BOOKS/DESIGN: Pretty Much Everything by Aaron James Draplin

[dewline]

So I picked up this book the other day from a local bookstore. Three years after publication, apparently. So much of my reading these days is a form of playing "catch up". The few brief leaf-throughs I've done over the last few days are interesting. Graphic design as a "blue collar" form of work...and I have to admit to wavering in my perception on that. I could blame/praise Hollywood as a commercial institution for that. Despite having kept an eye on other professionals who actually do work in those circles.

Mistakes in thinking hereby confessed to.

Comments

[notasupervillain]

Wait, is he saying that it is or that it isn't?

[dewline]

He's arguing "yes" with no small degree of personal pride. I'm the one who's unclear of my own perception.

[notasupervillain]

Hm. It makes me question the point of the word "blue-collar" if it doesn't exist to separate physical labour from that done at a desk.

[dewline]

When I was a teenager, it used to be a lot harder to do this stuff. Whether for magazines, newspapers, books. Graphic Arts classroom was right across the hall from the wood and metal shops, and it included training on physically composing pages for printed materials and the means of printing by hand. And darkrooms for developing camera film into finished prints of photos. Because photography chains like Sooter's and Black's were still active with retail storefronts across the country.

[notasupervillain]

Yes, but the field has changed quite a bit given technological innovations.