News from Sunday, August 31, 2008 @ 8:19 AM, PSTIn this third post in our ongoing series on Creating DLa 23, we explore how the copious quantity of contributor content was organized and prepared for the project. Out of all the various steps involved with the production process, organizing and preparing content was perhaps the most time-intensive, tedious, and challenging task of them all.
After receiving a majority of the content for DLa 23, we found ourselves with well over 500 image, text, and multimedia files from no less than thirteen different contributors. Initially, submitted files were delivered via email, FTP and snail mail. Some documents were hand-delivered hard copies of the originals, which needed to be scanned, sized, formatted, cropped, and adjusted for proper digital print conversion. Thus the first step in the content-preparation process involved digitizing everything that was delivered in analog format. Fortunately, there was only a relatively small number of such conversions that needed to take place.
Once all of the content for the issue was ready to go in digital format, all of the files were lumped together into a single folder. Then, a separate folder was created, within which individual subfolders were created for the various contributors, along with several other administrative and production folders for the remainder of the content, notes, placeholders, secondary layout graphics, and so on. The final subdirectory structure looked similar to this:
_admin+_artopsy_artspace_cover_extraz_fonts_il-com_werdzbetzbhbwchiekofcugrahamjaypriorkalacakranimbusosseusperishseonaidthanecOnce this organizational architecture was in place, all of the files were carefully investigated and placed into the proper directory. Along the way, extraneous and duplicate content was consolidated or eliminated and missing content was noted. Once everything was in place, further organization occurred with the help of additional subdirectories designed to segregate, say, photographs from drawings and so forth. Thus, for DLa 23, content was organized first by artist and then by content type, as opposed to vice-versa. This strategy fits well with our production process and has been standard operating procedure for as long as I care to remember.
With everything neatly organized, consolidated, and streamlined into proper channels, it was time to begin preparing the content for the design process. Working primarily with InDesign for the layout, implementing a consistent, systematic, and logical convention for naming files is important to maintaining an optimized and streamlined digital workspace. Thus, before beginning with the layout, all files were renamed according to the artist, type of work, and numerical identity within the sequence. For example, after the renaming was complete, a contributor’s directory would look something like this:
perish-01_afro-smurf.jpgperish-02_bottomz-up.jpgperish-03_helium-compression.jpgperish-04_self-portrait.jpgperish-05_dimension-diving.jpgperish-06_magic-turd.jpgperish-07_midnight-noon.jpgperish-08_distraction.jpgperish-09_cold-boots.jpgperish-10_exoskeletal-bust.jpg..and so on. Once a solid file-naming strategy had been employed throughout the directory structure, a final check was executed and a backup copy of the entire archive was created. It should be noted that a comprehensive backup policy was exercised throughout the entire production and distribution process. Once complete, having everything organized and prepared for production equipped us with the information needed to begin planning and production, but before we could go there, all of the content needed to be formatted, cropped, and polished in Photoshop. With over 200 files to process, the fun had just begun!
Next in the Creating DLa 23 series: “Part 4: Photochoppin’”
Perishable
[ Edited on: 08/31/08 ] | [ 0 ]
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