Careers in Printing and Graphic Communications An Industry Forum

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Careers in Printing and Graphic Communications An Industry Forum
Written by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

The Printing and Graphic Communications Forum was convened on June 6, 2002 at the borough of Manhattan Community College to provide an opportunity for industry and post-secondary representatives to discuss printing and graphic communications in the tri-state region, including career opportunities, the skills required for successful careers in this industry and the pathways to such careers. The event was hosted by the New York Citywide School to Work Alliance, the Advisory Council for Occupational Education of the New York City Department of Education, and the Institute for Business Trends Analysis of the Borough of Manhattan Community College. This paper highlights many of the topics discussed at the forum.

I. DEFINITION OF "GRAPHIC COMMUNICATIONS"

"This was called the Printing & Graphic Communications Forum. I'd like to take out the word 'printing.' We should talk to young people today as the Graphic Communications industry.... If you say Graphic Communications, the possibilities are enormous and many people will find something that turns them on and lights them up."
— Richard Krasner
Vice President Sales
Tanagraphics, Inc.

Fifteen years ago, "Graphic communications" would have simply meant anything that could be printed. Today, the definition is more complex. Graphic Communications can mean anything that can be communicated either in print or with digital imaging.

Certainly, much still gets printed on paper including newspapers, magazines, newsletters, brochures, containers, labels, financial and legal documents, and so on. But, in addition, Graphic Communications now includes Internet pages, CD-ROMs and other digital images, all of which have to be designed and produced.

In response to new communications technology, printers have changed the services that they offer their customers.

"The printer of today embraces the technology and understands that it's not just about ink on paper in the traditional printing sense," says Richard Krasner, Vice President of Sales at Tanagraphics, Inc., the largest sheet-fed printing company in New York City. "It's about a way to communicate different output streams: wireless communications, e-commerce solutions, print, printing. We create programs that take images and all kinds of data — video streaming, anything that you can think of that's digital information — and help our customers decide how and where to transmit it to the world."

There are more opportunities for interesting and remunerative work in the Graphic Communications field than ever before.

II. DIMENSIONS OF THE GRAPHIC COMMUNICAITIONS INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK CITY

Among New York State employers, printing and publishing is the second largest industry with almost 4,000 establishments, generating sales of $9.7 billion.

These businesses employ almost 80,000 people. This figure includes sales and clerical support and people involved in shipping and handling as well as pressmen, binders, strippers and others who work directly in production.

However, these figures do not capture the number of people employed in businesses related to graphic communications, which is even larger. Every major financial institution in New York City, for instance, has an in-house communications division whose employees are not included in the numbers above. Major department stores such as Macy's and Bloomingdales also have in-house graphics departments, said Annette Wolf Bensen of AnGen Services, one of the forum panelists. Lord & Taylor employs more than 70 people in its art department, she said.

In fact, many organizations have their own in-plant, pre-press departments that are not reflected in the printing industry statistics. The United Nations, for example, has a printing department that can produce printed materials from start to finish. The U.N. spends more than a million dollars annually on printing plates alone, according to Lloyd Carr, Associate Professor at NYC Technical College/CUNY. These figures also do not include people such as freelance designers, desktop publishers or graphics personnel employed by advertising agencies.

According to Jim Brown, an analyst with the New York State Department of Labor, if you analyze the job opportunities by occupation rather than by industry — taking into account both people who are in the industry but who are not directly employed by printing and publishing firms as well as those who are — you will find that there are 17,000 commercial artists in New York City, 18,000 designers (excluding interior designers), 5,000 precision printing operators and 12,000 printing and bindery operators.

Brown points out that New York City is the center of magazine publishing and that magazines are driven by ever-more-sophisticated advertising. This, he says, makes greater and greater demands on the printing industry. New York City is also a center for financial publishing and legal printing, he says.

In addition to these traditional printing and publishing occupations, there is now a big need for Web page designers and producers. Jack Powers, Director of the International Informatics Institute gives an example. The New York Times prints around 1.6 million copies, he says, but there are 10 million people signed up to read The New York Times on the Web. "Every time a new machine or software package is invented, you get a new occupation which is really an old occupation with a new skill set," says Brown. What this means is that one way or another, there are large numbers of jobs in the Graphic Communications industry, although many are likely to be different from jobs in the past.

"We used to have eight to 10 strippers," says Richard Krasner of Tanagraphics, Inc. "Today we have two. Digitally and through the use of technology I can do more, and more efficiently. But," he adds, "the best strippers are the ones that learned to do it in the traditional way and have now reeducated themselves to use computers."

"Technology doesn't destroy jobs. It just changes the definition," says Brown.

"There aren't enough printers putting ink on paper in New York City to take the output of all the high schools," says Jack Powers, director of the International Informatics Institute, Inc. "But we aren't just talking about ink on paper. We're talking about toner on paper, pixels on a screen (the World Wide Web) — things like that. Graphic communications in those areas are looking for people. If you know the basic vocabulary of graphics, there are a whole series of different jobs you could go into."

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CAREER POSSIBILITIES IN GRAPHIC COMMUNICATIONS

Interest: ART AND DESIGN
Career as: an advertising production coordinator; art director; CAD/CAM designer; cartoonist; commercial artist; computer graphic artist; graphic designer; graphic consultant; illustrator; image assembler; Web designer; package designer; image retoucher; Web site designer

Interest: COMPUTERS
Career as: CAD/CAM designer; computer graphic artist; data processor; desktop publisher; information systems manager; Internet systems specialist; magazine fulfillment specialist; package designer; programmer; quality control specialist; systems analyst; typographic designer

Interest: ELECTRONICS
Career as: Color electronic pre-press systems operator; electronic technician; maintenance specialist; manager of information services; network specialist; laser specialist operator; press operator; telecommunications specialist

Interest: ENGINEERING
Career as: Electronic engineer; engineering technician; industrial, mechanical or chemical engineer; packaging engineer; plant and work-flow layout specialist; R&D engineer; systems engineer; time study technician

Interest: ENGLISH
Career as: Advertising copy writer; desktop publisher; editor; journalist; marketing specialist; promotion specialist; proofreader; publication manager; publicist; public relations specialist; reporter; researcher; staff or freelance writer

Interest: MANAGEMENT/BUSINESS
Career as: Advertising director; editor/managing editor; general manager; human resources director; marketing director; printing systems manager; production manager; publisher; quality process manager; supervisor; treasurer