EskoArtwork Donates New CDI Spark 2530 Imager to Dunwoody College of Technology

As part of its ongoing commitment to fostering education in the packaging industry, EskoArtwork has donated a CDI Spark 2530 imager to The Harper Center of Graphics Technologies at Dunwoody College of Technology. This latest donation adds to the multiple seats of EskoArtwork packaging design and prepress software already in place at the Minneapolis-based school.

Dunwoody College of Technology offers a two-year graphics communications program divided into three tracks: design, premedia and press. Class sizes are kept small, and students get heavy doses of real world experience, digging deep into applications and press operations.

The formula is working: graduates hit the streets well versed in today's technology, giving Dunwoody a very successful placement record with local industry. Just recently, for example, six students armed with ArtiosCAD experience obtained jobs involving structural design.

Plus, for the second year in a row and the third time in four years, Dunwoody's team took first place in the Phoenix College Challenge, an annual product design and printing competition for colleges held during the Flexographic Technical Association's Annual Forum and Info*Flex event. This year's event, with 30 colleges participating, was held April 30, 2011, in Indianapolis.

"Every year the schools have to come up with a solution to a problem and then offer a 20 minute presentation talking about the technical aspects of the process,' explains Shawn Oetjen. "To solve the problem, we used a wide range of EskoArtwork tools, from structural design, to a prepress workflow and RIP software, to making the flexo plates."

Learning a Complete Workflow

With the latest CDI Spark donation, Dunwoody students are able to learn all the tasks involved in an all-digital workflow, from project design to making plates. "Before we got the CDI, we were using film and, let's be real, nobody is using film," says Oetjen. "It was a huge gaping hole in our workflow. We had to outsource the film for processing--there was an entire part of the workflow that we were missing. The CDI just completes the workflow--our students can really see how it all comes together."

Within the graphic design track, classes in structural design and package layout and design make complete use of ArtiosCAD, used as part of the program for the past three years. "Once we had ArtiosCAD, there was a significant change in how we taught that part of the program," notes Gerald Timmreck, Program Manager, Design & Graphics Technology. "Students can actually see how to make a die and do it themselves. In the past, we had to design it in Adobe Illustrator and then send it to a vendor who would make the cuts. If it the cuts were bad, the student was out of luck. With ArtiosCAD, we can make an actual prototype, and test the die; if it's not right, we can make adjustments."

As part of the structural design class, students are required to seek a college employee to recruit as a 'customer'; the customer comes up with a product that requires packaging. The product can be something that is really sold. For example, one instructor used the packaging for a jewelry line she creates. Or it can be for a toy in the instructor's office. In either scenario, the process is the same.

"Students use ArtiosCAD to offer the internal client a demo of what their packaging will look like before the project is finished," says Timmreck. "The 3D feature is a very valuable real-work tool that lets students see on a computer monitor if the prototype works before it gets to the cutting table. The animation features in Visualizer are really great; students can see how the prototype will lay out and fold."