iBabs Computer Graphics Training Finds a Home in Cedar Grove

Barbara Press has been in the graphics field since 1987. She started in printing, then served as a high end photo retoucher and layout artist for Time, Sports Illustrated and other publications, and then at age 27 became General Manager of Manhattan’s Speed Graphics. The past 12 years, she’s done on-site custom graphics training with graphics, marketing and publishing clients.

So what’s she doing in a new office at 425 Pompton Avenue in Cedar Grove?

Well, she sold her house in town, and as she signed papers at the law offices of Robert Candido, he recalled that she always wanted to have a spot of her own to teach her classes. And, coincidentally, the adjacent office to his had recently been vacated.

iBabs Computer Graphics Training now has a permanent home. Courses will officially begin in September, and a full schedule of courses and their descriptions are available on the iBabs Computer Graphics Training website, www.ibabstraining.com.

“I love what I do,” she says. “And I want to bring high-end, professional training to the Jersey side (of the Hudson River).” And she has, in a small, intimate setting suitable, right now, for six students who will be trained on Apple computers. “People can get the most attention that way. I’ve taught in a class with 18 to 20. I’m trying to keep this on the small side.”

Press was ready for this; she needed a change. She always embraces it. She left Speed Graphics and her GM position in 1997, where she claims she got “burnt out but learned a lot. I decided to do something else.” That led to the mobile training classes, and the eventual grounding at her current location.

“Everybody is using this: Flash, Acrobat,” she says of specific design software. “Everyone has to stay up with training.” Additional courses offered will include InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Keynote tutelage.

Which is where she and iBabs come in. As the industry and software changes, she knows what people need. “All these years, when I’ve been at sites, I’ve asked people, ‘How do you get through your job?’ I know what they need, what’s important.”

Press, a former club DJ whose biggest client is Tiffany and Company, is proud of the fact that she’s never lost a student in her years of teaching, no matter how frightened he or she may be with a computer screen or keyboard. “I’ll stand on my head until they get it. You have to look at their facial expression and read them. It’s all about bringing someone to the next level.”

In addition to courses presented, email sign-up is available on the website for those interested in on-goings at the school, including free seminars presented by Press and instructors she’s worked with in the past who are very highly regarded. “So, we will be staffed with a group of professional instructors, that all have something special to bring to our students,” she affirms.

In the end, it’s about getting folks up-to-speed in a “visual society.” “It’s not about how much you know. You have to be able to communicate,” claims Barbara Press. She continues, seeking to calm those who may be nervous about approaching a computer for training. “Your kids are using these. 3 year olds are using this!” She then smiles. “You’re not going to break it.”

“And you’ll get better at something if you understand it.”

iBabs Computer Graphics Training, 425 Pompton Avenue, Cedar Grove, (973) 857-2575, www.ibabstraining.com