Big Picture - May 2017 - 8

A DIGITAL EDUCATION
Juniors in the Digital Media Program at Back of the Yards College Preparatory
High School (BOYCP) spent a day touring Chicago's Cushing (cushingco.com) print
and display graphics company last month. The 22 students observed real day-today processes from file setup to flatbed printing and more, and then gathered in
the conference room to interact with the shop's employees.
Digital Media Teacher Bobby Anderson says students were hesitant, at first, when
asked if they'd ever considered a career in print. But by the end of the day it seemed
feelings had changed. "They were amazed at how many different materials are used
that they see every day and what it takes to actually make that happen," he says.
BOYCP is an international baccalaureate school, so the academics are rigorous,
to say the least. "It's basically jumping from sophomore year of high school to
freshman year of college," says Anderson. He helped start the Digital Media
Program two years ago to offer an option for kids with more creative-centered
interests and learning styles. By the end of their senior year, students are certified
in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and have digital and print portfolios to
showcase. They're responsible for printing their own projects, including wideformat pieces on an Epson SureColor P8000. The current passion of the junior
class is a 5K relay race, says Anderson. They're producing all of the print materials,
including a giant check to present the funds raised to a local shelter.
Anderson says he always tells his students to "design with the end in mind." If
you're designing for print, you have to consider color mode. If you're designing
something that needs to be scalable, you'd better work in Illustrator. "The trip to
Cushing helped reinforce that 'end in mind' design because they got to see what it's
like to actually have clients come in."
Another major theme of Anderson's curriculum is problem-solving. "If you can
problem-solve, you can do almost anything anyone asks you to do," he says, and that
was a great part of the experience of visiting Cushing. "That's one of the things that
struck me as really exciting: how they problem-solve with different client requests,
different materials. 'How can we get jobs done for anyone that comes in the door?'"

A Print Buyer's Priorities
Martine Padilla, VP of sales, Allen Press, polled 37 elite print
buyers on LinkedIn: "What is most important to the success of
your print buying role and the projects you manage?"

BIG PICTURE

May 2017

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2
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Speed to market from art file to delivery
Cost reductions year after year
Minimizing shipping costs through regional print
and distribution solutions
4 Facility best practices (lean manufacturing, social
responsibility, etc.)
5 Finishing and kit fulfillment onsite, not outsourced
6 Print partners who understand the demands
of the business
7 Inspirational ideas; creative and engineering design
8 Color consistency between technologies
9 Substrate availability
10 Color management

THE INAUGURAL
DIGITAL TEXTILE
PRINTING US
CONFERENCE
Smithers Pira has announced that the first Digital Textile
Printing US conference will take place June 8-9 in Atlanta.
As the digital textile printing market looks to grow to $2.6
billion by 2021, the conference aims to bring together
textile printers, end users, and technology providers.
The conference will be co-located with the inaugural 3D
Printing for Industrial Applications conference (June 5) and
the Digital Print for Packaging US conference (June 6-7).

DOVER ACQUIRES
CALDERA
Dover has announced its acquisition of Caldera Graphics,
a software company specializing in digital printing. Caldera
will join MS Printing Solutions and the JK Group within
Dover's Printing and Identification platform, in a reported
$37 million transaction.
http://www.cushingco.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Big Picture - May 2017
