Welcome to Designorati:Strategy

I thought I’d take this opportunity to introduce myself and the topic, Strategy, as well as provide an overview of my career (yes, I am attempting to build credibility.)

When I received an invitation to participate in this project, I was fresh from finalizing the index of my first book, InDesign@Work:Projects You Can Use on the Job – a surprisingly wonderful experience. So, I thought, having taken a risk and surviving, why not try something else I’ve never done before. Pariah was inviting me to participate as a journalist, an observer, and interpreter within my chosen field. How cool was that?

No one has been more surprised than I, that this journeywoman from the Midwest, has been given a platform from which to discuss my day in and day out professional experiences. My intentions are simple: to discuss the relevant technology infrastructure, workflow, organizational, and performance-based topics facing both creative and production professionals. I look forward to hearing from you and will welcome both your feedback and criticism. I, myself, still have a lot yet to learn.

I believe I am the oldest participant in this group of editors. I began my career as a consultant/trainer for a local ComputerLand retailer (now defunct) with IBM PCs and Ventura Publisher…yikes…really dates me. One corporate training gig later (Thomson Consumer Electronics, formerly RCA) and my husband was selling some of the first Mac’s in the city to ad agencies. He convinced me to take a look-see. Bear in mind, corporate culture in the mid-eighties was very IBM (we called it “bleeding blue”) and my husband was suggesting I give the Mac a try; maybe I’d like it. He has never let me forget that moment since. He even encouraged me to start my own business and pursue graphic arts training full-time. Yet another moment…

I founded DesktopMedia in 1989, the year my first daughter was born. I have never looked back. It has been a rewarding career filled with wonderful clients. One of the best parts of my job is helping people develop a skill set that allows them to do their job well. I empathize with those that are given tasks without the benefit of instruction. I understand their struggle and hope to improve their performance and empower them to take on more new skills as they are called upon to distribute content in new ways.

As this industry has evolved and grown, so to have the investments, strategies and stakes – higher than ever, particularly in a tight economy and cost conscious culture. I empathize with the small business owner who has only limited resources and yet must stay competitive, or the corporate manager, who must do more with less. So, in addition to improving skills, we develop technology strategies that serve our clients’ business plans.

Along the way I have worked with many commercial printers and production staff whose professional lives, early on, were turned completely upside down by computers and software. Gone, were the tools of their trade and a brave new world of skills had to be relearned. They struggled to learn these new skills. They struggled to deal with client-supplied files filled with problems. They struggled to deal with new equipment. Quite a few are no longer in the industry. I can’t help but stop to think about them and the contributions they made to their craft as I watch automated workflow, direct technologies and lean principles take their place.

Again, my goal for Strategy is to inform you, the reader, about the relevant issues facing technology decision-makers in graphic arts. What to invest in, how to organize assets, where to concentrate preformance improvement with a few tactical “how to’s” thrown in along the way. I hope you will visit often.

Thanks again, Pariah, for offering me such a wonderful opportunity. Cate