michaelgaskins.com

My first exposure to computers was in 1984 while working for a type house. I sold typographic services to advertising agencies and print companies. The Apple Macintosh had just been released, the PS2 and Windows was really taking off. The company I worked for used the Penta system for computer typography and we had an incredible programmer that made the system do things that were not supposed to be possible. I learned all I could about typesetting. The code used for typesetting was very similar to HTML. This would later serve me in creating web pages.

The Mac was revolutionizing graphic design and typesetting. It used a program called Cricket Draw that was suited for the creation of forms because it could use increments of 10ths and 6ths. This was necessary for the kind of mechanical feed used in continuous forms. It also used vector graphics that the PC had not developed yet. Part of my job was to install screen fonts onto computers (both Mac and PC) so the clients could provide their jobs digitally on disk. We then ran out the jobs to high resolution Linotype laser imagers like the L300 and L500. Okay, I am really dating myself. The L300 could output to film at 2500 dpi. The film could then be used in the printing process. Anything from books to four color ads. This gave me experience with both Macintosh and PCs. The more I worked with the Mac, the more I wanted to be the operator rather than just sell it's capabilities. I was hooked and have worked with computers ever since.

"When you've seen what I have done, you will know what I can do." MLG

Direct inquiries to: resume@michaelgaskins.com