Laurel Brunner
Als je begrijpt wat je kan doen met variable data, dan gaat er een nieuwe wereld open. Nu dat digitaal printen in hoge kwaliteit en een steeds lagere drempel kent, kunnen ontwerpers en marketeers steeds vaker de mogelijkheden gaan gebruiken. Laurel Brunner schreef er een boeiend artikel over dat hier te lezen is (in het Engels)
Understand what you can do with variable data content, and you open up a whole new realm of creative possibilities. Now that digital printing technologies make high quality print affordable and accessible, designers can exploit the benefits that working with data can bring. Don’t let the idea of “working with data” scare you – you do it every day on your smart phone. All the stuff that gets delivered to your mobile device or your favorite social media apps is made possible because someone somewhere has been “working with data” to make something special happen. And you can do it too, using data to create innovative wild format digital printing projects.
Fortunately you don’t have to do it alone because the graphics industry has a vast array of tools to help you to use data creatively. These tools include variable data software, such as EFI’s DirectSmile or XMPie, so that you can create different versions of the same basic creative concept, for different uses. The versions could be iterations of a design idea, using a variable data design tool such as HP’s Mosaic. Or they could be variations in a page’s entire content, for instance to personalise a poster using images and texts that are specific to an individual. This is where the creative possibilities can get really wild.
Why variable data isn’t a mistake
When you proof a page you expect all the content to be what you added to the page, be it text or graphics. If you find a misspelling or a missing image, you could be forgiven for considering it variable data. But this is not what we mean by variable data. Pictures that don’t show up where they should or typos are simply mistakes. Variable data on the other hand is a deliberate and intentional variation of the page content, to create a series of customised and unique print media products. This is the single most valuable advantage that digital printing has over traditional methods. Digital printing is data driven. You can manipulate the data to suit your own ends and create customised content, just as a social media content stream gets customised for different interests. It’s all about how you set up your print file so that it can include page components that change with each impression during the print run.
Do what?
The most common application of variable data software tools is for transactional print, where each credit card customer gets their own credit card statement, based on transactions specific to that individual. At the more creative end of the printing industry it has been big brands working with forward thinking printers which have pushed variable data applications most strenuously. However there are plenty of printing companies around who have started to understand how variable data projects work for short run printing. These are the sorts of companies you need to work with if you want to have a successful variable data project. You should be aware that there is a cost for this service because it can require additional software support, compared to conventional print runs. There is also the fact that this form of print can have considerably higher value to the end user than a static data print project. This means people are more likely to hang on to the print rather than throwing it away, making it more effective for longer.
Starting gate
There’s no denying that adding variable data to your wild format print project adds a layer of complexity, so be prepared to go through a bit of a learning curve. You should be ready for this and be ready to run some trials of how the software works with your design. You do not need to do an entire print run for this, just check on your monitor that the data is appearing where it should in your layout, and that the software can access the data correctly.
The data is fundamentally important to the success of a variable data production project, so you need to have your data ready and up to date. Don’t forget that the data includes text such as names and addresses, as well as illustrations and images. You can store all of this content in a database and use a plug-in tool such as PDFlib Block. This is freeware which simplifies the placement of variable text, images or graphics and although it is basic it works fine for simple applications.
Content elements should be organised into reference databases that the production software can access during the print run. The software will use the items in your digital lists to populate pages as they are output. This could be a collection of different irregular sized pages on a single wide format digital print that you cut later, or you could be creating variable data posters using partial or entire output widths. Keep in mind that you are no longer working to create mass communications where everyone gets the same content. With variable data software you can create individual pieces that have considerable worth to the reader and that have the potential to be extremely compelling.
Playing hard
It sounds complicated and it is, but you can trust that the complications have all been sorted for you by the software engineers who have made the plugins and other software. For the end user getting the results you want is straightforward even if the underlying process is complicated. Once you know what you want to vary on the different page designs, you have plenty of tools to help you to do it. Choose the one that works best for you.
You can use variable data technologies to create more compelling promotions, say for a poster customised for individual households. You might want to include imagery from the neighborhood or street addresses. This sort of work can be handled by first printing all the static elements conventionally and then printing the personalised parts on a digital press which processes and prints just the variable content page by page. An increasingly common and convenient approach is to print all of the content in one go, which means you must be completely sure that your data and its placement are absolutely correct. Test before you commit and you should be fine, but be prepared to go through a cycle of testing, checking, tweaking and retesting. And make sure you cost this work in the project budget, because it can be very time consuming. The good news is that you will have an extremely effective and impressive result, one that yields responses from the recipients.
Forewarned
When you come to output, make sure you work with a printing company that has some expertise in variable data production. Ask them which software tools they use and what sort of processing capacity their raster image processing (RIP) system has. The RIP is the brains of any digital printing system so a feeble RIP will be slow and may not be able to print your work to the quality level you expect. For instance, if the RIP cannot manage colour data so that the colours you want can in fact be printed you will be disappointed. Variable data software tools range in beefiness from products such as GMC’s Inspire which supports personalised mailings, transactional print and variable publications, down to very basic tools such as Microsoft Excel, which isn’t really suitable for graphics projects. Plug-ins that work with Adobe Creative Suite abound and they too vary in muscularity.
Don’t forget
Variable data printing is as much about data management as it is about putting ink on paper. When planning your variable data print project, think about how you will manage the data, the databases you will use, colour control of content elements, and what you or your client expect to spend for each piece of variable data print.
The ability of digital printing technology to image variable data quickly, means all sorts of new creative opportunities for wild format projects. Be bold and brave and take a closer look at what the technologies can do for you.
– Laurel Brunner
Lees verder....Publishers tend to k
now what they want to publish, although they may not know how they want it printed. It’s a step too far to care about the production of a book or magazine, when you’re tearing out your hair to get the content and sales projections right. This is unsurprising: production and printing are someone else’s outsourced problem.
Over thirty years ago technology made it easier for content creators to get their stuff published. The introduction of desktop publishing (DtP) revolutionised the graphics business, leading to widespread disruption and increased awareness of print’s various dirty secrets. The DtP revolution came about because of technology, but also because the prepress and printing industries were ripe for change. Change has continued to characterise the graphics industry ever since, to the point where small publishers such as Unbound, which chooses what to publish using a crowd funding model, are gaining prominence in today’s printing and publishing landscape
The first Apple Macintosh, a product Steve Jobs notoriously prioritised at the cost of other Apple projects, started the DtP revolution. We were fortunate to have had hands on experience with early Mac models, which smiled engagingly at you from a miniscule screen while booting up. We had had experience with the Xerox Star so the Windows, Ikons, Mouse and Pointing techniques used in the Mac’s graphical user interface were familiar. And having messed about with high end page layout and composition tools, the delights of Aldus PageMaker (the first desktop page layout software) were also relatively familiar. Except that this smiling little box was a machine with a price tag at a fraction of what professional systems cost.
Adobe’s PostScript page description language unified text and graphics into a single output stream, processing rasters to screen and printer. And thanks to the incorporated Linotype fonts, gorgeous typeset pages could be output. Pages could be viewed on screen and printed with the Apple LaserWriter, the first desktop printer able to print true fonts at 300 dpi. Linotype’s Linotronic 300 was the first typesetter to accept PostScript input for 2400 dpi output, sufficient for film and platemaking. It was the beginning of the end for conventional prepress and publishing. DtP technologies created a process awareness and encouraged everyone to use typography and composition in their communications. They laid the foundation for greater awareness of printing and the negatives associated with volume production and waste.
Today the conversation between publishers and printers needs to move on. Publishers have the power to determine how green the printing industry can be. As with any service industry printers mostly rely on customers for their direction. Publishers can dictate for instance that they want printing to take place close to distribution points; they can require printers to use technology with reduced energy, water and materials use throughout the print cycle; they can specify the use of recycled paper and vegetable based inks, and choose to commission companies with zero waste to landfill policies. Sustainable print is in the hands of publishers, large and small, if they are willing to accept that such an approach will come at a price, it’s a price worth paying.
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Splash PR, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
Lees verder....
The importance of and interest in Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) in the graphics industry is probably nil. At least at the moment. But at some stage graphics professionals, either in the development community or as publishers and content producers, will need to understand their worth. It’s a tad melodramatic to say that the future of the industry may depend on them, but that could indeed prove to be the case.
The problem is that the worth of an EPD is decidedly abstract because an EPD only has value if it proves that one product example is superior to another. If we want to claim that a printed book has a lower environmental impact than an e-book for instance, we need to use EPDs. But an EPD can only really be fair and comparable if it is based on the same dataset. A printed copy of a book is the same as the electronic version from an author or publisher’s perspective, it’s just a difference of format. But how do we create a foundation for EPDs that is workable and fair and that take into account different formats?
The EPD and associated sustainability communities have come up with the idea of Product Category Rules or PCRs to help solve this conundrum. A PCR is a mechanism that should ensure that EPDs can be fairly compared. It is a collection of rules that together classify a given type of product, say golf clubs. The PCR will include the product’s function, the materials it can be made of, say wood or carbon fibre, and it’s components. In the case of a golf club this would be the shaft, the head and the handle, plus screws and other minor parts such as a nameplate. The amount of detail has to be excruciating if two EPDs based on the same PCR are to be truly comparable. Only about one hundred PCRs exist, which gives a hint at how hard they are to create. Fortunately the paper industry has been busy developing PCRs for wood and pulp products. The PCRs support the development of Life Cycle Analyses and EPDs so that different paper products can be compared fairly.
But not much, if indeed any, work has been done on publications such as newspapers and books. But the development of some sort of taxonomy to classify different types of newspapers and books would be very useful, if not now then certainly in the future. Volunteers?
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Splash PR, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
Lees verder....The importance of and interest in Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) in the graphics industry is probably nil. At least at the moment. But at some stage graphics professionals, either in the development community or as publishers and content producers, will need to understand their worth. It’s a tad melodramatic to say that the future of the industry may depend on them, but that could indeed prove to be the case.
The problem is that the worth of an EPD is decidedly abstract because an EPD only has value if it proves that one product example is superior to another. If we want to claim that a printed book has a lower environmental impact than an e-book for instance, we need to use EPDs. But an EPD can only really be fair and comparable if it is based on the same dataset. A printed copy of a book is the same as the electronic version from an author or publisher’s perspective, it’s just a difference of format. But how do we create a foundation for EPDs that is workable and fair and that take into account different formats?
The EPD and associated sustainability communities have come up with the idea of Product Category Rules or PCRs to help solve this conundrum. A PCR is a mechanism that should ensure that EPDs can be fairly compared. It is a collection of rules that together classify a given type of product, say golf clubs. The PCR will include the product’s function, the materials it can be made of, say wood or carbon fibre, and it’s components. In the case of a golf club this would be the shaft, the head and the handle, plus screws and other minor parts such as a nameplate. The amount of detail has to be excruciating if two EPDs based on the same PCR are to be truly comparable. Only about one hundred PCRs exist, which gives a hint at how hard they are to create. Fortunately the paper industry has been busy developing PCRs for wood and pulp products. The PCRs support the development of Life Cycle Analyses and EPDs so that different paper products can be compared fairly.
But not much, if indeed any, work has been done on publications such as newspapers and books. But the development of some sort of taxonomy to classify different types of newspapers and books would be very useful, if not now then certainly in the future. Volunteers?
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Splash PR, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
Lees verder....
The topic of ISO standards is pretty dreary, but it’s a subject that can make a difference to the success of your wild format projects. Standards published by the International Standards Organisation are created and developed by people like you. It’s a cooperative and consensual process rooted in local groups who come up with ideas for how something can benefit from standardisation, such as dimensions in building or data formats. People notice how common worries might be resolved with a standardised process or set of requirements. Someone comes up with an idea for how to simplify fixing a problem, they share it, refine and improve it, and ISO eventually publishes a document. Then anyone can use that standard and apply it for their circumstances.
That’s a very simplistic narrative to describe what is actually a convoluted and often tedious process. For ISO consensus is all, but getting everyone in all participating nations to agree with a given solution takes time. It also takes patience. Lots and lots and lots of patience.
Why should I care?
So why should this matter to you, as you start planning your wild format printing project? For a start it means that you can be reassured that ISO standards are available to help the folks doing your production to get it right. But standards are there for you too, not just for the companies offering services.
ISO 9001 – Quality Management Systems
ISO 9001 outlines requirements for quality management systems and is ISO’s bestseller, so you see this number all over the place. From plumbers and bricklayers to high street brands, everyone can benefit from ISO 9001. It’s based on the brilliant observation that you can make any process better, if you keep reviewing and improving it, so that it continually evolves.
The underlying principle of ISO 9001 is the cycle of plan, do, check and act. You start by working out what you want to achieve and you come up with a plan for achieving it. You then follow the plan, check what things have worked and what things haven’t and then figure out a way to improve the plan for the next project. The basic principle is simple enough, but companies who can prove compliance to ISO 9001 will have jumped through a couple more hoops. The first and most important is that everything they do is based on facts, normally based on proper measurements and analysis. Actions taken, checks made and approvals should be documented so you can track that a product has been made according to specifications. They can also demonstrate that they have management structures in place to support it. And they will have documented management engagement and risk assessment processes. For a company it’s about good business practices, so that customers like you don’t have to bother with the details. All you need to know is that a business achieving ISO 9001 has a mark of quality, a gold star double tick proving their competence. If a company claims that it delivers superior print quality, that ISO 9001 badge confirms that it really can. If it cannot, the certification could be withdrawn which would be bad news for that printing company’s marketing department.
You can use ISO 9001 principles in your work. Plan what you want to do, do it and then review how things went. If there are parts of your plan and its execution that could be improved, weave the improvements in for your next wild format project.
Companies use ISO 9001 to show that they can consistently deliver products and services that meet legal requirements. Independent auditors check that companies have systems in place to control the four stages of the cycle, and that processes continuously improve. If your print service provider has an ISO 9001 certificate you can be reasonably confident that the work they do for you will be up to scratch.
If you want even more security, ask your print service provider about ISO 12647 which defines the printing condition parameters for various print processes. This multi-part standard assures colour print output quality levels according to the printing method, say screen printing or offset, often the reference for digital printing quality. ISO technical committee working groups have recently started work on a part for printing on metal,
ISO 12647 parts
ISO 12647-1
Series parameters and control methods.
ISO 12647-2
Process control for offset printing.
ISO 12647-3
Process control for coldset offset printing on newsprint.
ISO 12647-4
Process control for publication gravure printing.
ISO 12647-5
Process control for screen printing.
ISO 12647-6
Process control for flexo printing.
ISO 12647-7
Process control for proofing processes working with digital data.
ISO 12647-8
Process control for validation processes with digital data.
ISO 12647-9
Process control for metal decoration printing.
There are many parts to the ISO 12647 standard, how- ever the one that is most widely used is part two, for offset printing. Part 2 is also the reference that confirms a digital printing system can produce output equivalent to offset printing.
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Splash PR, Unity Publishiung and Xeikon.
Lees verder....
It’s hard enough getting to grips with carbon footprinting, but that is only a small part of the environmental impact calculation. In 2018, regulators and shareholders in mature markets are sharpening their focus on the life-cycle environmental impacts of products. This will impact all parts of the graphics supply chain, from design to procurement. At least it will in markets where political leaders take seriously their environmental responsibilities, such as China and the European Union.
Taking a more robust approach to life-cycle environmental impacts will not be easy: the process is complicated and unfamiliar so it involves time and effort. It also involves a steep learning curve which will be difficult for many companies operating in the graphics industry. There are tools available to help and large organisations such as HP, Kodak and Ricoh with a history of environmental commitment are already on track. ISO 14025 is one of the tools available. This standard lays out the principles and procedures for developing environmental declaration schemes, whereby data relating to a product and its life-cycle are collected.
An Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) is an environmental declaration that meets the requirements of ISO 14025. An EPD confirms that all relevant life-cycle environmental data has been collected in accordance with the requirements set out in the standard. EPDs are voluntary declarations that can be fairly compared because they are based on common requirements, so they can be used in a competitive context. Manufacturers serving the graphics industry can use EPDs to communicate product life-cycle impact information, but also to distinguish their products in the market.
There will obviously be a cost associated with doing this, not least for training people so that they understand what an EPD is and why it matters. Other costs will be in time and resources to collect the data, which can be considerable for complex products such as printing presses. But these declarations and the associated investment matter: EPDs are independently verified which enhances their commercial and competitive value. When based on the same reference product types, EPDs can be used to directly compare the life-cycle environmental impact of those products. This could be for printing plates, presses, inks or publishing and production systems, although these last two could be a bit of a challenge.
But for printers and publishers developing EPDs for printed products, the process is relatively simple. An EPD for print would clearly demonstrate that a printed product has a positive life-cycle environmental impact: it can readily be recycled, and you don’t need any energy to use it. This much we know. More important is the development of EPDs for production equipment and that is the challenge for 2018.
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Splash PR, Unity Publishiung and Xeikon.
It’s hard enough getting to grips with carbon footprinting, but that is only a small part of the environmental impact calculation. In 2018, regulators and shareholders in mature markets are sharpening their focus on the life-cycle environmental impacts of products. This will impact all parts of the graphics supply chain, from design to procurement. At least it will in markets where political leaders take seriously their environmental responsibilities, such as China and the European Union.
Taking a more robust approach to life-cycle environmental impacts will not be easy: the process is complicated and unfamiliar so it involves time and effort. It also involves a steep learning curve which will be difficult for many companies operating in the graphics industry. There are tools available to help and large organisations such as HP, Kodak and Ricoh with a history of environmental commitment are already on track. ISO 14025 is one of the tools available. This standard lays out the principles and procedures for developing environmental declaration schemes, whereby data relating to a product and its life-cycle are collected.
An Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) is an environmental declaration that meets the requirements of ISO 14025. An EPD confirms that all relevant life-cycle environmental data has been collected in accordance with the requirements set out in the standard. EPDs are voluntary declarations that can be fairly compared because they are based on common requirements, so they can be used in a competitive context. Manufacturers serving the graphics industry can use EPDs to communicate product life-cycle impact information, but also to distinguish their products in the market.
There will obviously be a cost associated with doing this, not least for training people so that they understand what an EPD is and why it matters. Other costs will be in time and resources to collect the data, which can be considerable for complex products such as printing presses. But these declarations and the associated investment matter: EPDs are independently verified which enhances their commercial and competitive value. When based on the same reference product types, EPDs can be used to directly compare the life-cycle environmental impact of those products. This could be for printing plates, presses, inks or publishing and production systems, although these last two could be a bit of a challenge.
But for printers and publishers developing EPDs for printed products, the process is relatively simple. An EPD for print would clearly demonstrate that a printed product has a positive life-cycle environmental impact: it can readily be recycled, and you don’t need any energy to use it. This much we know. More important is the development of EPDs for production equipment and that is the challenge for 2018.
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Splash PR, Unity Publishiung and Xeikon.
Lees verder....
What should the graphics industry expect for 2018? This is easy to answer: more of the same. It would be great to hint at exciting new technologies waiting just around the corner. Or to share with you some amazing new business models for print and publishing. But in fact the graphics industry is awash with new technologies and examples of how to apply them. The problem is that there is still so much reluctance to get with the programme and to fully embrace digital processes and ideas.
Caution with new technologies is not unique to the graphics industry, but it is a particularly acute problem for graphics professionals. The reluctance to use information technologies to drive the business, for process control and for data analytics is common amongst the small and medium sized businesses that make up so much of the commercial printing landscape. This is as much a cultural concern as it is a business worry, but until we start trusting the data more and the inkducts less, more of the same is actually a very good thing: it means more time before the next big upheaval. For technology and applications it creates opportunities for businesses to catch up with how their customers and their customers’ customers use data.
The window of opportunity exists in the context of rising consumer awareness of what going paperless really means. After years of banging on about print’s sustainability, we are finally beginning to see some appreciation of the massive impact that electronic media and communications have on the environment. In his Bruno Kessler Lecture last year, Roberto Viola, Director-General for Communications Networks, Content & Technology at the European Commission pointed out that “European based data centres consumed more than 104TWh per annum in 2015, representing 3% of total electricity.” A terawatt hour is one million million watt hours and you probably used a single kilowatt hour watching television at the weekend. If you ate a couple of large pies for lunch, you may have consumed the equivalent of say 1000 calories or 0.0011 watt hours. A single watt hour takes one million calories, which adds up to about 2,000 pies. Just picture the pile of pies equivalent to a single terawatt hour!
Pies aside, the point here is that our online lives consume enormous amounts of energy. For communications data, much of which is redundant because it’s backed up all over the planet, that means massive waste and superfluous energy usage. There can be no wholesale abandonment of electronic communications, but rising awareness of just how much energy they take will drive new ideas for media and communications and smarter approaches to energy generation and usage. Perhaps that’s what we should expect for 2018.
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Splash PR, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
What should the graphics industry expect for 2018? This is easy to answer: more of the same. It would be great to hint at exciting new technologies waiting just around the corner. Or to share with you some amazing new business models for print and publishing. But in fact the graphics industry is awash with new technologies and examples of how to apply them. The problem is that there is still so much reluctance to get with the programme and to fully embrace digital processes and ideas.
Caution with new technologies is not unique to the graphics industry, but it is a particularly acute problem for graphics professionals. The reluctance to use information technologies to drive the business, for process control and for data analytics is common amongst the small and medium sized businesses that make up so much of the commercial printing landscape. This is as much a cultural concern as it is a business worry, but until we start trusting the data more and the inkducts less, more of the same is actually a very good thing: it means more time before the next big upheaval. For technology and applications it creates opportunities for businesses to catch up with how their customers and their customers’ customers use data.
The window of opportunity exists in the context of rising consumer awareness of what going paperless really means. After years of banging on about print’s sustainability, we are finally beginning to see some appreciation of the massive impact that electronic media and communications have on the environment. In his Bruno Kessler Lecture last year, Roberto Viola, Director-General for Communications Networks, Content & Technology at the European Commission pointed out that “European based data centres consumed more than 104TWh per annum in 2015, representing 3% of total electricity.” A terawatt hour is one million million watt hours and you probably used a single kilowatt hour watching television at the weekend. If you ate a couple of large pies for lunch, you may have consumed the equivalent of say 1000 calories or 0.0011 watt hours. A single watt hour takes one million calories, which adds up to about 2,000 pies. Just picture the pile of pies equivalent to a single terawatt hour!
Pies aside, the point here is that our online lives consume enormous amounts of energy. For communications data, much of which is redundant because it’s backed up all over the planet, that means massive waste and superfluous energy usage. There can be no wholesale abandonment of electronic communications, but rising awareness of just how much energy they take will drive new ideas for media and communications and smarter approaches to energy generation and usage. Perhaps that’s what we should expect for 2018.
Laurel Brunner
This article was produced by the Verdigris project, an industry initiative intended to raise awareness of print’s positive environmental impact. This weekly commentary helps printing companies keep up to date with environmental standards, and how environmentally friendly business management can help improve their bottom lines. Verdigris is supported by the following companies: Agfa Graphics, EFI, Fespa, HP, Kodak, Kornit, Ricoh, Spindrift, Splash PR, Unity Publishing and Xeikon.
Welcome to the Wild Format series of articles. A major trend in graphics today is to use print in innovative and extremely imaginative ways. We’ve gone way beyond the traditional print-on-paper model to take print into completely new areas, such as bespoke interior design and short run packaging. We’re also using digital printing devices to produce a handful of copies of high quality affordable prints, instead of printing long runs that inevitably lead to much waste. Finally the bond between printing technologies and the work they produce is broken. Digital presses can print on virtually any surface including three-dimensional objects and wood, so now it’s up to you to turn your ideas into printed reality.
Over the coming months we will publish articles to help people new to digital printing to understand how it can help them express themselves. We’re calling this business Wild Format print, because that’s what it is: wild. There are no virtually constraints getting in the way of how you create printed versions of what your imagination invents.
The HP Latex 3600 is a wide format device that you can use for printing wallcoverings. HP has a dedicated software package, HP WallArt Suite, to handle the production details. You only need to worry about what you want on your walls.
Digital printing technologies, new substrates, inks and toners create all kinds of exciting and unrestrained possibilities for creative expression. Your amazing journey of discovery into Wild Format digital printing technologies will help you enhance how you communicate. Whatever your interests from books to soft furnishings, the Wild Format series of articles can help you get the most out of your ideas and creativity. Whether its bespoke packages, custom fabric designs, signage, calendars, photobooks or celebratory posters, the opportunities for new forms of expression are endless.
The digital opportunity
Digital technology creates unprecedented opportunities for sharing visual concepts in print, because it’s completely flexible. The technology can be configured for all sorts of output sizes, shapes and surfaces. It makes print universally accessible because the print process is no longer complicated or prohibitively expensive. Anyone, anywhere, can have their ideas printed quickly and conveniently on materials that range from paper and board to glass, plastic, ceramics, metal, wood and textiles. Print production is no longer just for the elite, it’s no longer costly or convoluted and confusing. Those days are far behind us, and today’s printing industry is yours to drive. You can take control.
How is this possible?
Print was once a messy, complex and high-priced business run by specialists, cloaked in mystery and magic. But today, thanks to digital technologies and advances in material science, this elite model is long since dead and buried. Print in any format is accessible and affordable, from single copy prints to many thousands, from black and white to more than half a million and more colours. The tools are available for you to create your own data files and get the results you expect straight from your desktop. Once you’ve got your files, photos for example, you can even order the print from your mobile phone. You can get a photobook of your favourite holiday or a special event within days. How cool is that? Thanks to sophisticated software and digital printing technologies, print production is no longer a black art. Production processes are behind the scenes, and the clever science is the stuff you don’t need to see or get involved in, because you don’t need to. The mechanics of print are solved in hardware and software innovations operating in tandem with powerful new imaging techniques. Today’s print production is slick, automated, affordable and readily accessible to all of us.
If the shoe fits …
Just as you don’t much care about how a shoe is made, you don’t need to know the grubby details of how print happens. As long as the shoe fits and does the job, that’s all that matters, and so it is with print. All you need to know is that you can get it, you can afford it and you can enjoy it. If you want a printed physical version of what’s in your head, you only need to care about who’s got the right equipment, how much that print service provider will charge you per copy or item and how you do what you have to do to make sure the production process is flawless.
Wild format possibilities
During this series we will explain what you need to know to create magical projects using digital printing technology. Most of what gets printed is still printed on paper, but printing on paper is a small part of the digital printing universe. There are also exciting possibilities for printing on carton and board, on plastics and mesh, or canvas. You can use digital printing devices to print textiles such as polyesters, linen, cotton and even silk. If you fancy creating a new wallpaper, maybe an image from your favourite city, you can do it with digital printing.
Canvases printed as one offs are a cheap and convenient way to brighten up your spaces. Holiday views, family pics, your pets, your friends, your enemies on a dartboard perhaps, whatever takes your fancy.
You can completely personalise your home using customised print, based on designs you create for your own wallcoverings and fabrics. You can take the idea even further and print your design direct to garments such as tee-shirts and aprons. You can even get your own designs printed onto ceramic tiles, glass and splash backs, so that your kitchen and bathrooms are totally personalised. You can advertise your business or an event by wrapping your car with event information printed onto adhesive plastic that can later be removed and replaced with new printed ideas. If you want a variation on a fashion concept printed on clothes, you can create patterns that change slightly with each piece of print so no two pieces are the same. And it can all happen automatically if you do it right.
If wrapping your car seems too ambitious, go for personalising something smaller with your look. This motorcycle helmet has been customised with digital print technology. The wrap’s removable so you can change your look whenever you like.
This, plus so much more, is all possible because of two technologies: online communications and digital printing. Just as you can access Instagram or WhatsApp to share content, so you can share files with printing companies that specialise in all sorts of different production types. They have the technology to produce your work with drop-dead gorgeous results.
Production options
Wild format technologies are applied in all sorts of printing businesses and creative project development is not just the preserve of big name brands. Everyone from managers working on demanding projects and tight deadlines for complex business messaging, to individuals who just fancy making something special, can produce their ideas in print. It doesn’t matter how ambitious your demands, you can trust that there is a printing company out there who can help turn your concepts into reality across formats. You can, for instance, design your own ideas for a new floor or walls and get them printed up to five metres wide. If you need wider, you use more widths to create custom interiors or supersized banners and posters. If you want to print a handful of giant books for children to play with, you can do it using digital printing technologies and specialised finishing. You can create kitchen linens, tea cosies and pot holders, or even have your favourite washing-up brush printed with the latest family photo. It can be as wild and crazy as you like, and take you wherever your imagination goes.
Knowledge is power
All of this is possible and painless if you understand some basics. Everything we’ve mentioned here is real, because digital printing systems are optimised to suit different materials and print sizes. You do need to be aware of how to match available technologies to your project requirements to get the best results. You also need to know how to prepare your data so that you get the best print quality. This is not hard and explaining it is what the Wild Format series of articles is all about. Getting it right starts with your ideas and how you want your creations produced whether it’s text, line art, illustrations, photographs or any other form of content. This is the beginning of going wild with digital printing.
The Wild Format guides are intended to expand awareness and understanding of the craziness that can be created on wide format digital printing devices, from floors to lampshades and everything in between.
These guides are made possible by a group of manufacturers working together with Digital Dots.
This article is supported by DigitalDots, Mimaki EFI, FujiFilm, and HP.
Together we hope you enjoy the articles and that you put into practise what you learn. If you want to talk about it, go to our LinkedIn group via this link.
Enjoy and Go Wild!
Laurel Brunner
Lees verder....
Welcome to the Wild Format series of articles. A major trend in graphics today is to use print in innovative and extremely imaginative ways. We’ve gone way beyond the traditional print-on-paper model to take print into completely new areas, such as bespoke interior design and short run packaging. We’re also using digital printing devices to produce a handful of copies of high quality affordable prints, instead of printing long runs that inevitably lead to much waste. Finally the bond between printing technologies and the work they produce is broken. Digital presses can print on virtually any surface including three-dimensional objects and wood, so now it’s up to you to turn your ideas into printed reality.
Over the coming months we will publish articles to help people new to digital printing to understand how it can help them express themselves. We’re calling this business Wild Format print, because that’s what it is: wild. There are no virtually constraints getting in the way of how you create printed versions of what your imagination invents.
The HP Latex 3600 is a wide format device that you can use for printing wallcoverings. HP has a dedicated software package, HP WallArt Suite, to handle the production details. You only need to worry about what you want on your walls.
Digital printing technologies, new substrates, inks and toners create all kinds of exciting and unrestrained possibilities for creative expression. Your amazing journey of discovery into Wild Format digital printing technologies will help you enhance how you communicate. Whatever your interests from books to soft furnishings, the Wild Format series of articles can help you get the most out of your ideas and creativity. Whether its bespoke packages, custom fabric designs, signage, calendars, photobooks or celebratory posters, the opportunities for new forms of expression are endless.
The digital opportunity
Digital technology creates unprecedented opportunities for sharing visual concepts in print, because it’s completely flexible. The technology can be configured for all sorts of output sizes, shapes and surfaces. It makes print universally accessible because the print process is no longer complicated or prohibitively expensive. Anyone, anywhere, can have their ideas printed quickly and conveniently on materials that range from paper and board to glass, plastic, ceramics, metal, wood and textiles. Print production is no longer just for the elite, it’s no longer costly or convoluted and confusing. Those days are far behind us, and today’s printing industry is yours to drive. You can take control.
How is this possible?
Print was once a messy, complex and high-priced business run by specialists, cloaked in mystery and magic. But today, thanks to digital technologies and advances in material science, this elite model is long since dead and buried. Print in any format is accessible and affordable, from single copy prints to many thousands, from black and white to more than half a million and more colours. The tools are available for you to create your own data files and get the results you expect straight from your desktop. Once you’ve got your files, photos for example, you can even order the print from your mobile phone. You can get a photobook of your favourite holiday or a special event within days. How cool is that? Thanks to sophisticated software and digital printing technologies, print production is no longer a black art. Production processes are behind the scenes, and the clever science is the stuff you don’t need to see or get involved in, because you don’t need to. The mechanics of print are solved in hardware and software innovations operating in tandem with powerful new imaging techniques. Today’s print production is slick, automated, affordable and readily accessible to all of us.
If the shoe fits …
Just as you don’t much care about how a shoe is made, you don’t need to know the grubby details of how print happens. As long as the shoe fits and does the job, that’s all that matters, and so it is with print. All you need to know is that you can get it, you can afford it and you can enjoy it. If you want a printed physical version of what’s in your head, you only need to care about who’s got the right equipment, how much that print service provider will charge you per copy or item and how you do what you have to do to make sure the production process is flawless.
Wild format possibilities
During this series we will explain what you need to know to create magical projects using digital printing technology. Most of what gets printed is still printed on paper, but printing on paper is a small part of the digital printing universe. There are also exciting possibilities for printing on carton and board, on plastics and mesh, or canvas. You can use digital printing devices to print textiles such as polyesters, linen, cotton and even silk. If you fancy creating a new wallpaper, maybe an image from your favourite city, you can do it with digital printing.
Canvases printed as one offs are a cheap and convenient way to brighten up your spaces. Holiday views, family pics, your pets, your friends, your enemies on a dartboard perhaps, whatever takes your fancy.
You can completely personalise your home using customised print, based on designs you create for your own wallcoverings and fabrics. You can take the idea even further and print your design direct to garments such as tee-shirts and aprons. You can even get your own designs printed onto ceramic tiles, glass and splash backs, so that your kitchen and bathrooms are totally personalised. You can advertise your business or an event by wrapping your car with event information printed onto adhesive plastic that can later be removed and replaced with new printed ideas. If you want a variation on a fashion concept printed on clothes, you can create patterns that change slightly with each piece of print so no two pieces are the same. And it can all happen automatically if you do it right.
If wrapping your car seems too ambitious, go for personalising something smaller with your look. This motorcycle helmet has been customised with digital print technology. The wrap’s removable so you can change your look whenever you like.
This, plus so much more, is all possible because of two technologies: online communications and digital printing. Just as you can access Instagram or WhatsApp to share content, so you can share files with printing companies that specialise in all sorts of different production types. They have the technology to produce your work with drop-dead gorgeous results.
Production options
Wild format technologies are applied in all sorts of printing businesses and creative project development is not just the preserve of big name brands. Everyone from managers working on demanding projects and tight deadlines for complex business messaging, to individuals who just fancy making something special, can produce their ideas in print. It doesn’t matter how ambitious your demands, you can trust that there is a printing company out there who can help turn your concepts into reality across formats. You can, for instance, design your own ideas for a new floor or walls and get them printed up to five metres wide. If you need wider, you use more widths to create custom interiors or supersized banners and posters. If you want to print a handful of giant books for children to play with, you can do it using digital printing technologies and specialised finishing. You can create kitchen linens, tea cosies and pot holders, or even have your favourite washing-up brush printed with the latest family photo. It can be as wild and crazy as you like, and take you wherever your imagination goes.
Knowledge is power
All of this is possible and painless if you understand some basics. Everything we’ve mentioned here is real, because digital printing systems are optimised to suit different materials and print sizes. You do need to be aware of how to match available technologies to your project requirements to get the best results. You also need to know how to prepare your data so that you get the best print quality. This is not hard and explaining it is what the Wild Format series of articles is all about. Getting it right starts with your ideas and how you want your creations produced whether it’s text, line art, illustrations, photographs or any other form of content. This is the beginning of going wild with digital printing.
The Wild Format guides are intended to expand awareness and understanding of the craziness that can be created on wide format digital printing devices, from floors to lampshades and everything in between.
These guides are made possible by a group of manufacturers working together with Digital Dots.
This article is supported by DigitalDots, Mimaki EFI, FujiFilm, and HP.
Together we hope you enjoy the articles and that you put into practise what you learn. If you want to talk about it, go to our LinkedIn group via this link.
Enjoy and Go Wild!
Laurel Brunner
Lees verder....
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