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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News from Sunday, August 17, 2008 @ 9:35 AM, PSTIn this second post in our series, Creating DLa 23, we discuss the process whereby submissions and other issue content were collected for the project. This may seem like an insignificant part of the process, but with copious content from each of the eight core artists, this was one of the most challenging aspects of the entire affair.
Once the call went out that Ron was orchestrating a new, full-size issue of Dead Letter Art, there was an enthusiastic response from nearly all of the core members. There were also five “guest contributors” interested in submitting content. Thus, within days of Ron’s announcement, content for DLa #23 began pouring in..
For past issues of DLa, we usually found ourselves with plenty of content to produce a 30-page zine quite easily. Not every member would always share content, but even so, we generally would find ourselves with a good two to six submissions from each contributor. After all the content was collected, we would then tie it all together with various thematic elements, words and imagery.
This time, however, things were different. This time, it was announced that the issue was to printed in full color, with plush softcover binding and the whole bit. As soon as members and contributors realized this, the content began to flow. After all, nearly every other issue we had ever produced was almost entirely in black-&-white. The opportunity to see some of our recent werks published in full color inspired many of us to submit much more than usual.
Currently, many of the core DLa members are located in different cities. We have Kalacakra, Sui Lan and Osseus residing in Seattle, ThaneC living in Portland, FCU keeping it real in Spokane (and currently, Saudi Arabia), and the rest of us chilling in Moses Lake. This locational disparity proved challenging throughout the production process, requiring us to resynchronize and streamline a reasonably effective content delivery and communication protocol. Relying on email, snail mail, FTP, and hand-delivered hardcopies (guess who), all content was eventually delivered, collected and organized.
Reviewing the content submission process, there were several things that worked well, and several things that failed to benefit the effort. The things that worked well (for future reference) involved setting deadlines, using file-naming protocols, and consolidating emails into a minimal number of threads. Things that would have improved the process include having contributors send all content at the same time, setting limits to the number of contributions, and pre-formatting as much content as possible.
Although the content collection and organization process continued throughout the duration of the project, within a few weeks we had received a substantial majority of the art, photos, words, and other content that would eventually appear in the issue. When it was all said and done, the content archive for DLa 23 topped 500 files, organized in more than 25 folders. This was far more content than we had anticipated, and the work of organizing and preparing the content had just begun..
Next in the Creating DLa 23 series: “Part 3: Content Preparation”
Perishable
[ Edited on: 08/31/08 ] | [ 0 ]
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News from Monday, August 11, 2008 @ 4:36 PM, PST![[ Macro shot of the DLa Archive ]](http://deadletterart.com/dla/images/articles/dla-23-series_01.jpg "The ever-expanding DLa issue archive..")
24 issues and counting.. Kicking off this series of micro-posts on the creation of DLa 23, we see the mechanism by weech DLa 23 first began. It had been several years since the last issue of Dead Letter Art was released. The last issue, of course, was the ultra low-key Halloween issue[1], which was produced in October of 2004. After that, circumstance continued to separate the DLa members, leaving only occasional email and random telephone conversation to keep the group together. Soon, a couple of years had passed with nary a peep from that low-riding art phenomenon otherwise known as DLa. As 2006 reared its head, Dead Letter Art seemed “dead” indeed.
Fortunately, around the middle of 2006, DLa members Osseus and Perishable began planning for the “next evolution” of DLa. Work on a new website[2] had begun, new issues were planned, and Osseus even agreed to finish up the long-awaited Texture Issue[3], also known as DLa #20[4]. As momentum continued to build, communication within the group increased and collective activity intensified (relatively speaking). In early 2007, after much work and some help from 88teeth, Perishable launched the new DLa website. This event was followed immediately by a full Dead Letter Art reunion in Moses Lake, along with a specially prepared DLa Newzletter featuring all the latest from the DLa posse.
As informative and inspiring as it was to create, the DLa Newzletter did not pretend to be a new, full-fledged issue of Dead Letter Art. Working with ThaneC to create the issue was extremely beneficial, however, as it refreshed our fading familiarity with the desktop-publication process: formatting, layout, design, imagery, text, fonts, printing — it was all there for the Newzletter, only on a much smaller scale. Once the issue was complete, it was like, “oh yeah, that’s how it’s done..”
As the next year or so passed, friendships were (re)strengthened and the inspiration of Dead Letter Art continued to flow beneath the surface, frequently manifesting itself through decidedly “non-DLa” outlets. As the beginning months of 2008 crept in, the one known as FCU summoned his creative influence to pursue a challenging goal: Dead Letter Art Volume Twenty Three. Yes it had been over three years since the last issue. Yes members of the collective were located in different cities. Yes the idea was too irresistible to refuse.
Next in the Creating DLa 23 series: “Part 2: Collecting Content”
[1] That would be DLa 22, the ghastly Halloween issue.[2] This would be the current site, or if the site has somehow managed to change since the time of this writing, the site design in question was the red, gold, and black site with the nifty drop-top full-screen JavaScript tricks.[3] The texture issue was not complete when the DLa issue archive was originally constructed. Thus, its representation fails to convey the full scope of the project.[4] Osseus first began work on the Texture issue in September of 2003. At that time, DLa had just released issue #19, so logically the next issue — “Texture” — was designated as issue #20. While waiting for its release, DLa pushed forward another issue that was numbered as 20.5, in anticipation of the 20th issue. Now that issue 20 has been released, the total number of zines in the DLa series is 24, even though the latest issue is numbered as 23.
Perishable
[ Edited on: 08/31/08 ] | [ 0 ]
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