A downtown Milwaukee creative services staffing company and training facility has nearly doubled its training space in anticipation of doubling student volume in the next year.
Brother and sister-owned C2 Graphics Productivity Solutions recently moved from 216 N. Water St., where the company occupied 2,500 square feet of office space, to 222 E. Erie St. in a 4,000 square-foot space.
C2 is an authorized training center for San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe Systems Inc. and a recognized training provider for Denver, Colo.-based Quark Inc.
C2 increased its training facility from one classroom to three classrooms that will accommodate nine students each. With the larger space, C2 increased its number of training instructors from four to eight and plans to increase the number of students from 60 per month to 120 per month in 2008, said Erica Conway, co-owner of C2.
C2 trains all levels of skill on Adobe and Quark software products, but mainly targets professionals looking to refresh their current skill sets or learn a new program. The minimum requirement of a student would be basic operating system skills, C2 said.
“Our target market is professional graphic designers who want to upgrade their skills or expand their software knowledge,” Erica said.
The expansion was necessary due to an increased demand for training and to accommodate more flexible scheduling of classes, said Jim Conway, co-owner and lead instructor of C2.
Prior to the move, C2 utilized space in its building and at the Eisner Museum for Advertising and Design to accommodate the demand for classes.
C2’s training division experienced a 42 percent increase in billings last year, Erica said.
In addition to offering training classes, C2 offers temporary, contract and temp-to-hire talent placement for graphic design, account services, production artists, Web developers, marketing executives, writers and public relations professionals.
The new classrooms include wireless overhead mounted projectors, 20-inch Calif.-based Apple Inc. Macintosh monitors and Mac Mini computers that can run Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. Windows or Cupertino, Macintosh operating systems.
The larger space and increase in instructors will also enable C2 to expand its service offerings on the training side, to include: the launch of lunch-and-learn informational sessions on new products or topics with regards to Adobe or Quark; the addition of video and film editing software to the list of training classes; on-site consultative training; destination training conferences in international locations and the creation of DVD and video training classes.
C2 currently has a second location in Madison and plans to open additional locations in other mid-sized markets within the next three to five years, Erica said.
“We would like to be the resource in the Midwest for Adobe and Quark training,” Erica said.
