"CLASH OF TITANS"
This Friday, September 15, the Yearbook Staff had the opportunity to visit the printing firm called “Ediouro Gráfica”. I’m sure that when Alice, Ana, Joana and I were heading to Bonsucesso - where the firm is located - we didn’t expect how huge, organized and attention-grabbing the “Ediouro Gráfica” would be.
The primary reason for us to go there was to understand how the school‘s Yearbook is printed; however, we ended up learning countless other things that are still wandering in our minds. We learned the truth about recycling paper: that it’s actually more toxic for the environment than standard white paper. We learned that within the big printing firms there is real life “clash of titans” to resolve who will publish the famous authors, such as J.K. Rowling. We also learned that when “vestibular tests” are to be printed, the crew that does the job undergoes an extensive investigation – almost FBI-like – to check if any person who is vaguely related to the employee is taking the vestibular.
Above all though, what left us all open-mouthed were the huge Dutch printing machines that are able to complete over 60,000 magazines in one hour! These “babies” cost 4.5 million euros and are absurd in efficiency and quality. From my visceral point of view, the machine had about 16 meters long and 4 meters tall. As the paper traveled through it, only blurred figures could be seen, which confirmed the velocity and power of the gigantic printer.
My overall impression of the visit was that the firm showed high-quality work and commodities and that printing requires much more steps than I’ve ever imagined. The best thing – I can’t lie – is that several ideas popped up in our head that will help make the upcoming yearbook the best of all. Watch out Lancers, ‘cause I promise you that the 2014 yearbook will be just like our experience was: dazzling.
Natália Levy (´14)
