Final Product (ft. Printing Shenanigans)
BEHOLD!
ZE FINAL RESULTS!
Ziggy likes to sit on desks because that's what Ziggy does. Ziggy is ruthless, he wants to sit on your lunch. Be like Ziggy.
Ziggy likes to sit on books while basking in camera flash because that's what Ziggy does. It feels like sunbathing, except instead of skin cancer, you get blindness. Ziggy is smart. Be like Ziggy.
Ziggy likes to look at stools because Ziggy has always been a stool. Shit is getting real serious and Ziggy doesn't want emotional conflict, so he looks at stools. Ziggy is depressed but doesn't want to burden anyone with it. Ziggy is considerate. And sexy for a blue virtual bird. Be like Ziggy. Get plastic surgery and max up your Ziggy-ness. Combo points for bashing Smurfs. Smurfs are fake Ziggy's.
I kid you not, I had to print the whole thing SIX times in two different places. Since it's a postcard, I wanted something you could easily write on, like BW paper or Art Carton. Also, you gotta print on two sides. The problem is, I only know one printing place that could print on two sides (at least, as of this writing). The second problem is, it's an hour away. But the worst problem? They suck.
First run: two-sided printing on BW paper, 6 postcards on one sheet (2 of each design). Inaccurate by 2 mm. Colours: too dark. Writing side is amazing, image side sucks. Reprint.
Second run: reprint with higher Brightness setting on printing machine. Virtually no difference. Extra charge, feeling like the printing guy is messing with me.
Third run: edited the images so it's overbright and oversaturated, in hopes of rectifying the print. Checks colour mode, already in CMYK. So what's the problem? Reprint, slightly brighter, but still unsatisfactory.
Fourth run: changed from BW paper to Art Carton. Used oversaturated images. Decided to laminate, then changed my mind. Virtually the same to third experiment.
Fifth run: reprinted original images on Art Carton. It was so bad I started laughing. Printing guy tells me there are customers waiting. I tell him I can't accept this. He tells me to get back in line and maybe we can solve this later. Basically "Screw you, we need to make money." I thank him for his time and proceed to pay Rp100.000 for prints I'm never going to use.
Sixth run: an hour later, I'm at Print Shop B. This time, I took a different approach: I printed the images and the postcard backs on two different sheets, two different materials. If I remember correctly, the images were printed on Art Paper, and the postcard backs on BW paper. Proceeds to wait half an hour for it to be done and cut.
Four hours after we set out, we got back home and I proceeded to use my Comping Techniques skills to spray mount the hell out of the postcards and paste them together. Accidentally misplaced Design 3 on some wet paint (don't ask). Repaste. This is why I need two of everything, because I'm clumsy and WILL screw things up. It happens so often that I don't even get upset, just ask myself, "Screw fate, what can I do to fix this?" So, there are pros to being clumsy. On one hand, you ruin four weeks worth of work. On the other, you learn to look past setbacks and move forward. Clumsy people are the best motivators.
Final prints, taken on the morning of submission:
And the postcard backs:
All in all, this was a pretty fun assignment. Looking back I always label assignments "pretty fun" or "pretty interesting", so maybe I should buy a thesaurus and write something different for a change. However, I do find everything interesting, so this is not me trying to be overenthusiastic for the sake of good grades. Also, I tend to be easily distracted (as if you can't te---OOH, DOUGHNUTS!)
I really like seeing how I developed my character from brainstorming sketches into Ziggy the Bird. Even though I never would've thought to label myself as a bird, I appreciate the story behind it, so I can safely say it does represent myself as an icon.
Printing shenanigans are just an occupational hazard, but sleepless nights can be overlooked once you see the final product and think, "Dayum, this was worth it." I guess it really depends what your definition of "worth it" is, as I find that it differs from one person to another. The printing process is just as important as the design process. It's a shame to put a shitload of time and effort into a design, just to ruin it in the prints. I've learned my lesson and will NEVER go back to Print Shop A again. Even though they hire some really good-looking people.
At the end of the day, I am out of words, which is a new thing for me. There is nothing left to say but goodnight, so goodnight it is.