Tech-Set Newsletter: 40th Anniversary Statement
It seems like only yesterday that John Joyce and I founded Tech-Set. I remember Pauline was expecting our son Daniel in December 1979 and here was I risking our future (it seemed like it at that time) to start a new business. We even converted the newly decorated back bedroom Nursery to house our new equipment whilst we waited for a Tyne & Wear Development Corporation Unit.
Reaching 40 years in business is a huge milestone. Many thanks to everyone who has been a part of our success in those 40 years. Building the business up, employing great staff and seeing our industry change so much has been a labour of love and the future looks bright for the new generation to take the business forward. With a reputation in our industry beyond comparison for service, experience and quality, Tech-Set continues to thrive in these challenging times.
Thank you everyone who have contributed to our success, during the past 40 years, we could not have done it without you.
Bill Baty
Managing Director & Company Secretary
Q. Who are you and what’s your role at Tech-Set?
A. Hi I’m Adam and I am Tech-Set’s Senior Design and Business Development Manager.
Q. How long have you been at Tech-Set?
A. I started back in May 2004, so I’ve been here 15+ years.
Q. So you’ve been with Tech-Set a long time.
A. Yes, I started as an Apprentice drawing and creating illustrations. I then moved to the Typesetting team producing page designs.
Q. So you’re a Jack of all Trades then.
A. Yes, I suppose so, knowing both the illustrative and typesetting sides has helped me to achieve what I am today as Tech-Set’s Senior Design Manager.
Q. How did you come to work for Tech-Set?
A. I was the David Batty of my youth football team, in which Bill (Tech-Set’s MD), was the coach. I remember he asked me if I knew of anyone who wanted an Apprenticeship. I jumped at the chance to do an Apprenticeship as I didn’t really want to stay on at school. The rest is history.
Q. What do you do to relax outside of work?
A. Just the usual things really. I regularly play football. I enjoy spending time with my friends and family. Especially my wife Lucy and son Joel. He’s a real little character.
Q. Now a bit of a technical question. What is the difference between a bitmap and a vector image? My boss has asked for a bitmap and a vector image of a banner. Can you tell me the differences?
A. The short answer is Bitmap (or Raster) files are photographs which are represented on screen as tiny dots, known as pixels. Bitmap files use the file extensions JPEG, GIF, BMP, PSD, PNG or TIFF. Vectors images are not. Vectors rely on mathematical formulas to draw lines and curves which can be combined to create an image from geometric objects such as circles and polygons.
Graphics and images can easily be sized to fit within a frame in the following ways.
1. We'll start with this unscaled image in a square frame.
2. Go to the Object menu, then to Fitting, and select Fit Content Proportionally.
3. The entire image is now scaled to fit proportionally within the frame.
4. Another option would be to fill the frame. Go back to the Object menu, to Fitting, and select Fill Frame Proportionally.
5. The image is now sized to fill the frame.
6. The frame can also be scaled to match the image size. Go to the Object menu, then Fitting, and this time select Fit Frame to Content.
7. In this case, the frame resizes to match the image.
8. There is also an option that allows Indesign to focus on a main detail of your image. Go to the Object menu, then Fitting, and this time select Content-Aware Fit.
9. In this case, the image has moved so that the main focus is on a certain area of the image.
10. There is an option that warps your image to fit inside the frame and that’s the Fit Contents To frame option. This is not really usable in any format but it is useful for you to know.
11. As you can see the frame remains the same, but the image itself has been squashed and stretched to fit inside the frame.
12. There are also buttons in the Control Panel that can be used.
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