The Hawthorne Life

Yesterday, I got to do something pretty cool - go to "press check" at R. R. Donnelley's Senatobia branch. Though it was a three hour drive, once we got there it was pretty cool. (I couldn't take pictures inside the building, but these are press shots of various different RRD plants.)

This machine is the "binder" that puts the glue and cover on the magazine. This feeds to another machine the cuts off the uneven pages.

When the cover comes off the press, it looks somewhat like this. After they print each page, it has to be approved by the art director and ad art director to make sure that color isn't off (too bright, too dark) and there are not any huge changes that need to be made.

To do a page check, the pages are taken to a lighting booth right next to the press where they can see the colors under certain lights.

I learned a lot of about printing, which was really interesting. Though I'm sure I don't want to be on the printing side working a printer, it's really good to see how it all happens.