FOR many people long service recognition at their place of employment marks a significant milestone, and this April, GC&M News Production Manager Sharon King will notch up an impressive 20 years of design work with our publication.
Sharon said her dad was originally a printer by trade and so she essentially just followed in his footsteps. Interestingly, her foray into the design world came about literally by accident
“Around 30 years ago my dad passed, and soon after I was unfortunately involved in a car accident. With the funds from his estate I purchased my first computer and during the long rehabilitation process I studied design – in some ways I could be called the accidental designer!” joked Sharon.
Starting back in April 2003, with what was then called Glasshouse Country News under the stewardship of Pam and John Innes, Sharon said she initially took up the job when the newspaper she worked for in the Bayside region of Redcliffe (Redcliffe Peninsula Post) closed down.
Reaching out to Pam Innes, Sharon said she landed the job after she arranged to meet Pam to find out if there was any chance of joining the publication. At the time the paper was produced by Beerwah Print.
“Back then it was an A4 publication of about 20 pages, with all the stories typed out on a word processor before being taken down to the printers where they would then retype all the content into PageMaker and format the pages,” explained Sharon.
Determined to modernise the process, Sharon enlisted the assistance of the local computer shop, and had computers and software installed to enable inhouse production. She also encouraged her approximately 70 year old boss to embrace technology! Sharon said there have been numerous highlights over the last two decades, however watching the paper evolve and grow has been a paramount achievement.
“In my time it has gone through so many transformations. The other highlight has been working alongside some of the most talented people you could meet. Most of these people have now come and gone, but have remained life-long friends,” said Sharon.
She said her role in production co-ordination was to see the publication through from the layout stage to the production of the final files that are sent to the printer, with not one paper over all the years ever been the same. She said she has always been passionately proud of what the team produced each week, and loved that she was able to work with fabulous people that all come together to make what she hoped is a valued part of the community.
Over her decades of design work, Sharon said the production process for print publications has dramatically changed, and the need for upskilling was always a part of keeping up to date. She remembered when first working at the paper, they would originally take page files down to the printer on a disc and have them printed on an ancient Heidelberg printer.