Ten Sites to Enhance Production Prowess
Do you have an Internet connection? Great. Because even if you swear you don't have a few minutes to spare, the editors of PrintMedia compiled a top ten list of valuable online resources to improve production protocol, making your job run even faster. If you're in the market for a production job, want to search for prepress help or even need a crash course in paper economics, log on and tune up your publishing skills.
-Natalie Hope McDonald
1. http://www.ddap.org/dad/dad.pl
Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publications (DDAP) offers a free service called Digital Ad Database. The resource is designed for advertisers, agencies, publishers and printers seeking prepress suppliers providing digital ad services based on accredited standards. The database lists vendors providing TIFF/IT-P-1, Postscript using DDAP PPD/Specs and PDF/X-1. It allows users to search by company, business type, location or all fields.
2. http://www.creativepro.com/category/home/158.html TEXT
Creativepro.com is a Web site designed exclusively for the creative professional. Specifically, it's search engine allows creative directors, designers and publishers to search for stock photography by subject. Rather than logging onto individual stock photography providers' pages, users can search a variety of companies simultaneously. It makes searching more efficient, saving time while also previewing a cross-section of images that may have been missed the first time around.
Known primarily as a publishing job search engine, the site is compensating for the tighter market by publishing professional advice from editors, proof readers, publishers and agency types. A recent article featuring advice for freelancers explained the market in easy steps. MediaBistro.com also recently introduced "The Bitch Box," a page where disgruntled production professionals and the like can also vent their frustrations about the business. It's a comedic (yet informative) departure from deadlines. It's also a good site to consult if you're looking for work (production jobs are listed) or if you're trying to gage how the market is fairing daily or even weekly.
