Re: Desktop Publishing

["Doug, Data Librarian at Ext 4225" <engstromdd -at- PHIBRED -dot- COM>]

Hello,

I am a student at Purdue University currently majoring in Professional
Writing, however, I am kind of interested in DTP, and was wondering if
anyone out there is specifically involved in it.  I am particularly interested
in learning about the field because desigining brochures, flyers, etc. is what
I like to do.  Is there more to DTP than what I have imagined?  Perhaps, there i
s and if so, would somebody enlighten me?

Thanks for you time.

Laila.

shamji -at- sage -dot- cc -dot- purdue -dot- edu -dot- 

Laila:

The trend here (and my impression is, the trend elsewhere as well) seems to be
to combine DTP with other skills, rather than have it "stand alone."  At one
time, our technical writing group had a full-time graphic designer who turned
the MASS-11 copy churned out by writers (MASS-11 is a VAX word processor; if
you've never heard of it, you're lucky) into final "typeset" form on the
Macintosh.

Eventually, these "design and typesetting" functions were given to the
individual writers (along with Macintoshes), using corporate standards to keep
everything on track.  The graphic designer is still here, although she serves as
a consultant to the entire company on design issues and furnishes technical
support for PageMaker and some other programs.  The other DTP people I know in
Communication Services have broad-based design backgrounds; they are designers
and illustrators who happen to know DTP, not DTP specialists.

Moral:  DTP is a good thing to know, but you probably need to know some other
things as well.

Doug