a national primary?  I’d like to know what you think the pros and cons to such a suggestion are.

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I’m still delving into the new features of Adobe InDesign CS3, but I’m happy to say that there were some great advances for book designers in this version. Some of them are just time savers and some of them are streamlining of workflows. Here are a few of my new favorites:

After many requests since ID version 1 (at least from me), Adobe has finally added a master page synchronizer for book documents. Now, if you make a change to a master page in one document of a book, and you want the rest to be identical, you can sync them from the book pallet. Caution on this though, make sure you aren’t manually typing chapter titles and other “per document” info on the master pages that you are syncing. The master page will be exactly the same on all the documents as your source document, so if you have details on the master page that change on every document, beware that you may lose them when you sync the masters. There is a wonderful new way to automate these kinds of details, though–see my next favorite feature.

Previous versions of InDesign had the section marker. This marvelous little marker allowed you to title sections from the Numbering and Sections dialog box, and then use a section marker on your master page to display section sensitive information on your master page without having to create a master page for every section. The section feature, by itself, is great for simple books, but what if you have units, and chapters, and sections in a hierarchal order that all need to be indicated on the master page and you want to sync your master pages across a book without losing the various pieces of “per document” info? Sections just aren’t that powerful, but CS3 added a wonderful feature called “Text Variables.” It took me a while and some help from users on the Adobe User to User forum to figure this feature out, but this is a marvelous solution to just such a problem. You can create as many text variables as you need for each and every document in the book. Then as long as the names of the variables are the same from document to document, and you have text variable syncing turned off in the book, a master page sync will update the master pages without damaging the per document variables indicated on the masters. This by itself is a huge time saver for book designers.

Just a quick note to help out anyone who had the same confusions I had on this feature: Text variables have their own menu item on the Type menu, and the markers for them are set from the same place (or from the contextual mouse menu once variables are set). You can’t access them from the Numbering and Section box (though you assign chapter numbers there), nor can you insert the markers from “Insert special characters.” I would have found this a logical place to go for such markers, but maybe they will add that in future versions. If you’re looking for the chapter number marker, the information for which is set in the Numbering and Section box, it also has to be created as a Text Variable and inserted from the Text Variables menu. It’s an interesting paradox to my way of thinking, but I at least understand how to use it now. Text Variables have numerous uses that I haven’t even begun to plum. I hope to learn more about this feature as time and projects allow me to play with it.

I thought the auto numbering and bullet lists in CS2 were pretty lame and didn’t use them much, but ID CS3 has added levels to the auto numbering feature and has included both list options in paragraph styles which make them wonderfully flexible. I find them very useful now and use them constantly.

I was also very excited about being able to place InDesign documents inside InDesign documents, but this feature especially may have a few bugs yet. I’ve had problems with books that contained these links. I’m not sure whether there is something in my workflow that has caused the problem, but I get multiple crashes with ID CS3 when working with books with linked InDesign documents. There may be other variables that cause these crashes for me, but I urge you to use this feature with extreme caution.

One last feature that I really like is the built-in ability to package for InCopy editors. This feature has really helped my editorial workflow and while this kind of functionality was available through third party plugins before CS3, it’s nice to have it built into the application now. One caution on this feature as well, I have had some documents that inexplicably crash IC on the editor’s computer. I haven’t yet been able to resolve this issue (though it may be related to anchored textframes within textframes) and have had to have the editors manually return the stories rather than package them. But the feature is still a nice one.

I’m no master at InDesign, but I’m happy to help anyone wanting to learn more about using any of my favorite new features. Just post a comment or use my contact form.

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I’ve decided to start spotlighting some of the projects that I have worked on as they become available for purchase. So here is the first of my product spotlights.

My first project for Sable Creek Press is now available for purchase. The wonderful little devotional/journal entitled Think on these Things is great for young Christian girls. Based on Philippians 4:8, the book covers such topics as honesty, modesty, beauty, and attitude. Each of the 31 brief lessons gives space for the reader to write down their reflections or things they have learned. This nice little book makes an attractive gift for any young girl in your life, so order more than one.

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My brother has a style all his own.  After playing around in the playground of his new artistic endeavor, I have to give him a wave and a nod from my own more staid and much more traditional (ahem, boring) front office.  Maybe I need some of his artwork to liven things up.  Have a look!

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So I’m cozied up at home with no place to go and no desire to go there. When was the last time that Northern Kentucky was under a blizzard warning? I don’t know, but I’d be surprised if they happen very often. Hopefully I will be asleep when the actual blizzard conditions prevail, sometime during ‘o-dark-hundred, but my area is predicted to have between 11 and 15 inches on the ground by tomorrow afternoon–drifting to two feet where the wind doesn’t whip it away. I have no idea if I’ll be able to dig my car out tomorrow, but I will probably get a bit stir crazy if I don’t get out all weekend.

Pulled up the blinds in my bedroom with my camera in hand, thinking to get a pretty picture of the snow in my backyard and caught a deer–actually four deer–wandering around in the trees back there. Poor critters are probably pretty hungry by now what with the late summer drought and a long winter. Considering that the little bit of woods back behind my house is actually quite small and surrounded by residences and a large high school, they must be getting desperate.

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I was privileged to catch a pre screening of Ben Stein’s new feature documentary today. WOW! It’s so good to finally see some of this stuff exposed to the light of day. I’ve been aware that it’s been going on because I personally know people who have struggled with the stranglehold that the “scientific” establishment has on anti-Darwin philosophy, but to see it put together in this documentary somehow makes it seem even more underhanded and dirty. I knew that there were rights being suppressed and lives ruined and I’ve even known why, but this documentary really gives viewers a good grasp of why this debate is so important and what’s at risk if it continues to be ignored by the mainstream.

I support the theme of this documentary wholeheartedly. I strongly urge everyone to see it as soon as it is released in theaters. Even if you are an ardent evolution supporter, you need to see this because there are things going on that you should know about. Ignorance is never a good excuse and, with this documentary airing some hidden truths about how the scientific establishment works here in the USA, you have no excuse anymore for that ignorance.

Check out the movie website!

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The project has all its approvals and is ready for the printer. Now what?

It’s a growing debate in the design community whether or not to submit to a third-party printer press-ready PDF files or native files. There are pros and cons to either practice. Pros for submitting PDFs include the tamper-proof finality of the file, the compactness, and the freedom to exclude fonts and images (the inclusion of which technically breaks most font and image licenses). On the con side is the inability of the printer’s prepress people to adjust the file if needed, the reliance on the designer’s ability to make the right kind of PDF for the correct prepress and press method, and the lack of font and image support should there be problems on output.

I’ve been working with printers on large and small, full-color and one-color jobs for years now, and the best conclusion I can come up with is that there needs to be good communication between the designer and the third-party printer. For many years, I sent both PDF and native files. I did this because the printer often wanted a PDF when it came to InDesign book files and it just became a habit. But I understood their needs and I understood how PDF worked enough that I was able to provide them with very reliable PDFs. In the end, I was told by the printer’s prepress manager that I could send them just the PDF files because they never had a problem with them. There’s the trust that a long term relationship with a printer can build. They knew that if I was sending them a PDF, they could use it, and it cut down on a ton of work on their end.

But should you send PDF files by default? Probably not. I know there are a lot of designers who would disagree with me, but I also know there would be a lot of printers who would agree. It basically boils down to whatever makes the printer happy. If they have to fix a bad PDF because it was made incorrectly, then they lose time on a job. If you’re a professional, you provide whatever the printer wants and you don’t quibble with them. If you’re really wanting to send them PDF, then send them both. If they can’t use the PDF, they will have the native files without having to request them. It will save them time.

In our electronic world, it’s much easier to submit PDFs electronically. This means that the turn around on a job can be much quicker if the printer does not require a disk and a hardcopy. So if a project is on a rushed deadline, then submitting PDFs is definitely a viable option–if the printer is willing to accept the project that way. Some designers suggest that that you fire a printer if they request native files. I do not agree with this at all. Go ahead and build the trust with them over time and maybe you can ease them into a PDF workflow by building that long-term relationship.

Of course, if you’re going to be submitting PDFs, make sure you know how to submit them correctly. Do your homework on what kind of color support your files might need, how much bleed and crop space the printer wants, and whether or not their equipment can support layered files, and build your PDFs according to those specs. The trust won’t be long in coming if you give them what they want consistently.

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Well, it’s another presidential election year, and once again the US is drowning in political rhetoric. Nothing shows the diametrically opposed political sides in the US more then the spewing of ideals over the airwaves on a primary night. Now that I’ve listened to several nights of speeches and promises, I’m ready to air some of my own frustrations with the party lines.

Are Democrats democratic or socialistic?

I have to ask this question because it seems like most of the democratic party lines are socialist to the core: universal health care, eliminating poverty and other such things. I believe that their hearts are in the right place, but they seem to be incapable of learning from our neighbors who have already instituted such programs, much to the detriment of the tax-paying labor classes. Perhaps they have missed the reality of socialism. When a government tries to reduce or eliminate poverty, it usually does it on the backs of the laboring middle class on behalf of those who do not contribute to the economy or the tax base. This means that you end up taxing the middle class into poverty while rewarding the poor for being poor. In the end, you spread poverty around rather than reduce or eliminate it.

I agree that the high cost of health care needs to be addressed, but it needs to be addressed without the government because the government resides at the root of the problem that we already have. I hate paying for insurance as much as the next person, but I would hate paying the government for it even more. If the private insurance companies are considered bureaucratic and difficult, can you even imagine the problems you’ll have with a government agency, whose middle name is bureaucracy? I will be blunt. You have to be insane to think that is a viable option to a real problem.  Throwing tax dollars after something like that will only exacerbate the problem.  Have any of these people ever been to a VA hospital?

I guess the part that worries me the most is the idea that we as a country should just bring all our troops home and let the world take care of itself.  That kind of attitude was what led to the two World Wars.  I really don’t want another one of those.  The thing is that the rest of the world is never going to let us sit here unmolested–we’re the richest, most free nation in the world.  If we don’t stay involved in the world scene and keep the fight for freedom and democracy safely outside our borders, it will come here, and the fighting and the bombs and the terrorists will be on our doorsteps.  They don’t like us, and patting them on the head and turning our backs on them is what got us 911 (and Pearl Harbor, if you remember).  And some empty headed politician thinks that withdrawing troops is the answer?  These people think they are sane?

What’s with the Republicans this year?

I make no apologies for being a far-to-the-right conservative, but I’m hard pressed to find a candidate to get behind this election year.  I know I don’t want any of the Democrats, and I shudder to think of Hussein O’Bama in the White House, but the options on the other side are not very promising.

The only candidate that I was remotely willing to support has now dropped from the race (Fred Thompson), and I think Ron Paul is a joke.  Huckabee is my next choice, but he lacks greatly in foreign policy.  I don’t trust Romney at all, and McCain supports things like embryonic stem cell research and takes some liberal environmental stands, which really put my back up.  I’d like McCain better if the only issue that mattered was the war on terror, but I very much fear that he’s a closet liberal on many important social/domestic issues.  I may be voting for him this fall, but it will only be because the other option (four years of liberal lunacy) is so unpalatable.

Red vs blue states

I’ve been interested in the red versus blue division for several years now.  Being all the way to the right doesn’t keep me from trying to understand the other side.  But while I don’t like vilifying them, they make it hard not to.

When people stand so firmly on the belief that babies are refuse, morals are relative, HIV is the biggest tragedy in our current society, the poor deserve to be pampered in their poverty, criminals have more rights than victims, guns should only belong to the bad guys and the good guys must lie down and be victims, the government can choose a doctor better than I can, the government can raise my children better than I can, that peace can be negotiated in the Middle East (they obviously have never read a history book) and that humans are endlessly good yet somehow at the same time so bad that the environment must be protected from them, one has to stagger theatrically over the inconsistencies and outright contradictions in the liberal agenda.

Yet while I do think, as I mentioned earlier, that their hearts are in the right place, I also see that liberals are soft-hearted and soft-headed, and they have a really warped understanding of human nature. They are incapable of learning from the examples of other governments who have already tried and failed miserably at the programs they support so enthusiastically.  They are incapable of learning from history about world affairs and how human nature really works. And they are adamantly trying to destroy what made this nation what it is–the home of the free and the brave.  The liberal national anthem: Home of the regulated and the victims!  I have problems understanding how anyone can proudly call themselves a liberal.

That the red/blue divide is mostly rural vs urban is an interesting phenomenon.  Maybe one of these expensive government environmental studies should look into the effects of city smog on brain cells.

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I guess it’s time I define myself a bit.  I designed this website mainly as an avenue to advertise my skills and abilities, and yet I’ve pretty much let my portfolio speak for itself. So now I will take just a bit of time to explain my professional skills and goals.

As you have probably noticed, I’ve labeled myself a publication designer.  What I mean by this is that while I am capable of designing more than books, catalogs, and newsletters, my best skill set and interest lies in just those types of layouts. If you have a lot of text and a message that is best presented with words rather than images, that is exactly the kind of task at which I excel.

I love the written word, and I’m not afraid to spend time reading and understanding the copy that is given to me for layout.  Just like a diamond is more impressive in a beautiful setting, a message is better portrayed when its setting suits it–and how could I know what suits it if I don’t read and understand it. With the types of tools that are available to the designer in this era of high resolution computers and graphic applications, there is no reason that any text should be displayed raw and unadorned.  Even the simplest book can benefit from a proper setting, making it interesting to look at as well as read–and you have to look at it to read it, after all.

So what is a publication designer?  A publication designer is a graphic designer whose skill set and experience is best used when applied to large quantities of text meant for publication–such as books, magazines, newsletters, and catalogs.  Presenting the information (the copy) in the best manner for interest, readability, and comprehension takes precedence over all other design considerations.  Attention to detail is key in a publication designer because consistency over the entire project is a must. Also, a publication designer has to be very good at the production side of design work.  When dealing with large amounts of copy, coming up with a workable concept is only 10% of the project, the big chore is applying that concept consistently across multiple pages.

So that, in a small blog post, is what I mean when I bill myself as a publication designer.  If this sounds like a role that you need filled, please feel free to contact me for a project bid.

Diane King, publication designer
Design that respects the message.

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