Last Thursday I had a bit of fun taking a look back at some old graphic arts books that we had on our shelf here at TPI Solutions Ink. I tagged some images from the past in "The Lithographers Manual", a GATF publication and from a book called "How to do Paste-Ups and Mechanicals" by S. Ralph Maurello. The images I chose depict the way graphic designers used to do things in the "old days", like copy and paste, scale photos, use an artboard and the tools of the trade.

It doesn't really feel like it was all that long ago . . . does it? However, I soon realized that some of the twenty-somethings on our staff had no idea that this was how we created designs to go to print! The conversation and my brief description of the history of print that ensued certainly made me feel a bit old. But, in reality, we were still creating mechanicals, shooting film, "stripping" negatives, and burning plates to run on our offset presses 20 to 25 years ago. Thinking about how we print and design today compared to just then is just mind boggling.

Fortunately at TPI we have stayed on top of the technology changes in the printing industry and we keep moving forward and evolving. It is certainly not easy at times but we have always loved and embraced challenges!

Do you remember the way we used to create print? Graphic designers, do you use the computer to design exclusively or do you ever use pencil and paper? Any "strippers" out there reading our blog? (Image assemblers to be politically correct.)

Stay tuned for some more #throwbackthursday fun next week!