Anyone who wants to review the GRACoL mandate, offering print predictability from creative to press, can visit www.gracol.org. Or, instead of merely visiting their website, you could have joined print buyers, prepress and print service providers, and vendors to the industry at a recent DIA presentation hosted at Apple Canada.

The Digital Imaging Association offers a dependable and cost–effective way to stay current with the industry by employing experts in various fields to address topics of interest to the membership.

Don Hutcheson, GRACoL Chairman and G7 Inventor, took centre stage to review the GRACoL challenge. Who knew before his talk that a well–delivered presentation could make even the definition of characterization data lively? Our Vice President, Brad Wallans, was even overheard calling Don Hutcheson “Colour Super Hero” following the spirited session.

The Objective
Print buyers are looking for a better match between press and proof; and proofing systems with easy file exchange between different countries or different print methods. Printers want proofs that match the press (and each other), more consistent CMYK files separated to the same standard, faster make–readies, and generally lower production costs.

It is possible to deliver via a common solution defined by standards. Hutcheson contends that printing is no longer an art form, it’s a manufacturing process—and efficient manufacturing depends on standards.

The industry already has a production standard—ISO 12647–2. It is defined as “process control for the production of half–tone colour separations, proof and production prints.” While this standard defines paper, ink, and TVI or dot gain, it does not define appearance. So IDEAlliance set out to find the ideal solution for appearance standards, using ISO 12647–2 as a starting point.

The result was GRACoL G7, a practical calibration method based on visual metrics (density) vs. mechanical metrics (TVI or dot gain). It is a method that addresses what matters to the human eye, using density as an actual and simple reading.

The foundation of G7 is a standardized gray balance and neutral density, regardless of ink colours. The intent was to develop and promote international unified characterization data sets to promote and implement the ISO standard.

With Gray Balance at its core, the GRACoL committee set out to identify a universal neutral print density curve (NPDC), regardless of solid ink density, screening, or other variables—something that can apply to every dot shape and screen frequency.

The Benefits
For pre–press providers using GRACoL G7, there is less chance of error when making CMYK for unknown destinations because all profiles are based on the same NPDC. For the pressroom, make–ready is significantly improved. One reading confirms both ink density and gray balance.

Print buyers like it because it is easier to match a proof on press since the proofs are tailored to the press. But, cautioned Hutcheson, there are still variables such as press profiling and calibration, which add additional complexity.

With the complexity of global print manufacturing today, multi–purposing of images for a growing selection of reproduction methods, proofing consistencies, matching to proofs, and cross–media compatibility have become paramount. GRACoL G7 is a certification which prepares its subscribers to manage their operations in today’s print manufacturing marketplace.

According to Hutcheson, every proofing manufacturer is lining up to become GRACoL certified. We are coming closer to a “shared appearance,” with one common gray scale definition for all printing methods, which reduces the danger of accidental re–purposing and results in a simplified file exchange and a reduction in pre–press and print costs.

Adhering to standards and utilizing tools to support standards delivers on all fronts: print buyers gain a reliable assurance that press will match proofs, pre–press service providers no longer struggle with the dilemma of not knowing where or how their files will be used, printers are able to deliver visual appeal by running to the numbers, and vendors to the industry are faced with fewer subjective issues. Everybody wins.     

Contact Marg Macleod, Association Manager, at 416.696.0151 or marg@digitalimagingassoc.ca.

Mayday Fine Print realized that its manual estimating system wasn’t doing them much good. “We were doing a lot of jobs, but we weren’t making much profit,” says Rick Day of Mayday Fine Print of Fredericton, New Brunswick.

“We kept hearing ‘you guys are so much cheaper than anybody else.’ Eventually, we put two and two together.”

Putting “two and two together” meant taking a long, hard look at their manual estimating system and at the market rates in Fredericton for the kinds of services they provided. Two years ago, they purchased the Power Quotes estimating system from Mac Estimating, and determined their real costs. Their prices went up a little, but they mostly got more efficient at producing better quotes and tracking the progress of jobs through the shop.

Estimating software is not new; what is new is that today’s systems are driven more by print customers. Power Quotes allows print customers to send their job specifications via an Internet form or e-mail. The software captures the specifications, calculates costs according to the printer’s information, marks them up according to the printer’s wishes, and sends back a price estimate, all with minimum, if any, human intervention from the printer. The better systems use the same specifications to create an electronic job jacket or job ticket when the customer approves the quote or requests that the printer move the job from “quoting” status to production.

Estimating software such as Print Quotes, Power Quotes, Smart Quotes and The Printing Estimator also allow the printer to set up a web page with a form where potential customers can enter their job specifications; the estimating software captures the data, calculates the estimate and can either display the quotation right within the web page, or send an e-mail to the potential customer. The advantage of the latter method is that the printer then has a record of the quote requester’s e-mail address, and, if they’re smart, other contact information as well.

The main benefit to the printer of any estimating system is, of course, a reduced workload for skilled estimators, and faster quotes. Instant, online quotes allow the printer to give the potential customer accurate prices for every imaginable variation in the printing specifications — number of colours, signatures, even pages, as well as different quantities, even page sizes or formats and stocks. Customers can vary the format of their print job to their hearts’ content, without affecting the workload on the printer, until they settle on the best configuration for their needs. Instant quotes are not available from all estimating programs, but they are available with Print Quotes.

Automated estimating also frees printers from spurious, time-wasting quotes from buyers who are only looking for a comparative quote, buyers who actually have no intention of going to a new printer.

Better estimating systems tie into the overall production and management system by capturing the printing specifications and turning them into data for the workflow system. Software like Print Quotes, Smart Quotes and Power Quote feed information directly into the workflow system. When a customer accepts a quote and requests the printer to start production, the software can move the specifications from the quote into an electronic job ticket; some systems can even create job jackets. Print Quotes has extensive workflow management capabilities: it will create a job ticket, notify production people about new jobs, and track jobs through production. In addition to displaying real prices online for the customer, the web portal also allows the customer to upload files, approve proofs and track job progress. It even allows billing (using QuickBooks for the accounting procedures) and online payment.

Interestingly, there has been a direct line drawn between estimating software and profitability. “PrintImage’s [the National Association of Quick Printers] pricing book found that companies that use estimating software to create quotes average more than $475,000 more in sales than companies that generate quotes using manual systems or price-book systems,” says Bruce Moore, President of Mac Estimating, the developers of the Power Quote software. “A lot of that is because they’re able to do more business, because they can send out quotes more quickly.

“One of the biggest reasons to purchase our software is its marketing potential,” says Chris Lasso, president of Print-Quotes Software Inc. “Advertising instant on-line estimates, anytime from anywhere, creates an instant advantage over the competition and quickly helps to establish any company as a leader in today’s market. “ Lasso says that many of Print-Quotes’ customers have seen sales increase dramatically after offering automated on-line estimating.

The cost is greater than the price
Instant, automated print estimating software isn’t cheap: The purchase costs are in the thousands, depending on the number of people who will use it (called “licences” or “seats” in the business), and then there’s the cost to install it, customize it to work in the particular printing operation, and then train the estimators to use the software efficiently.

Because every print shop is different, every print estimating program has to be customized to some extent. First, there’s the exact range of services that the company provides, based largely on its investment in capital equipment: number, size and type of presses, folders, stitchers, cutters, bindery equipment, prepress equipment and more.

To make it work, the printing manager has to know the real costs of the shop and of running each piece of equipment. While this would seem to be a given for any printer with any manual or book-based estimating system, it’s true that many shops rely on “gut feel” and the “going rate” in the industry.

Even with a solid understanding of the market prices for various services and the operating costs of all the equipment, getting started with estimating software can be daunting.  “We looked into estimating software for our system, and most of them are so expensive that you really have think twice before you buy it. Will it really work well in our organization, or will we have to switch the way we work to fit the software?” wonders Neeraj Gupta, Marketing Manager with Millennium Printing of Markham, outside Toronto. “And frankly, with some systems, the estimator has to enter so many numbers to generate the ‘automatic’ quote, it’s just as fast or faster to do the estimate manually.”

Not all printers like to put out great numbers of instant quotes; many like to maintain a personal touch. And a request for a quote is a terrific opportunity to speak with a potential new customer, to impress him or her with your customer service, attention to detail and depth of technical knowledge. Instant quoting systems are far more anonymous, and can represent a certain loss of control over the procedure of quoting on potential print jobs.

In fact, there is a trade-off: instant quoting software reduces the time that printers spend producing quotes for printing jobs that probably will  never materialize, but free up the staff for more profitable work. And Rick Day points out that Mayday Fine Print has been able to secure more printing work, partly as a result of being able to produce quotes more efficiently.

Mid-size printers buy in
So, who is using off-the-shelf print estimating software and online print estimating systems? Not surprisingly, it’s the mid-size printers. The largest companies have the resources to build their own estimating software that meets their own specific needs, and, given the price, the smallest printers seem reluctant to change from manual estimating methods.

“A lot of our new customers and enquiries are people who are still using manual systems,” says Bruce Moore of Power Quote.
Canada’s biggest printers don’t offer an online estimating system. Quebecor World’s website asks visitors to fill out an online form and describe their print job, without asking for any particular specifications, even quantity or paper stock. The potential customer will receive a phone-call or e-mail in response.

Transcontinental Printing’s website doesn’t even offer an apparent method to ask for quotes on particular printing jobs; it encourages potential customers to call the appropriate Transcontinental division to enquire about services and prices.

St. Joseph’s Printing, another of Canada’s largest printers, likewise doesn’t offer instant or online quotes. The website encourages potential customers to call key managers, identified by name and full contact information, for more information.

(Of course, the biggest printers don’t sell on price: they sell a working relationship, within which the printer provides value in terms of not the cheapest printing, but the most effective.)

Companies that offer online or instant estimating features tend to be the mid-size printers. Some examples are Point One Graphics of Toronto, and trade printer The Print Machine of Burlington, Ontario. Both of these companies use PrintQuotes software, and both ask the visitor to log in with a user name and password; after that’s approved, they’re able to enter printing specifications and receive an instant quote, generated by PrintQuotes software.

“Print Quotes reduces the number of hours we spend in writing quotes,” says Dennis Low, President of Point One Graphics. “The tracking functions really make us more efficient, for a very reasonable cost.”

Power Quotes software works in a very similar way: through a printing company’s Web site, customers and potential customers enter printing specifications and see a total price at the end.

Extending quotes to ERP/ERM
“We were looking for a way to cut the length of time it took us to work on job quotes when we discovered PRINT QUOTES 3 years ago.” says Rais Khan, President of Print Machine, “We were one of the early adopters of the software. The company (Print Quote) customized it to suit our needs.”

“Our customers are able to go on-line and receive an instant quote. The customer service and sales departments can also see the information sent by the customers”.

Print Machine uses PRINT QUOTES’ ERM/ERP features to the company’s full advantage. From an estimated customer quote to a virtual order, generating a job ticket as part of the process. Moving the job from the Front Office to the Production queue, along the way updating inventory lists as paper and other supplies get used for the job. It also updates the accounting system (QuickBook) in real-time.

“Not only can our customers get their quotes on line, but they can log-in to track the progress of their job, whether it is on press or in-bindery. They now feel that they are part of the process. We are quite happy with our investment in Print Quote software.” “It has streamlined our operation more efficiently and allowed us to grow in the market-place. We are also pleased with the support we have received from the software manufacturer and would have no difficulty recommending it to other printers.”

A starting point for automated workflow
Even without all the custom programming, a good estimating system does more than just generate quotes: it can give a smaller printer a marketing edge, effectively multiplying the ability of its staff to deliver the key marketing tool of an estimate to a much wider audience. And by capturing production data in a consistent electronic format, it forms the beginning of a workflow automation system whether based on JDF or not. For many printers, the automated estimating system is the start of a journey to the leading edge of print production management.

“Our (Power Quotes) estimating system has made the estimating process six to eight times more efficient for us,” says Rick Day of Mayday Fine Print. “When I open the quote sheet, the software shows the paper stock, which press is most efficient, how many up to run it. The system really helps with organization and keeps the job history accurate, as well.”   

Last month I talked about XML and why you need to learn more about it. Recently, I discovered a practical use for XML, namely, snippets—a feature of InDesign CS2.

The InDesign Help menu briefly describes the XML snippet. The InDesign CS2 Classroom in a Book has a page on it as well. Both of the aforementioned scratch the surface of snippets, but neither really explains how powerful the XML snippet really is.

Here is Adobe’s description of snippets from their CS2 help files:

“A snippet is an XML file that is a full representation of InDesign content, including page items and any XML structure applied to those page items. A snippet lets you reuse the content, formatting, tags, and structure of a document. You can store snippets in an Object library, and place them in other documents.

Snippets are based on the InDesign Interchange file format, which is the same format that lets you open a document in a previous version of InDesign. Snippets include an .inds extension.

Do one of the following:
Using a selection tool, select one or more frames, and then choose File > Export. From the “Save As Type” (Windows) or “Format” (Mac OS) menu, choose InDesign Snippet. Type a name for the file, and then click Save.

Using a selection tool, select one or more frames, and then drag the selection to your desktop. A file is created. Rename the file, but save it with an .inds extension.

Drag an item from Structure View to your desktop. “

The above gives us a basic idea, but what does one use a snippet for?

First, we can use it to create job slugs. Set up a job slug for proofs using logos, job number, job name, page numbers, sign off info, phone numbers, etc. To make it more interesting, use XML tags to identify job name, job number, and phone numbers and create an XML structure. Then save the snippet by selecting the whole thing, then group it and drag it to the desktop. InDesign names the file with a number and .inds, so it needs to be renamed in order not to get lost in your desktop clutter.

Now, when I have a job I want to apply the slug to, I can drag the file onto a master page. Using an XML file from a job ticket or workflow system with the name and job numbers, import the XML file and all the information goes into place on the slug. Of course, you can go one step further and use hands free automation to accomplish this—just use a javascript in InDesign and XML pickup in PowerSWITCH.
The great thing about a snippet is that it remembers its position on the page and all the InDesign elements that were created in the beginning are still there: transparency, automatic page numbers, grouping, layers, XML tags, and XML structures.

When using automatic page numbers in a slug, you must remember to attach the text box to the actual page of the document or else all of your page numbers will be PB (pasteboard).

Other uses for snippets include saving InDesign–created logos using images and text. The drag and drop feature is nice when setting up books with folios and catalog footers, as they can be placed onto multiple master pages in a flash. You can set the snippet up as a spread as well, and they will snap into place in the document. They can also be altered after they are placed, as they are still complete InDesign elements and can also be brought in using the Place command.

I know I seem to go on and on about XML, both in this article and in last month’s, but XML is increasingly vital in today’s graphic arts marketplace. There are many management systems out there today that are applicable to the graphic arts industry and that allow you to pick up data about a job in XML format. There are also database systems in use that can repurpose this XML data. These simple files can inject data into your InDesign workflow using the powerful technology of XML snippets. And then you get everything in its place and the same data every time. That’s the kind of reliability that’s worth spending two columns on.    

Andrea Mahoney
TriBay Enterprise
T: 416.729.9687
andrea@tribay.ca
www.tribay.ca

As a business coach, author, and professional speaker I’m often asked, “Why is it some people do so well in life—professionally, personally and financially—and so many others seem to constantly struggle?”

It’s an important question. Based on my 30 years of working with clients from a wide variety of industries, the most practical answer I can provide is that successful people focus on the four fundamentals of Goals, Priorities, Relationships and Habits.

Fundamentals, as the name suggests, are time-tested truths that don’t erode when a new “flavor of the month” idea is launched by some self-styled management guru. These principles are thousands of years old; they’re obviously built to last. Any time one of our clients is faced with a crisis, we have always found a solution by focusing on the 4 Fundamentals.

Fundamental #1—Goals
Do you have a crystal clear picture of what you want and why you want it? Sadly, most people answer “No.” Goals provide clarity. If you don’t have  an exciting vision for your life, then you may end up regretting the life you never had, simply because you never took the time to design it.

With the number one challenge for businesspeople today being time pressure, it is also obvious that your goals should be well-balanced. Try to balance Business, Financial, Fun-Time, Health and Fitness, Relationships, Personal, and Contribution goals.

Fundamental #2 —Priorities
Or, if you prefer a catchy rhyme, focus on what you do best and let go of the rest.
In one of our coaching workshops, we have an activity called “calculating your current level of focus,” which assesses the amount of time you spend in a typical week focused on your strengths—on those activities that produce the greatest results. Too often, we spend great amounts of time on our weakest areas, rather than giving them up in order to focus on our strengths.

What are your 3 greatest strengths, the things that you do best, that give you energy, that create measurable results?

If you can’t answer that question in ten seconds flat, you need to think about why.
Most business leaders (CEOs, presidents, V.P.’s, Managers, and Supervisors) have a level of focus less than 50%. For many people it’s more like 10-20%!

In other words, people in leadership roles allow themselves to be constantly interrupted and distracted, or micro-manage such that the greater portion of their time is wasted every week. Putting out fires and reacting to other people’s emergencies is not good leadership. Focus instead on what you do best, and delegate the rest.

Fundamental #3 —Relationships
To succeed, you need other people’s help. In business we call these Core Clients—people who love your product or service so much they almost become your cheerleaders. You can have internal and external clients, depending on your role in the organization. Focusing on building strategic relationships creates great leverage.

What are the five most important relationships to cultivate in your business in order to create the best opportunity for future success?
Excellent relationships thrive when you constantly add more value and when people trust, respect and genuinely like you. You need to have integrity in your dealings and focus on helping others achieve their most important goals. Suspend your own self-interest and you will be handsomely rewarded down the road.

Sadly, we observe companies using cut-throat negotiating tactics, providing minimal training or substituting “quick fixes” for real problem solving. Well trained people are a company’s greatest asset, especially if the rewards and recognition are shared when victory is achieved.

Fundamental #4 —Successful Habits
The bottom line?  Better habits guarantee better results. And results are the name of the game, in business and in life. It’s not what you say, it’s what you DO that counts!

Do you have any bad habits? Or, more importantly, do you recognize the possible consequences of your bad habits? Not today or next week, but maybe years down the road, you could suddenly face a financial meltdown, a health crisis, or a marriage breakdown.

A lack of awareness, not paying attention to warning signals or being “too busy” to reflect are all detriments to creating successful habits.
Again, there’s good news! You can change any bad habit to a successful habit. Just creating three or four successful new habits every year can dramatically improve your business, provide financial freedom, and contribute to excellent health and long lasting relationships.     

To find out more about how you can customize the 4 Fundamentals for the specific needs of your organization, contact The Power of Focus Inc. at 877.678.0234 or 403. 295.0500. Or email Les at les.h@thepoweroffocus.ca

Hiring the right people is essential to the continued success and growth of your business, and job interviews are the best way to gain insight into candidates’ skills, strengths, and how well they will fit with your company. It is also important to realize that a job interview is a mutual learning experience. It requires both sides to share information, so that both parties have the opportunity to evaluate the suitability of the match.

As such, following are some suggestions for conducting effective interviews:

First clarify what you need
Advance preparation can dramatically improve your interview results—and ultimately your hiring decision. But preparation doesn’t mean marshalling “The 50 Most–Asked Job–Interview Questions” or other generalizations. As basic as it sounds, the key factor in preparing for the hiring interview is clearly deciding what you need.

Start by creating or reviewing a job description. Then compile a personal profile of the employee you require, including both technical and soft skill sets, ranked in order of importance.

Consider whether you are filling a new position or replacing someone. If it is an existing position, you have the advantage of history: really knowing what skills and experience candidates must have to do the job properly. Were you happy with the way the job was performed before? If so, you probably want to find someone with attributes similar to your previous employee. But if not, you may have an equally clear idea of what approaches or personalities don’t work in the job. Or you may need to change the job responsibilities—and revise the job description to incorporate these changes.

It is also important to define your corporate culture and reporting structure and what it takes to fit into both. Identify people with whom the new person will be working most closely. Consider reviewing your notes with key individuals—customers as well as staff—to ensure they agree with your requirements.

Again, the main goal is to clarify your needs. Clarity not only provides criteria for selecting candidates to interview from the application pile, but also for formulating interview questions. It also improves your focus and ability to communicate in interviews.

Formulate questions that reflect your needs
Many progressive companies favour behavioral interviewing. It works on the premise that the most accurate predictor of future performance is past performance in similar situations. Accordingly, it structures questions to determine whether the candidate has actually demonstrated the behaviors, knowledge, and skills required for the job, often beginning questions with phrases such as “Tell about a time you…” or

“Describe a situation when…”
So if you’re looking for an employee who will encourage and motivate her colleagues, you might say: “Tell me about an occasion when you took the time to share a co–worker’s achievement with others.” If you’re seeking problem–solving or time–management skills, you might ask, respectively, “In your last job, what problems did you identify and solve that had been overlooked previously?” or “How do you set priorities when scheduling your time? Give examples.” “How” questions, such as the last one, which require candidates to explain in detail how they did something, can be especially revealing, since answers of appropriate depth and knowledge are nearly impossible to fake.

It is also helpful to inquire about a candidate’s immediate and future career objectives, since you need to know how they align with what you have to offer. These are areas which PrintLink’s clients sometimes ask us to investigate on their behalf during prescreening to determine whether candidates truly meet their hiring prerequisites. Questions about why candidates want to leave their present job or what they dislike about their present company require special discretion to avoid spurring candidates into breaching confidentiality or professional courtesy. In other words, try not to put people in a position where they feel that to qualify for the new opportunity they need to criticize past employers or colleagues.

Ask each candidate the same core questions
Although good interviewers show flexibility by adjusting their responses to individual reactions, it’s still necessary to maintain enough structure and consistency that you ask each candidate the same set of core questions. It will be much easier to compare candidates later if you can measure everyone against matching criteria.

My next column will equip you with five more essentials of effective interviewing.

Victoria Gaitskell is a placement specialist with PrintLink, a professional placement firm for the graphic communications industry. T: 1.877.413.2600 E: vgaitskell@printlink.com

Lawsuit n. A machine which you go into as a pig and come out of as a sausage.”
~Ambrose Bierce

Almost everyone in business has a horror story of a lawsuit gone bad. We begin a lawsuit with the expectation of justice as the likely outcome, but all too often, we don’t get justice, we get the law. With that in mind, here’s a survival guide for successfully navigating a lawsuit.

First, understand that the law is not perfect. Nothing made by man is perfect, and the legal system is no exception. In its purest form, the legal system is comprised of rules and precedents codified over centuries, intended conceptually to apply universally; however, each case is unique, which is why we need a judge to dissect the facts and weigh the evidence. The judge is then to impartially assess the evidence within the framework of a “reasonable” interpretation of the law, and rule. It sounds simple, but it hardly ever is.

We hope for justice, but justice is the purview of a heavenly power, here on earth, the best we can expect is the law. Not only that, but the legal system is shrouded in mystery and foreign to most mortals.

You would not go into battle with an unloaded gun, so why would you even attempt to act as your own lawyer? There is a legal maxim that every do–it–yourself–er should reflect on before attempting to try his own case: a man who is is own lawyer has a fool for a client.

Unless you are content to get beat up and skinned alive, you need to hire a competent lawyer to steer you through the rules and rituals of a lawsuit and ultimately through a trial. Your decision as to your counsel will likely determine the degree of success you find in court.
It’s also important to know how to deal with your lawyer. Lawyers are typically trained to find problems, not solutions; most lawyers are also by nature confrontational, so don’t look to a litigator to mitigate. You need to tell your lawyer what you want, and within that context she can provide skillful guidance with respect to strategy and options.

If you ask a lawyer his opinion, it’s best to get comfortable and pull out your chequebook, as at hundreds of dollars per hour, you’ll be listening for a long time. It’s much less expensive to simply tell your lawyer what you want to accomplish, agree with him or her on a reasonable outcome, and plan a strategy to get there.

Most people have unrealistic expectations of the law, as if the court could somehow magically return them to their pre–lawsuit condition. Instead, the court’s job is to dispense the law, and since the law is not a time machine, the best that can usually be done is a penalty or a judgement, which in a lawsuit involves a cheque.

As in any fight, there is a winner and a loser, though it often feels like everyone ends up the loser in court. It is expensive, it is emotionally draining, it is difficult, and did I mention that it’s expensive? In a civil suit or a business disagreement, the best outcome is usually a monetary judgment. Some litigants fare a little better than others, but those “Perry Mason” moments—when the light of justice shines on the aggrieved innocent party—are few and far between. Most of the time, the parties walk out of the courtroom asking “what just happened?”

Here’s my last bit of lawsuit advice: treat every transaction as if you will have to litigate it. Write things down—a short pencil is worth more than a long memory when it comes to making a credible case. If it comes down to your word against his, you’ll all go home losers.
Next, it’s always better to be the defendant than the plaintiff. It’s cheaper to defend, it’s easier to obfuscate and buy time, and the defense is usually the one in the position of strength. Whether a physical object, money, or simply a good reputation, possession is 9/10ths of the law.
Lastly, don’t fear what you don’t know. Take a little time, do a little research, exercise your legal rights and remedies, and you’ll be well on your way to not coming out as a sausage.   

Your Wealth Warrior, Sid Karmazyn, is a Chartered Accountant, author, and speaker. Your questions and comments are welcomed. You can reach Sid directly at 905.771.3813, fax: 905.771.3810, or by email at
skca@idirect.com.

Digital proofing has reached a new level of acceptance and maturity, and service providers and customers now view an inkjet proof as the new standard. There are a number of reasons for this shift in proofing methods. The first is simply time—it takes a while for a new technology to be adopted and accepted. Secondly, and more importantly, inkjet proofing is now offering a proof that is as good or better than a traditional analog proof.

How has inkjet proofing matured?
We can attribute the maturity and subsequent industry acceptance of inkjet proofing to a number of factors. Inkjet printers have improved greatly in their ability to put ink on paper. They are now faster, offer smaller droplet sizes, have smoother blends with the use of light inks, and—for the most part—require a lot less maintenance than they used to.

I still find Epson machines a pain when it comes to clogged nozzles, as they can be very unpredictable in this area. The good news is that they are no longer the only choice. Canon has brought to market a line of inkjet printers that are better than Epson’s. I realize that the preceding sentence is a bold statement, but it is true. I have been working with Canon printers for six months and I have not had to clean the nozzles once—they just keep working and they are fast!

My concern with Epson printers is that they do not handle the problem of clogged nozzles properly. Instead of addressing the problem of a clogged nozzel, they often continue to print regardless of how many or how few nozzles are firing.

Let’s band together to eliminate banding.
If you are using an Epson Printer for proofing, you need to know how to do a simple nozzle check. On the latest X800 line of printers, the nozzle check will automatically clean the nozzles if it determines that any of them are clogged, but the nozzle check itself needs to be initiated by the user. Although it’s a pain to check and find nothing wrong, this quality control check needs to be run at the beginning of every shift!

There are two types of banding—dark and white. Dark banding is normally caused by an overlap of the printing head as it passes back and forth. This is seen at lower resolutions and when ink is laid down in both directions (bi–directional printing). For example, 720 x 720 dpi bi–directional printing on an EPSON will often produce a proof with slight dark banding in solid colours. This type of banding is often a distance of  3–5 mm apart.

White banding is the result of a clogged or misfiring nozzle. The problem gets more complicated when a light ink nozzle is clogged. It is almost impossible to see any banding when a light ink head becomes clogged, but the colours of your proof will look very different than they are intended to.

The rapid improvement in inkjet technology means that inkjet printers can now produce a proof that is equal to or better than a traditional proof, but we need to stay on top of our devices. Regular nozzle checks are essential to efficient and effective inkjet proofs.   

Angus Pady is the president of Digital Solutions. Complete colour control from desktop to press. T: 905.764.6003
E: Angus@ColourManagement.ca
www.colourmanagement.ca

PMA 07, run by the Photo Marketing Association, is the world’s largest photo imaging convention and trade show and was held in Vegas this year from March 8–11. With the latest products from more than 650 companies and over 200 educational sessions full of innovative ideas, PMA 07 was the photo imaging event of the year.

In the spirit of PMA, this month’s article features 10MP digital SLR cameras which are ideal for professional graphic applications. With a 10MP camera you can print a decent 9”x12” 300dpi image, which is suitable for magazine covers. To avoid any favoritism, this list is presented here in alphabetical order.

Canon XTi
The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi offers a combination of performance, ease of use, and value. It has a newly designed 10.1 MP Canon CMOS sensor plus a host of new features including a 2.5–inch LCD monitor, the exclusive EOS Integrated Cleaning System featuring a Self Cleaning Sensor, and Canon’s Picture Style technology, all in a lightweight, ergonomic body.

Key Features:

• 10.1 megapixel APS–C Size CMOS Sensor with Self Cleaning Sensor Unit
• Large 2.5–inch LCD monitor
• 9–Point Auto Focus System
• Fast 3 frames–per–second shooting with 27–frame burst
• DIGIC II Image Processor
• startup time of 0.2 seconds
• $899 (US) with the Canon 18–55 EF–S lens

Canon EOS–1D Mark III Digital SLR
The Canon 1D Mark III Digital SLR camera is the world’s fastest digital SLR camera and, as such, is the camera of choice for many photojournalists & sport event photographers. At 10 frames per second, the 10.1 megapixel 1D Mark III can fire huge motor–driven bursts of 110 large JPEGs or 30 RAW files because it employs the new Dual DIGIC III image processor engine, providing enough computational horsepower to do parallel processing at a rate unmatched by any other digital SLR.

Key Features:

• 10.1 megapixels featuring the EOS Integrated Cleaning System
• Large 3.0–inch LCD monitor, featuring Live View function
• High–precision Auto Focus system with 19 user–selectable AF points and 26 additional “assist points”
• Shooting up to 10 fps, with a burst rate up to 110 full–resolution JPEG images or 30 RAW images
• Superior low–light performance and faster operation
• New lighter body with enhanced weather resistance featuring a shutter that’s durability–tested to 300,000 exposures
• Dual “DIGIC III” Image Processors produce superb image quality fast
• Fully compatible with over 50 EF lenses and a wide range of EOS System accessories
• $4695 (US) for body only

Nikon D80
The new Nikon D80’s combination of high–end features and its 18–135mm DX kit lens make it a great photographic tool for the intermediate amateur photographer who can’t afford or justify the extra cost of the Nikon D200

Key Features:

• 10.2 megapixels, with self–cleaning sensor
• 2.5” LCD color monitor with 170–degree, wide–angle viewing
• 11–area AF system with Wide–area Center Segment and Auto–area AF functions
• Continuous shooting at up to 3 frames per second and up to 100 consecutive JPEG images
• 100 to 1600 (ISO equivalent)
• Instant 0.18 sec. start–up with fast 80ms shutter response
• $1299.95 (US) Packaged with 18–135mm DX Zoom Nikkor lens

Nikon D200
The Nikon D200 has more possible custom settings than the average photographer would ever need but if you have specialized photographic needs, you will enjoy the extensive settings menu and exposure flexibility available.

Key Features:

• 10.2 megapixel DX Format CCD image sensor
• 2.5–inch LCD monitor with wide angle viewing to 170 degrees
• 11–area Multi–CAM AF System with 7 Area Wide AF
• Durable magnesium alloy (Mg) body
• 5 frames per second in continuous bursts of up to 22 NEF (RAW) or 37 JPEG
• Instant power–up in just 0.15 seconds
• $1999.95 (US) Packaged with 18–70mm DX Zoom Nikkor lens2

Olympus E–410
At PMA, Olympus announced an upgraded and improved version of the E–400 digital SLR which they first revealed at Photokina. The E–410 has a 10 MP Live MOS sensor which provides it with Live View capability as well as improved high sensitivity performance. Other improvements include implementation of the TruePic III processor, better buffering of continuous frames, and shadow adjustment technology in play mode.

Key Features:

• 10 megapixel Live MOS sensor
• 2.5”/6.4cm Hyper Crystal LCD
• 3–point TTL phase difference detection
• 3 fps with up to seven images in RAW buffer
• Supersonic Wave Filter for dust protection
• Dual memory card slots (for XD Picture Card and CompactFlash)
• AF–lock functionality
• $799 (US) with 14–42mm Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens

Olympus E–510
PMA also saw Olympus debut the big brother to the E–410, the Olympus E–510 which offers the same 10–megapixel resolution and Live MOS sensor, but is slightly larger and adds sensor–shift image stabilization. In a completely new body, the E–510 looks both stylish and purposeful and features a wide range of features aimed at both the serious amateur and the semi–professional.

Key Features:

• 10 megapixel Live MOS sensor
• 2.5”/6.4cm Hyper Crystal LCD
• dedicated auto focus system offers 3 selectable AF points
• 3 fps with up to seven images in RAW buffer
• Mechanical Image Stabilization for Sharp Images
• Supersonic Wave Filter for dust protection
• AF–lock functionality
• $999 (USA) with a 14–42mm Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens

Pentax K10D
After a slow start into the digital revolution and a series of 6MP offerings, Pentax now has a serious 10MP contender. Announced on 14 September 2006, just in time for Photokina 2006, the new K10D is Pentax’s first foray into the serious–amateur digital SLR market.

Key Features:

• 10.2 effective megapixel CCD
• Large 2.5” LCD display with 140 degree viewing angle
• 11–point AF (with 9 cross–type points)
• Shake Reduction CCD–shift image stabilizer
• Two–prong dust removal system
• Dust–proof, weather–resistant body
• 9 RAW or an unlimited number of JPEGs at 3 frames/second
• $999 (US) with an 18–55 mm lens

Samsung GX–10
In September 2006, Samsung announced the launch of the 10.2 megapixel GX–10 digital SLR, the first DSLR from the company directed towards the discerning enthusiast photographer searching for comprehensive functions and ease of use.

Key features:

• 10.2 megapixel CCD sensor with Dust–free CCD dust removal system
• Brightness adjustable and wide–angle view 2.5” TFT LCD
• TTL phase–matching 11 points wide AF
• Continuous shooting of 3 pictures per second (up to memory full)
• Shake reduction with image–sensor shift mechanism
• Support high sensitivity ISO 1600
• TTL open–aperture 16 segment metering system
• $999 (US) with a Pentax DA 18–55mm zoom lens

Sony DSLR–A100
The Sony Alpha DSLR–A100 is the first digital SLR for the Japanese consumer electronics giant. If it looks like the Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D and 7D, that’s no coincidence: Sony bought KM’s camera business in 2005. The A100 shares the same basic design as the 5D and 7D, which includes the lens mount and CCD–based image stabilizer.

Key Features:

• 10.2 megapixel APS–C–sized CCD sensor
• Large 2.5–inch TFT color Clear Photo LCD Plus
• 9–point AF with Wide, Spot, and Focus Area Selection
• shoots continuously at three frames per second
• Anti–dust system automatically shakes dust off the imager
• ISO Range: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
• $999 (US) DSLR–A100K kit, which includes a 18–70mm zoom lens   

Peter Dulis
Wide Format Printing Specialist
T: 647.895.3315
E: pdulis@iprimus.ca

Canada prides itself on its diversity. Diversity has enriched our country with new cuisine, new art, new celebrations, and new perspectives on world issues. And although our diversity has brought many benefits, it has also brought many challenges. 

Communication has always been an area in which managers struggle. And as our industry continues to cultivate employee diversity, managers will be faced with even greater communication challenges The challenge is not only in the realm of verbal communications but also in actions, body language, and attitudes.

In the Past
A friend of mine once related how he had learned the language of the shop floor. When he (an MBA graduate) was recounting this achievement, he was referring to the use of slang expressions that permeated the language of the shop, not to a foreign language or languages.

He did recognize, though, that the language he used in the boardroom or with other managers would be ill– received in the shop. The illustrations and examples of the board room were not the best way to communicate with employees on the floor.

Today the need to communicate within an organization has become much more complicated. The shop and the boardroom are still two different worlds, but they are not the only worlds. Cultural differences can and do exist at all levels and in all departments of a given organization.

What’s your view of the company’s future?
Recently, a client and I posed the above question to several candidates for a management position. In a number of cases we were met with blank expressions; some candidates did not comprehend the question’s meaning.

These candidates were not illiterate individuals. They were very intelligent people, all with at least a bachelor’s degree—a number had a master’s degree. They spoke more languages than I will ever understand. However, although they were all fluent in English, they did not understand many of the nuances and innuendos of the language.

To most of them, “view” was a purely literal term. It did not represent concept or forecast or idea. Thus they met the above question with blank stares or irrelevant or inappropriate responses.

The manager of the twenty– first century must think deeply about the words and terms he/she uses. He needs to speak and understand “Globish,” since it is the lingua franca of the twenty– first century.

“Globish” was new to me when my client mentioned the word after our interviews. A quick google confirmed that the portmanteau word is a shorthand for Global English, an English that considers socio– economic, generational, and cultural differences when communicating.

The issue is not one sided
Until this point, I have spoken from the perspective of an anglophone. However, it is equally important for people from non– anglophone backgrounds to learn the nuances of the language.

An entrepreneur from a foreign country may find it difficult to understand the apparent negative reaction or lack of action on the part of his employees after he has issued a set of instructions. In the event that there is a diverse work force in the establishment, people with a similar cultural background to the boss may easily understand what is being requested and will thus appear cooperative with the right attitude. Native anglophones, however, may misunderstand the request if it is communicated in a different dialect of Globish than they are used to. Seeming stubbornness or non– cooperation is often just a misunderstanding.

Similarly, the way individuals initiate contact with one another may vary considerably from one culture to another. A normal way of addressing a manager in one culture could be seen as an insult in another.

What to do?
If one wants to successfully communicate in a Globish environment it is important to do a few things.

i)Back up verbal requests in writing.
ii)Watch for lack of understanding on people’s faces.
iii)State the same request in more than one way. (Although this tactic could be counterproductive if it causes confusion).
iv)Ask employees to give you an idea of how they plan to address the issue.
v)Learn the cultural idiosyncrasies of the persons working in your company.

All of the above suggestions will help you to become fluent in Globish—certainly an asset in today’s global marketplace.

Fred Pamenter can be reached at PPBDconsulting@aol.com

Want to increase your sales immediately? Virtually everyone wants a quick, easy way to increase sales. Fortunately, in all but a few situations, quick and easy is actually possible. The key is to sell to the right people. I don’t mean trying to connect with the key decision– maker in a particular organization or creating a list of ideal companies to contact. I’m talking about tapping into your existing customer base.

Most people in business today have probably heard about the importance of marketing and selling to existing customers. However, I’m not sure everyone fully appreciates the significance of this strategy. In fact, even though I have heard (and sometimes preached) this concept, it wasn’t until recently that I figured out the impact it can actually have on a business.

This past fall I ran a campaign promoting my new book, The Secrets of Power Selling, to my newsletter subscribers, and the response astounded me—I ended up selling a few hundred books during the 14 day campaign. As the electronic orders came in, I recognized the names of many people who had ordered a book (or books). After speaking to dozens of other people who called to place their order, I discovered that most of them had purchased a copy of my first book or another one of my products in the past. A few weeks later, many of these individuals also signed up for a tele– seminar I promoted. What an incentive to focus on existing customers!

Start by creating a database. Depending on your business, this can be relatively simple to set up, and in many cases, your company may already have a database in place. The purpose of your database is to record what each of your customers order. Tracking this information enables you to see who your best customers are and to see exactly which are your most popular products or services. This can be invaluable information when it comes time to replenish inventory or determine which services you should or should not continue providing.

You can also use this database to suggest additional products that may complement your customers’ current purchases or existing situation. Amazon does a remarkable job of tracking what their customers buy and every time someone logs onto their website, the system makes recommendations to that particular customer. Not to mention their feature of automatically suggesting other titles whenever you buy a book. It would be interesting to know how much additional revenue this practice generates for them.

Use the information you have captured every time you market new products, services, and offerings. Your goal is to market directly to people that have purchased from you in the past, because if your goods or services have met their expectations, they will likely buy from you again, and again, and again. Unfortunately, most businesses miss this opportunity. Here is an example.

I have purchased a variety of products several times from a particular retailer They have great products, but they don’t market to their existing customers except to send them a discount card from time– to– time. This company sells a consumable product and I’m sure that they could set up an internal reminder to contact their customer when that person’s supply of an item would start to run low. Dentists use this approach all the time. When a dental patient is due for an appointment, their system triggers a reminder and the office calls to set up a day and time for the next appointment.

Imagine the impact on the customer if a store or business called their customer and said something like, “We notice that it’s been a while since you’ve ordered this particular product. That means your supply of product XYZ may be running low. We have some in stock, would you like to place an order?”

Lastly, it is important to create a relationship with your existing customers. This means providing them something of value or finding unique ways of demonstrating your appreciation of their business. This helps reinforce to them the importance of continuing to do business with you.

If you’re not maintaining your client relationships, it becomes easier for a competitor to steal them away.
As a final note, I should state that this concept may not apply to you, particularly if you sell a complex and extremely expensive product/service. However, in all but a few cases, the above ideas are worth considering, because your current customers are your most certain form of revenue. And they are usually the easiest sales to make!   

© 2007 Kelley Robertson, All rights reserved. Kelley Robertson is a professional speaker and trainer on sales, negotiating, customer service, and employee motivation.  Visit www.kelleyrobertson.com. For information on his programs contact him at 905.633.7750 or Kelley@RobertsonTrainingGroup.com.

Are you an adventurous photographer? If so, why not consider capturing some of your local—or not–so–local—scenery after dark? You can get some remarkable images using only available light, and without too much difficulty either. If you use some forethought and follow a few simple rules you will amaze your friends with the images that you get.

One of the things that used to be of great importance is the speed of film that you used. Now, with digital, all you have to do is manually change the ISO speed of your camera.

If you are taking images that are lit with tungsten light, you must simply change the camera to that type of white balance, if your camera is equipped for such a change. If you are photographing a building with fluorescent lighting, the image will have a green cast unless you either put a 30 magenta filter over the lens or change the white balance to accomodate the type of light.

Another thing to take along on your photo nights is a good sturdy tripod. You will be shooting at some very low shutter speeds , so a device to keep the camera in position while the shutter is open is imperative.

If you are using a digital camera, take the scene at various exposures to see which one gives you the best image. If you don’t like it, just delete it. To check for the correct exposure, check out your camera’s histogram (if your camera shows you one). There are plenty of sites on the web that will teach you how to read an exposure histogram, if you don’t know already.

With the advent of metadata, you can look back over your photos once you’re finished your shoot and see what exposure you used for each photograph. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, metadata is an extensive list of settings that your digital camera records about each picture you take. Reading your camera manual will give you some more information on your camera’s particular metadata settings.

When taking your photographs, try to make sure that the verticals remain vertical. Nothing looks worse than a building with faulty perspective because you tilted the camera to get it all in. Back up if you have to, or use a wide–angle lens. If you’re trying your best and you still make a real mess of the verticals, there are some programs that will correct perspective, Photoshop chief among them. But it’s a lot cheaper just to get it right when you’re out shooting.

Do not worry about people walking through your image—if you use a small f–stop and a long exposure, the people will not usually register in the image. And always remember to set the camera on manual for night photography—that way you are in control of what the camera does.

And speaking of being in control, you definitely want to control bright lights, such as car headlights, coming into your picture; I carry a sheet of black cardboard in my case for such an occasion. I cover the lens with it temporarily if I see that headlights are coming into my image, as often happens when shooting street scenes. Of course, if you like the streaking effect of the headlights, feel free to just leave the cardboard in the case.

I used to use filters when shooting at night, but since digital cameras came into vogue I no longer need to. As I mentioned before, manual focus is key—otherwise the filter may react to the autofocus settings of your camera.

Another handy tool is a small flashlight to see what you are doing—particularly useful when going manual. I use a Maglite, but any small, strong flashlight will do. Make sure that the batteries are fresh before you head out!

Finally and most importantly, be aware of your surroundings when shooting at night. Your camera and equipment may look enticing to unsavoury characters, and it’s a lot harder to see what’s there and what’s missing at night.
Happy shooting!    

Alex B. Wright is a professional photographer.

Printing industry prices are decreasing at a record pace, and profit margins are heading south with them. The average printer’s profit margins decrease by 0.5% each year. There are a number of different factors which contribute to this decrease, but the question we must ask ourselves is “why are we doing this to ourselves?”  The printing industry far too often chooses to shoot itself in the foot, and we are thus primarily to blame for the mergers and bankruptcies currently plaguing our industry. In this article, I will focus on what we can do about prices—the most basic contributor to a printer’s bottom line.

Despite the statistics on prices, everyone has a preconceived conception of how prices will change over time. This perceived price is different for everyone, and vastly different between printers and clients. Many in the industry have become so hungry for work that the client’s perceived cost has become more important than the actual cost for doing a job. The mentality for many printers has become “we must give the client what he wants, or he will go elsewhere to fulfill his needs.”

Because nearly everyone has adopted this faulty mentality, the client is not wrong in thinking the same way. It is the printer who has set the precedent of “we can do anything”—the client is simply taking advantage of that offer. It only takes one printer making such an offer to set off a domino effect—soon every other printer feels compelled to follow suit in order to keep clients.

The mentality of “if you won’t do it, than I will” has gripped the industry, and the number of printers left standing is quickly dwindling. Many printers have left highly competitive markets in search of more profitable pastures. While changing focus has worked for many printers, the long term will see every market become highly competitive, as more and more plants expand their product and service offerings.
New technology has offered many ways of speeding up the printing process and increasing profits again. It has also created many new forms of competition that were not a factor ten years ago.

The client mentality is technology on the whole should allow you to create a better product, in less time, and at a lower cost. To some degree this conception is correct, but many new technologies are not incorporated for at least a decade after conception. How many times have you heard that JDF will save the industry?

Other technologies are so expensive and experimental that purchasing them right away would lead to a printer being on the “bleeding edge” rather than the “leading edge”. Technology may not be the panacea it is made out to be for the average printer.

The mentality of “I’m getting what I asked for” is another factor which leads to a discrepancy in pricing from printer to printer. Making sure your client is comparing “apples to apples” is essential in keeping your company competitive. Client specifications are often inaccurate, which can lead to inaccurate price comparisons. When coupled with printers tweaking specs to optimize their equipment, or taking liberties with stock names or weights, it’s often difficult to determine the best value—especially if the client is unfamiliar with the printing industry.

Asking to see a competitors specifications (not the price or the name) can be very helpful in discerning where the price differences are. Also, make sure that the estimator, the sales rep, the client, and all other involved parties are involved in any changes to the original specs. Miscommunication can lead to the dreaded reprint, and we all know how costly that is.

As I have already stated, we as printers often make the choices that make us unprofitable, thus, we must start taking industry-wide action to move towards profitability again. While there is no easy answer or action, I have often thought that a marketing board—a group of unbiased people that produce a floor and ceiling of acceptable prices for given jobs—may be one step in the right direction. But even the most unbiased board would have its limitations and drawbacks.     

Attempting to change a person’s perception on pricing is futile, the best you can do is to educate your clients and hope they change their perception accordingly. Regardless of what people think about prices, there are still basic costs which must be covered in order to make money. Estimating a job correctly is the foundation on which successful printers have built their businesses. The further you choose to deviate from the prices set by your own estimates, the greater the risk of your business collapsing.    

Next Month:
The Internal Price Killers.   

If you have anycomments, solutions, or general input on this or other topics, please feel free to contact Johnathon at
johnathonanderson@graphicartsmag.com.

Did you wake up this morning and get dressed in a pink shirt? If you’re a fashionable young heterosexual man these days, the answer could very well be “Yes!” Ten years ago,  you would have been laughed at—but today, pink is a perfectly acceptable colour choice for any man.
Think pink is just a fad? Even if it is, the colours in the world around us affect our moods, our desires, and our choices. In the world of graphic arts, it is important to have a solid knowledge of current colour trends. Who decided that it would be suitable for all men to wear pink? Why is brown “the new black”? And how do these trends transcend fashion to become part of our graphic world?

There are various organizations devoted entirely to colours, believe it or not. Color Marketing Group is based in the United States. Each year, their 400 members go through a series of strategic workshops and decide on colours that are in or out. I touched base with Amy Larrabee of CMG, and asked her a few questions about how colour trends happen.

It turns out that everything from lipstick shades to kitchen appliances have their colours carefully analyzed before production. Manufacturers and marketers understand that consumers are driven by colours, as well as by their shades and combinations.

Staying up–to–date on trends is important in many industries, and this is particularly true in the field of graphic design. Looking through fashion and d'cor magazines will give you a good idea of current trends, as these industries are always a little ahead of others. Whether you are designing a logo, a magazine ad, a flyer or a brochure, colour sells! It sells your graphics, and, once approved by your client, it will sell their product or service.

If your time is limited and you’re not sure where to look to learn about upcoming and current trends, here are a few hints about stylish hues for the coming months and years (colours generally have at least a season of staying power and are considered trendy for another couple of years). For example, brown has been a hot colour for about a year and will be for another year, but the current trend is to earthy, subtle browns, rather than the rich chocolates of the previous season.

Here’s what the Color Marketing Group has to say about current trends:
“Green” rules! “Going green” is both figurative and literal. Look for softer, botanical greens inspired by nature.
Blues from Nature The color of the sky or the color of water, true blues from nature will be everywhere.

New Natural Neutrals The newest neutrals, especially medium to dark browns, are soul–satisfying. Beiges, browns and tans will be more earthy and grounded—reflecting the colors of rock and stone and soil.

Rich, Ethnic Accents Lighter, neutral settings will be punctuated by warmed–up accent colors from a rich mix of countries and cultures. Deep, rich ethnic reds and warm, glowing oranges are the “punch” colors for 2007.

When it comes to actual colours, purples are coming in with a vengeance. Purple will explode in 2007, or so the colour trendsetters forecast! Red is also a big colour for 2007, largely due to the fact that it is such an important colour in North America’s growing Latin and Asian communities. In Russia, red is considered to be a neutral! Our society’s search for relaxation and serenity will also draw us to pale blues this year.

Trends are important, but when working with logos, it is important to think about the future. After all, a company logo should be around for a long time. Trends like “brown and pink together” might come and go but corporate colours such as navy blue and burgundy have a lot more staying power.

According to the Color Marketing Group, “Environmentalism is the big push this year for trends: blues, greens, and neutrals are stemming from environmental cues.” How does CMG know? They hold international conferences twice a year, which bring together over four hundred colour experts who work out the coming trends and determine colour strategies. Economy, environment, and culture all affect colour popularity. According to a representative from CMG, when the economy is lagging you see more soothing colours, when the economy is doing well, the colours are brighter.

So, next time you are working on a graphic design project, think about why you are selecting the colours you are selecting—they should reflect your style, current trends, and the image you are trying to portray.     

MPR Communication is a design and print company located in Lachine, Quebec. Jasmine Brooks is MPR’s Project Coordinator. E: jbrooks@mprcommunication.com

The federal Conservative government’s recent budget is good news for printers. The following delights, courtesy of Finance Minister

Flaherty, will be a boon to all Canadian printers if they are implemented.

A two–year writeoff period for manufacturing and processing businesses on equipment bought after March 19, 2007 and before 2009.

There’s a nice window of opportunity to quickly ease the burden of new capital investments

An increase in the capital cost allowance on manufacturing and processing buildings—it’s now 10%, up from the previous 4%

A change in the capital cost allowance on computers to 55%, up from the previous 45%

Sean Murray, the chair of the CPIA’s government affairs committee, stated that “these changes are extremely encouraging after many years of pushing for them.”

With the Bloc Quebecois supporting the budget, the above recommendations should be law very soon—as long as another election is not on the horizon.

In new news closer to home, we’re adding two new writers to our list of already popular columnists this month—Johnathon Anderson and Les Hewitt. Johnathon brings us the first of a 5–part mini series on “Killer costing” on page 30. Costing has and continues to be a large concern in the industry, with too many printers willing to work for extremely low margins, or sometimes no margin at all. Les gives sound advice about the Four Fundamentals of Success on page 62.

We hope to see many of you at the Grafik’Art trade show in Montreal in a few weeks, from Thursday April 19 to Saturday April 21. We’re at booth 524. Stop by for a visit, we’d love to see you.

As always, stay focused and stay positive.

Avanti Computer Systems, based out of Toronto, Ontario and serving the entire North American market, has over 20 years of experience in producing business management software for both commercial printers and in–plant print applications. The company was founded 23 years ago by Richard Wallin, an MIT–educated Ph.D who invented their original product. Stephen McWilliam, Patrick Bolan, and Peter Funnell purchased the company about three years ago and have since added both new modules and new customers to the organization’s strong base. I discussed Avanti—where they’ve been, where they are, and where they’re going—with Stephen and Patrick, and also gained some insight into system integration and what that means for small– to medium–sized printers in the North American market.

GAM: What led the three of you [Steve, Pat, and Peter] to purchase Avanti?

Avanti: We examined 20 different software companies when looking for one to purchase, and Avanti was by far the best. Avanti combines a broad customer base—including the UN, Harvard University and the World Bank on the in–plant side and R.R. Donnelly and Metroland on the commercial print side—a rock–solid and stable product, competent and long–serving staff, and strong relationships with partners including Xerox and Microsoft.

We also saw that the marketplace was heading towards digital—either fully digital shops or hybrid shops—and we offer both a digital and a litho estimating product as part of our fully integrated module lineup.

GAM: What are some of your proudest accomplishments since your purchase of the company?

Avanti: We’ve doubled the size of the company in the past two and a half years, mostly by expanding on the commercial print side, with a few new large in–plant customers as well. And we’ve also added eDashboards, JDF integration, Business Alerts, and a CRM module to our existing lineup of estimating, order entry, inventory, job costing, and purchasing software.
All our modules are fully integrated, and full integration is a must for true efficiency in today’s print marketplace.

GAM: How has your history and your current structure positioned you to grow?

Avanti: We have strong leanings toward web–to–print and eCommerce. On the web–to–print side, we cover a range of products and include online estimating software—we are one of the few companies in the industry with a fully integrated web–to–print product that uses the same database as your MIS. When you make a change in the pricing of a given file, everyone else in the company sees it instantly.

GAM: It seems intuitive to be fully integrated when you describe it that way, yet a lot of printers are not yet there.

Avanti: Absolutely. We pride ourselves on offering fully integrated, end–to–end solutions.

GAM: And speaking of end–to–end solutions, let’s get to the issue many printers are addressing. JDF. Depending on who you talk to, it’s the best thing since Gutenberg or the impossible dream.

Avanti: Well, the problem with JDF is that everyone’s talking about it, but not everyone’s doing it. There’s a big difference between “JDF–enabled” and JDF integration. We are actually doing JDF integration at many of our commercial and in–plant clients, and we’re doing it with a JDF framework that we built from the ground up—with about a year’s worth of development effort. It’s sophisticated, but in the end, when the customer is using it, it’s really straightforward. We have JDF integrations available for all the top vendors based on the framework that we’ve built. It would be great if all the vendors used the same model for integrating information, but they don’t. JDF for MAN Roland is different than JDF for Heidelberg.

GAM: Okay, that’s great if you have a huge budget for that type of thing, but what do you say to the small– or medium–sized printer who wants to better integrate his or her systems, or who wants to get into JDF, but isn’t sure how to proceed?

Avanti: That’s why we’ve built a framework, so we can build press, prepress, and finishing integration for any company that needs it, no matter their size or individual needs.

Smaller printers can integrate our pre–defined JDF integrations right off the shelf.

GAM: That sounds good, but what about getting it up and running? How does the small guy, who doesn’t have a dedicated IT department, implement such a change?

Avanti: Let me give you an example. Spectrum Printing in Florida has about 60 employees. We sold them our MIS software with JDF integrations into Agfa and Komori, and included in the price of the software is the installation of and training with JDF. Each integration took about 3 training days—we will analyze your given situation and determine how much time we recommend to get the software installed and get employees trained. But when we’re talking time, we’re talking days, not weeks or months—so you can realize the benefits of JDF quite quickly.

GAM: So it is possible for smaller printers to be getting into JDF without derailing the business for weeks or months. When do you see JDF becoming a prerequisite for doing business?

Avanti: The time is now, or shortly in the future. The automotive and aerospace industries are decades into computer integrated manufacturing, into integrating their business management software with their other equipment. The printing industry needs to be integrated too. JDF is about driving down costs and creating greater efficiencies, as well as allowing employees to do the jobs they were meant to do, rather than having to deal with breakpoints and inefficiencies in the printing process.

Here’s another example. A printer with 20 staff members who is fully JDF–integrated might do three million dollars worth of business per year. The same printer who is not fully JDF–integrated might require 23 staff to do the same amount of business. Now three staff members may not seem like a lot, but that can be the difference between a healthy bottom line and a company struggling to stay in business. JDF drives costs out of the manufacturing process through automation.

GAM: Okay, so I see how JDF is something that we all could use—but what about customer relations management (CRM)? What would you say to concerns that it may not be necessary, or that it may dehumanize the customer interaction process?

Avanti: CRM is a customer communications centre, not a mechanical process. There’s still the one–to–one interaction. What CRM does is simply take information from across the firm and puts it into the hands of the customer service representative so that he or she can make better decisions.

The nice thing about our CRM module is that you can look at information by individual job, rather than by company or contract. A customer is usually phoning about a specific job, and if your CRM product is only able to access contracts or companies, you don’t have the information you need at your fingertips.

And our CRM module is, of course, fully integrated—which allows it to deliver on the CRM ideal of a consistent, real–time view of everything to do with the customer, available to everyone in the organization at any time from anywhere. CRM isn’t just contact management, it’s relationship management.

GAM: Alright, it’s relationship management, but why should relationship management software be a compelling focus for printing shops?

Avanti: In one word, I would say centralization. Sales data is no longer the exclusive domain of customer service representatives and sales reps—with CRM, everyone at the company has access to the same client data on a central server. That way, if the sales rep leaves, or his laptop gets stolen, or her data is compromised, you as a company still have a fighting chance to maintain your client relationships.

GAM: I’d like to finish by talking about integration. It’s a word we hear a lot, it’s a word you’ve used a lot as we’ve discussed your product. How do you see the concept as central to printing success?

Avanti: If you step back and look at a lot of midsize shops, you see a lot of “islands of automation.” You might have your estimates in Excel, your quotes in Word, then a work order and job tracking program, a separate invoicing system...
GAM: I see what you’re saying, for sure.

Avanti: You need to install an end–to–end solution to link those islands of automation.

GAM: Sort of like an archipelago, rather than several discrete and unconnected islands.

Avanti: Exactly. That’s what integration is, in this context—taking a look at the whole process, figuring out where your breakpoints [any point in the workflow where one must re–enter data] are, and then automating those break points and creating an end–to–end workflow that integrates all processes, from the initial client contact to the product going out the door. It saves both time and money. We recommend that printers break the whole project of integration into two or three smaller phases. First get the core system up and running, and then from there build out with CRM, web–to–print, JDF, etc.

Most people are eager to learn. It’s our experience that if your managers are buying in—and they usually do, once they get the cost savings estimates—it’s easy to get the other employees on board.

GAM: Could you give an example of the cost savings of greater integration?
Avanti: Each breakpoint costs money. If you have a shop with about 400 orders per month, and 5 or 6 breakpoints (which is a conservative estimate) in their workflow, implementing end–to–end solutions gives you about $190 000 in yearly savings. So that’s a ROI in under a year, and then you’re going to keep saving that money year after year.

Integration in the print workflow is about automating the unbillable—it makes management happy because they’re saving money, and it makes employees happy because they don’t have to do the same repetitive data entry tasks over and over again—they’re freed up to do the job they signed up for.

GAM: Thanks for talking to us today. I’m sure many of the concepts we discussed are really going to resonate with our readers. In closing, how would you summarize your corporate mission? What steps are you taking to move forward and how will those steps help printers to better integrate their workflow?

Avanti: We are looking forward to additional acquisitions in order to expand our technological and customer base. These will fit in well with our mission statement, which is to help our customers streamline their workflow and increase their revenue by implementing Print MIS software and web–to–print products. We’re not looking just to train a customer, we’re looking to understand their business workflow and help them streamline their processes.   

Catherine welcomes comments at
catherine@graphicartsmag.com.