Desktop publishing saves the day
This blog claims to be about DTP – design, technology and politics – but it was another type of DTP – desktop publishing – that got me here in the first place.
Twenty-one years ago this month, I and two friends, Ben and Tim, launched the long-forgotten Manchester Left magazine, pledging to counter the “London-centrism” of the British Left. (The fact that we were all Londoners who had barely set foot outside of the Manchester University campus would be no obstacle.)
Thatcher had just won her third election victory – and so Manchester Left came just in time to lift progressive spirits with its sunny prose and cheery cover image. It did at least succeed in its aim to be “non-sectarian”: articles by trotskyists and anarchists sat next to a defence of Labour modernisers by fellow student Derek Draper. (At the time we thought Derek was terribly right-wing because he went around quoting Roy Hattersley at us; now it’s a sign that he’s left-wing again.)
The magazine was made possible by the arrival of a £2,500 Apple Mac SE in our student union, complete with a tiny 9″ mono screen and an exotic piece of software called Quark XPress. Even with these tools, production was not always easy. One article, imaginatively titled “Socialism and Democracy”, was supplied by our politics lecturer Norman Geras. These days Norman is best known for his well-read Normblog, but what impressed us then was that he was ON THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF NEW LEFT REVIEW.
In 1987 you didn’t just email someone a Word attachment. Norm handed us his lengthy manuscript and we proceeded to key it into the trusty Mac over several days weeks. (When I say “we”, I mean Claire – although we had the latest means of production, our relations of production were less developed.) We dutifully printed out a proof on the beast of a laser printer and handed it to Norm. The problem was that none of us had bothered to read it first. Norm, who was nothing if not meticulous, looked slightly aghast and said gravely: “I think we have a problem.” Then he sat us down for what felt like three days, took out his red pen, and talked us through each mistake. There was at least one in every sentence.
And what of my co-conspirators? Ben, always proud of his kaffiyeh, travelled through various shades of non-zionism, post-zionism and anti-zionism until he settled on, well, zionism. And Tim went on to write the definitive history of disco, Love Saves the Day.
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7 Responses to “Desktop publishing saves the day”
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About this site
This is a blog about DTP – design, technology and politics – or it would be if I didn't keep going off at tangents.
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About Clifford Singer
I'm a partner and creative director at Sparkloop graphic design agency. I sometimes play guitar in my poor excuse for a band, The Great Apes. You can find me on Facebook and LinkedIn.
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My other sites
Spacebeats (musical madness)
Bubblewrapped (economic madness)
TaxPayers' Alliance (no, not that one)
clifford, you only got the bloody computer because i got it for you (tim) through the union!
do you have acopy of my article – i’d love to see it
derek
x
So YOU were responsible for inflicting my designs on all those far-left magazines during the 90s? What’s the word I’m looking for … ironic!
I’m sure I have a spare copy – though it’s almost as rare as a copy of Blair’s 100 Days.
Is that the Ben Cohen who worked on War Report at the NSS offices? With Tony Borden? (It became http://www.iwpr.net/ but without Ben if I recall correctly?)
The very same one. And IWPR looks like it’s still going strong – practically an international brand.
21 years ago
!!!!!!! I still have my copies of issues 1 and 2…were there ever anymore? I remember the little room where the said Apple Mac was looked upon in awe and, more historically, the moment I first moved an icon with a mouse!
Sadly, I still get excited by the fact that I can move an icon with a mouse.
I’m sure I’ve still got my copy of the first issue at least.
Tangentially, this post inspired me to google “adam lent”. Blimey.