PRINT IN MOTION: New press keeps program up-to-date

BY MARK FOLKMAN
Contributing Writer

(from left) Jorge Villagran, Ricardo Cole, Atchare Sawangsin and Don Moore (left to right) print a project for their graphics class. PHOTO BY JORGE PARADA

“Printing is dead . . . I read it somewhere,” declares the City College Print Production Program’s informational brochure. This terse, witty statement epitomizes a technology that is absolutely essential to human communication, and yet almost nobody thinks about: namely, the printing press.

Since its introduction in fifteenth-century Europe, the printing press has revolutionized the way information is stored and distributed, and has enabled humankind to amass vast arrays of collective knowledge. Its invention is generally credited to Johannes Gutenberg, who in 1440 assembled a device that rolled ink over the surface of hand-set block letters which were then pressed against a sheet of paper. The first book produced by the press was the Gutenberg Bible – 180 copies were printed over the course of three years.

Today, the modern printing press is a much more evolved creature able to print millions of pages a day, and City College is perched at the cutting-edge of the rapidly changing technology. It’s the only school in San Francisco where Offset Printing is taught, and the Graphic Communications Department just acquired a brand new, up-to-the-nanosecond digital printing system.

The new digital press occupies the greater part of room 329 at the Mission campus on Alabama street. To the untrained eye it is a formidable plastic beast, rising waist-high and spanning the length of a dozen standard Xerox machines. Undaunted, groups of busy students swarm around its massive frame, tending to its flashing lights and its lightning-quick, paper-spewing move-ments. Its name is Nuvera 120, which means “new truth” in Latin, and its arrival in January has given City College bragging rights to the “largest, most advanced digital printing system this side of the Mississippi,” according to Smiley Curtis, the chair of the Graphic Communications Department.

Curtis is a laid-back, affable instructor who becomes animated and excited when speaking about his craft. In his 20-year tenure, Curtis has been instrumental in keeping the department up-to-date with the latest technology, which in turn gives students a leg up in the job market.

“If you want viable training, you need to teach what’s available in industry. We want our students to get jobs; we want them to get the skills they need,” Curtis says. With the new digital production system, “we have employers coming to us, wanting our students,” he adds.

Given that argument, it’s understandable why City College didn’t balk at the system’s price tag. The Nuvera 120 commands over $200,000 retail; Curtis did not disclose how much City College paid for their souped-up system. He was, however, quick to point out the bottom line: “We get people jobs.”

The behemoth offers complete digital workflow capabilities – print jobs can be e-mailed, scanned or transferred across the network, then are configured, proofed and executed from a computer console integrated into the system. Incredibly streamlined, the new model also supports color printing.

A certificate in Digital Printing and Publishing can be earned in as little as two semesters. If you are creative and like to work with your hands and with computers, this may be a field to look into. “It’s something you can do and feel good about, and it doesn’t require getting a four-year degree,” Curtis says. An entry-level job as a digital printing technician typically pays $12-$16 an hour.

Once bitten by the printing bug, many students go on to satisfying careers in a dynamic, expanding industry. Curtis describes it as getting “ink in your blood,” and thanks to print programs like City College’s, the infection is spreading. And let’s face it, without the printing press, you wouldn’t be reading this very article. It’s something to think about.

e-mail: markizatt@gmail.com