Print Geek

I love the internet--who doesn't?--but at the end of the day, I am a print geek. Which explains why, when I get a magazine, brochure, catalog, etc. I open right to the middle, hold it up to my nose, and inhale. Ahhhhhh, I love that freshly printed smell (OK, that doesn't make me a print geek so much as it makes me weird. But roll with me).

And I love love love going on press. When I first started out in graphic design, I worked for a trade magazine. Aside from the deeply discounted designer sunglasses, one of the perks was the possibility of going to the press to see the magazine get printed. Alas, it never happened, but I got my wish a couple years later when I got my first job that required me to approve pages at the printer--as they were coming off the press!!!

Today was another awesome trip to the printer to oversee a catalog I designed for One Kid. It never gets old. The wait is terrible--today it was taking an hour between runs, and there were 3 runs, which meant at a minimum I was there for 3 hours. But once I walk back to the actual press, I get giddy with excitement like a child on Christmas morning. I know what's waiting for me, but for me, the cool factor just doesn't go away.

A couple of years ago, Mattio worked at the Times. Along the halls inside one of the buildings, they had framed some of the printing plates (obviously, not the ones from, say, last Thursday, but more newsworthy front pages). He asked about them, and actually brought one home for me (of course, mine is completely random as well, but that doesn't take anything away from it).