Nick Hodge's Blog

No Name tags required

Driving familiar streets of Adelaide on Saturday; the names and the faces on buildings have changed – yet the roads still head in the same directions. Names are tags, that sometimes attempt to label, but are generally used to represent “things”, but they are not who we are nor indicate directions we choose in life.

At my first school reunion, name tags were mandatory even as we recognised faces, physical expressions and postures, voices and groupings. Old school nick names that once sounded edgy were now embarrasing and difficult to explain to non-old scholar partners – and the girls who chose to change their maiden names to unknown surnames have only changed in name; not dramatically in personality.

A reunion of this nature is unique life experience. Not one to be missed. It is surprising that it is rarely explored by art; and where nostalgia is thematic, it seems comical rather than cathartic.

It was difficult to tell: was Kevin Richardson, the current Headmaster of Immanuel College, joking when he said he “had checked around” on the class of 1985? I am sure the uncovered opinions of our group would have been mixed. The pride of this school, and any private school, is it facilities. These are paramount in attracting a steady stream of revenue – and they express the educational will of the teaching community. Kevin, coming from a technology background in teaching; seems to have swung Immanuel down the road of modern teaching techniques – a lesson my son’s techno-phobic school could learn.

In the tour of the school grounds, ably spruiked by Kevin with doors unlocked by the famous non-mirrored sunglassed Mr Dawes; one of the few members of administration staff we recognised with some mixed fondness; we all realised that the scale of the operation has changed. As has the method of delivery of classes from our day. Old school: Whiteboards were the mod-device in 1985. New school: 1024×768 LCD projectors. Chalk dust is as ancient as slate boards and wooden hinged desks. The number of vocational classes, and seemingly focus, out weighs the pure academic classes.

Our class of 1985 was sandwiched between the swot-heavy classes of 1983/4 and the active and engaged class of 1986. Our year was the class that experimented with the application of the Pareto principle as it came to high school education. For 80% of the class, 20% of the effort was applied to schoolwork. The other 80% of the time was spent in other activities which ultimately had a greater positive outcome on who they became.

The attendence rate directly reflected the class Pareto principle. Roughly 80% of the class turned up. For a minority, it was the first time they were drinking alcohol on school grounds in the shadow of the former boarding houses. Those who were not there were remembered in words and stories. Classic events, bustups, inadvertent animal sacrifice and pairings reanimated personalities. Many stories, left unsaid and untouched, remain in the collective experiences.

“So what have you been up to?”, when first asked, is a frightening question. Stupidly and strangely, I had not prepared a PR talk track and 15 second elevator pitch to intelligently answer this question; to achieve any formal goals of comparison. Mumbling some words; attempting not to be a bloke and focus only on the work and provide an element of family colour; yet knowing that this aspect provides the shapes that explains who you have evolved into.

Twenty years is a perfect interval to reconnect with old school acquaintances. There has been more “after school life” that outweighs the ackwardness of of the teenager that lives inside us all. Family, experiences, relationships, travel and raw maturity provides an ability to shroud the embarrassment with intruiging small talk to fill 6-7 hours.

Yes, Immanuel is the school that Lleyton Hewitt attended; the sheer number of tennis courts is probably the core reason he chose the school. Yes, this class sprouted a Miss Australia. restauranteurs, respected tradesmen, vegetable based protein manufacturers, standard grey-haired business-types, two PhDs and a bevy of dedicated mothers of largish broods. Success, if gauged only by an ability for self-support and an ability to not be a burden on others – has been kind to this class.

According to Dawkin’s, “The Selfish Gene”, the meaning of life is to re-spawn more life and perpetuate DNA. Therefore, the topic parenthood was usually an immediate question to assist in generating conversation. Many had braved three children; others speak of staying at home with their children, and working “0.8” weeks. Adelaide, in comparison to Sydney, is the perfect location for detuning from a pure career ladder of a economically fulfilling yet soul draining lifestyle.

Putting it scientifically, the desire to reproduce, partner and perpetuate DNA is a driver close to the surface of all teenagers. Another unspoken activity at reunions is the evalutation of our teenage crushes/hormones/pairings to determine if our mental wiring had chosen an appropriate potential mate. A few had made very appropriate choices of partners early. A surprising few were single.

Many of the class have started to spawn their own future students. There is a surprisingly large number of the group who have chosen to live in the Immanuel side of town, and send their children to the school. There is some business planner at the Immanuel that must model these figures with an eye to future revenue from old scholar parents. As a parent, it’s difficult enough to converse with your child’s teachers, let alone in send your children to a school you attended in your distant youth.

Another measurement of success is living up to the spark of potential first shown at school. I have always wondered if teachers can foretell the potential of the students in their class; and live in wonder of their results. Not enough teachers from our time arrived to ask this question and test the hypothesis.

Mr Volk, or should I say “Noel”, popped over to say hello. His first question is a question that will echo for some time: so are you a journalist or in IT? There was an air of inferiority on “IT”, or at least I wasn’t living up to a previously unforseen potential. Personally, I never viewed doing the school’s magazine as a journalistic job; nor as it as a path to future career success. English wasn’t a subject I felt passionately about to complete in Year 12/Matric, but it was a small moment of pride seeing people reading a 1985 Echo that contains your fingerprints. I sort of fell into the magazine job in an vain-glorious effort towards self-promotion. Everyone else on the team did the hard yards. That is why IT is the perfect home for me; standing on the shoulders of giants.

The age from 12 to 17 is difficult for all. Apart from the obvious physical changes, our worldview emerges yet it seems the fundamental nature of people is there to see. Look at a 16/17 year old, and you will see 80% of their future self. Yes, there are many experiences and more education to come – but the adult they are to become is just there. There are more than just shadows and echoes of their school self in the adults I met.

This class reunion, for me, was more than a mechanism for measuring our personal life choices against our peers – it was a good cathartic mechanism for extinguishing regret. Rather than dwelling on the past, it permits us to refind old friends and let the intervening years of disconnect fall away. These are classic pure friends that are untainted by the mud of a working relationship and the shared age group of our collective children.

If anything was to be learnt from this weekend’s experience, is that I will become a better parent of a teenager – and see the future potential in the sparks of the next few years; the mirror of others and the memories of life blurred by time has been cleared a little – and I am able to lay a collection of personal mnenomic demons to rest.

InDesign CS2 Snippets

InDesign CS2: Print and Prepress Features
Nick Hodge
What is new in InDesign CS2 from a print and pre-press perspective? More than meets the eye!

Piha Sand

Looking up Lion Rock

Looking up Lion Rock

Looking up Lion Rock

Danger: Piha South

Like the Hodge family travels in 2004, (see 70 Days, 7 Countries); in March through June 2005 we’ve journeyed to many cities and countries: this time, the locations are around the Pacific basin.

The Places:

Christchurch II (5th June to 8th June)

Christchurch II Gallery

Los Angeles (14th June to 16th June)

Los Angeles Gallery

Mexico (9th June to 14th June)

Mexico Gallery

Shanghai (15th March to 19th March)

Shanghai Gallery

Tokyo (9th May to 19th May)

Tokyo Gallery

Wellington and Christchurch (21st April and 22nd April)

Wellington and Christchurch Gallery

Paul and Mark, Kare Kare, November 2004

Mark and Maori carving, Kare Kare, November 2004

Mark, Kare Kare, November 2004

Paul on the sands of Kare Kare, November 2004

Mark at Kare Kare, November 2004. Photo by Nick Hodge

Paul and Nick at Kare Kare, November 2004. Photo by Mark Szulc

Paul, November 2004.

Mark in silhouette at Piha, November 2004.

Paul at Piha, November 2004.

Mark and Nick, November 2004. Photo by Paul Stephens

Paul and Mark at Piha, November 2004.

Lion Rock and reflection at Piha, November 2004.

Paul (and Mark) at Piha, November 2004.

Mark and Lion Rock at Piha, November 2004.

Mark and Paul at Piha, November 2004.

Lion Rock, Piha, November 2004.

Paul and Mark set eyes on Piha, November 2004.

Adobe InDesign, first released in 1999, has revolutionised for-print design across the world. The quality of type, integration with Photoshop, ease of output and advanced prepress features have given publishers a very powerful tool. With power comes responsibility.

My personal journey with InDesign as a Prepress tool started with beta testing InDesign 2.0 as ACP in late 2001 InDesign 2.0: Spot Colors, Transparency

Transparency, once the bastion of Photoshop, is now unleashed at a late stage in the layout tool. Transparency can be freely be used by designers to highlight objects, reclaim image space for text and easily blending elements together in a natural way.

Many of the questions asked by customers via email, at roadshows and those who have visited this web site have been condensed into these techniques. Some of these techniques were pioneered here in Australia, and are in daily production use. Feedback and comments are welcome. nhodge@adobe.com

If you are a Prepress operator, I strongly suggest you start here: InDesign, Acrobat and Adobe Print Technical Documentation, and ensure you read InDesign CS2 Print and Prepress Guide

InDesign Prepress Articles

Adobe Lightroom

blogs.adobe.com

Creative Cow

History 2.0 plugin

How pictures are manipulated to make more appealing magazine covers.

InDesign CS2 Print and Prepress Guide
Adobe Systems
InDesign CS2: Printing and Prepress guide

InDesign CS2 Print and Prepress Guide
Nick Hodge
InDesign CS2: Printing and Prepress guide

InDesign CS: Prepress Overview
Nick Hodge
An overview of the Prepress specific features in InDesign CS

InDesign Prepress: What Are these White Boxes?
Nick Hodge
Why are these White boxes appearing in PDFs I generate from InDesign?

InDesign, Acrobat and Adobe Print Technical Documentation
Adobe Systems
Print Service Provider documentation is divided into three topic areas: Printing Guides, PDF and Printing and Color and Transparency

Lightning Brain Sudoku for InDesign CS/CS2

Markzware has released a plugin called Q2ID

InDesign Prepress: Text and the Transparency Flattener
Nick Hodge
Explaining how Text and Transparency Flattener interact in InDesign CS

InDesign Prepress: Transparency Flattener Magic
Nick Hodge
How to use the Flattener to get greater colour control at output time

InDesign Prepress: Photoshop, Duotones into InDesign
Nick Hodge
Using Duotones in InDesign CS, including duotones from Photoshop

InDesign Prepress: Printing PDFs with Transparency Generated by InDesign CS
Nick Hodge
How to successfully generate quality print results from a PDF 1.4 or 1.5 from InDesign CS

InDesign Prepress: Generating Composite, Trapped PDFs
Nick Hodge
Using InDesign CS to generate Composite Trapped PDFs

InDesign Prepress: Photoshop to InDesign workflow
Nick Hodge
The best way of taking Photoshop files into InDesign 2.0/CS

InDesign Prepress: Export or Distill PDFs?
Nick Hodge
Should you Export PDFs or Distill PDFs from InDesign 2.0/CS?

InDesign Prepress: Acrobat 6.0 Prepress Features
Nick Hodge
What is new in Acrobat 6.0 for Prepress

InDesign Prepress: Photoshop with Vector and Spots, InDesign and Composite PDF
Nick Hodge
How to take Photoshop with Spots, Transparency and Vector into InDesign 2.0 for composite PDF

96% of Australian service providers accept PDF files

Adobe InDesign Usage Survey.

Adobe Variable Data Publishing Resource Centre
Adobe Systems, Inc
Variable Data Publishing (VDP) solutions are meeting this challenge today. Adobe has been driving the technology behind VDP for more than a decade and has built an extended network of VDP solutions providers…

InDesign cracks more than half the layout traffic in Australia

Tim reads the menu. For breakfast.

After many years of yearning, Tim arrives at Killer Whale Museum

Tim meets Old Tom, Killer Whale Museum, Eden, NSW.

Storm over Eden

Tim, the MINI at Mullenderee Creek, NSW

Old Tom, Killer Whale Museum, Eden NSW. August 2004. Photo by Tim Cole

Old Tom full frontal, Killer Whale Museum, Eden NSW. August 2004. Photo by Tim Cole

Old Tom: jaw showing rope wear, Killer Whale Museum, Eden NSW. August 2004. Photo by Tim Cole

Storm Clouds. Photo by Tim Cole, South Coast NSW, August 2004

Within the short period of 70 days, I visit at least 7 cities in Asia and Europe. This is a special textlog and imagelog of the experience.

The Cities:

Auckland (23rd March to 25th March)

Auckland Gallery

Florence (18th April to 22nd April)

Florence Gallery

Hong Kong (26th April to 28th April)

Hong Kong Gallery

London (1st April to 10th April, 25th to 26th April)

London Gallery

Normandy (11th April to 17th April)

Normandy Gallery

Normandy Panorama Galleries

Rome (22nd April to 25th April)

Rome Gallery

Singapore (8th March to 12th March)

Singapore Gallery

Tokyo (9th May to 16th May)

Tokyo Gallery

Venice (15th April to 18th April)

Venice Gallery

Adobe Illustrator CS – Gradient Text for Effect
Cari Jansen
Using Gradients and Warping in Text for effect

Adobe Illustrator CS – Making Flags with Extrude and Bevel
Cari Jansen
Making flags look 3D, and almost realistic with Illustrator CS new 3D tools