I've had this conversation so many times, I felt like some recent photos that I took in my neighborhood should illustrate this entry, and I should finally write this down for all to see: I use Mac computers because they are the predominant desktop publishing operating system for artists and designers. I am not endorsed by Apple in any way, shape, or form, nor I do not have stock in them or their ancillary companies. And guess what? My artist, designer, writer, and creative neighbors use the same tools too, which makes us an Apple town. Huh. I wonder why that is? Let me tell you why.
When I was in college in 1992, I took a photojournalism class. The professor showed us a beta version of Photoshop (the top rated photography software) on a small, beige Mac computer that had three palette tools: a selector, a paint bucket, and a brush tool. He taught us how to select an area of a black and white photograph and color it red (OOO! AAAH! Never seen that before!), as he explained to us that Adobe had partnered with Apple systems to design software specifically created for artists and designers. Upon the end of his trial with the software (by both himself and in his students), he would fill out a survey with feedback and send it back to Adobe Systems, where they would then develop the next generation of tools for us to use in the future, based on this research.
Great big mystery revealed. After I got my first job in publishing, I was told that in order to work in an art or design department, I would have to learn and master what was then the desktop "Trilogy": QuarkXPress, Photoshop, and Illustrator, because those are the tools we use to make your books and magazines. No one asked me to take a survey as a production assistant, or which computers I would like to use based on my personal self-interest. And once again, the reasons were professional: the pre-press facilities, typesetters, printers and production people who ran the printing presses had converted to Mac computers and desktop publishing because THEY WERE (and still are) THE PEOPLE WHO GAVE ADOBE THE FEEDBACK THEY NEEDED TO MAKE THESE TOOLS IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE MAC OPERATING SYSTEM. As a result, these types of desktop software operate best on an Apple OS, and this was done deliberately by design to form a powerful synergy based on real-life working conditions.
That is why when you use a masking tool in Photoshop, it turns to red—because before computers, hand done mechanicals used a material called "Rubylith"*, a red plastic that refracts UV light in the film process to create a "mask" over the art that you did not want color to print on. The very tools and terms you use every day come from the printing and publishing industries, even if you are not aware of the history. Now that you are informed, there's no excuse or reason for your ignorance, hostility, or anger. Right?
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubylith
Wrong. I was recently attacked on a design-based message board by someone who accused Mac users of being superficially trendy people who are swayed by advertising, which was specifically disproved in my previous three or four comments and backed up by other board commenters. There's always one person who either 1) can't use the hardware or software or 2) thinks Apple, Mac, and Adobe form a big conspiracy against them personally and 3) they have a paranoid ax to grind about it. We were responding to a student who wanted to know why professionals used one operating system over the other and we gave her a string of great, rational, information-filled answers, with examples, price points and historical facts, just like the the ones I presented here, but there's always one kook in the group who feels left out and starts lashing out for attention. And ladies, ain't it always a woman in meetings lookin' to tear your shit down?
I'm an old hand at these types of situations, having been in many a surreal meeting at risk of my job with a bunch of people who do not do the work and do not understand it because they can't do it. Hence the rabid, panicky fear response to technologies. So with this beeyotch on some online message board, I was like "bring it". There are creative jobs that evolved with PC-based systems on low-end hardware like Dell or HP's which use 3-D rendering software like AutoCad in professions like engineering and architecture. But, we had already covered that.
No, no. This isn't actually about computers, and I know that. It's because someone who looks like me can use them at an expert level, and I can also teach you how to use them. You see, I'm not a graphic design "nerd" stereotype. I don't have a mousy passive-aggressive demeanor and arty, black framed glasses. I don't do just design, I do art, production, writing, consulting, business and occasional IT chores if need be because I have to hustle to make it. And that is very threatening to a certain wanna-be geek crowd, because I am not a "wanna-be" in any way, shape, or form.
Now, in an office setting, I pride myself on a certain pulled-together respectability and cool demeanor, but out here in the wild, there ain't no such rules. I went back and forth with this chatter once, and she flipped on me. So when this chick decided to go there and disrespect me, I did what any self-respecting 'round-the-way New York girl would do: I told her to shut the fuck up and if she couldn't do that, I could rip off her arm and beat her over the head with it. Oh, was that wrong of me to do? Then, I blocked her comments. Sure enough, about a half an hour later, a typical looking lanky-haired, black square-glassed design "moderator" of the group told me she didn't like that "type" of language (hey lady, go fuck yourself) and I wrote back to her that I don't like being attacked for no good reason. I mean if my information was so bad, remove me as a contributor to your board. Right? Crickets. Nothing happened.
So. Here's the deal for anyone in the so-called design crowd who thinks they can take their snippy pot shots and hide, like you've been doing since school. Uh uh. In this town, if you can't win an argument by reason and you get pissed off about it, that's your fucking problem. Do the research and come prepared, like we working class kids do. Ain't nuthin' handed to you here. You have to earn it. Because in The Big Apple, we are not your average "design" clichés of the simpering backstabber or the secret little game player like they portray on reality t.v. shows and in movies. Some of us bite that damn apple as hard as we bark, because I grew up eating apples bitch. Go out there and get yours today in the urban jungle, homey. This is our habitat, and don't you forget it. Growwwl.
