Throughout the program, students learn every step in the production process and create designs to demonstrate the expanded color gamut of the printing equipment.
What types of media are you printing on?
NL: We love to experiment with different media. We’re not a production environment, so we love to play. We run test prints to compare how designs look on one material versus another. We use heat transfer vinyl to show students how to print T-shirt designs. We also use our printer/cutter to release a variety of colour profiles to the machine and see how each one prints.
DS: We offer our students a variety of media to explore the production capabilities of large-format printers: glossy and matte photo paper, white and clear vinyl for both floors and windows/walled surfaces, and even perforated vinyl. Student work often ends up being laminated to corrugate, paperboard, and even foamboards, then goes on to be finished using other equipment in our labs—as part of larger rapid prototyping packaging projects, POP displays, and signage.
What types of jobs do your students find after graduation?
NL: Our program’s graduates are the bridge between creative and technical experts in companies around the globe. Many go on to work for digital and traditional print providers, pre-press facilities, commercial printing companies, design firms, marketing and advertising agencies, and packaging companies. Their titles range from graphic designer to print production specialist to manufacturing supervisor. We also have graduates who become production co-ordinators, or work in customer service. As they advance in their careers, many become key decision-makers for acquiring printing technology, which is another reason why it’s so important for us to have great equipment from top manufacturers as part of our ecosystems here.
What do you see for the future of your program? Are there any new directions or technologies you would like to introduce to your students?
NL: We’re very active in connecting with our industry, and to a large extent, the content of our program reflects what they do. Since packaging is a growth area for print providers, we’ve been growing our packaging curriculum. We teach our students every step in the process of designing, prototyping, refining, and printing packaging. We feel fortunate to have the latest wide-format and industrial printing devices available on our campus for students to use.
Graphic Communications Management at Toronto Metropolitan University is the only four-year, degree-granting program for the printing industries in Canada.
Is there anything else you would like to say about your program?
NL: One interesting benefit of putting advanced printing technology in the hands of our students is, if there is a way to use a device that hasn’t been thought of yet, chances are our cohort of 200 eager students will come up with it.
More importantly, we couldn’t do our work without the support of this industry, and we hope Canadian print and packaging manufacturers would say the same about our grads. Bringing technology into the school is a really unique opportunity for brands to present it to North America’s future graphic communications managers. These are the same students we’re training to become leaders and key decision-makers in the future. It’s a textbook win-win.
Ginny Mumm is a freelance consultant for digital inkjet printer/cutter provider Roland DGA. For more information, visit www.rolanddga.com.
Does Ryerson still teach offset printing?