The Grafik'Art Show April 14–16 at Place Bonaventure in Montreal attracted about 6,000 visitors who walked its 120,000 square feet of floor space exploring 87 booths – compared to 82 exhibitors in 2009. There was everything from small specialty printers to large press and pre-press equipment to finishing to sales and marketing solutions. However, as with all similar shows I've attended, I was impressed not only with the high level of technology, but even more so with seeing long-established companies survive and thrive in this current troubled ecomomy.
Most ink technologies have remained largely unmodified in the recent decades. Not much has changed in the many years of applying ink on paper or film or plastic. What's new and different, however, is conductive ink technology. By taking existing printing equipment and coupling it with the desire to solve a unique problem, conductive ink is changing the traditional role of printing and expanding its applications. Conductive ink is, therefore, an example of an ink technology that has broadened the scope of printing, paving the way for the future of what it means to "print."
Paper type is an essential factor for any type of job being printed. However, its properties and characteristics are what determine the capabilities and limitations it has in order for it to be applicable for the appropriate job. Folding and paper strength are very important indications of the durability of archival papers.
Richard Armstrong, president of Heidelberg Canada, gives us some valuable insights in this month's For The Record.
What do you view as your strengths and where do you feel you need to improve?
Our broad product range of equipment and consumables allows us to bundle solutions. This is a strategic advantage for Heidelberg and can be a competitive advantage for our customers.
There is a fine line between good design and great design. There is also a fine line between the design work you choose to complete yourself and the design work you hire a professional to conceptualize and create for you. Below you will find numerous resources to produce a design yourself, as well as the resources available to hire the right designer.
Thinking about packaging, innovative constructions and extravagant designs come to mind that beg for undivided attention and create a sphere of desire. Unfortunately, creating only this kind of packaging is certainly not the prevailing practice. There are many more dimensions to packaging and in a daily routine, the performance of packaging is measured with respect to the demands in various areas. Packaging stands for a menagerie of materials, production technologies, printing techniques and advanced manufacturing. It needs to satisfy diverse clients and consumers.
A magazine like ours has the opportunity to contribute to the industry in a variety of interesting ways by serving multiple purposes. The most intuitive of them is that we make sure you know what is happening in the industry. Our readers play an important part in this process. You let us know when something important to you is going to happen, and we happily share it with a broader net of your friends and colleagues. Another objective is to educate. I hope that as you've been reading the new columns in GAM, you have been picking up little fun snippets of information. This month, for example, you can discover (or re-discover) the folding strength of paper. We also provide you with resources to continue to learn. Every month columnist Diana Brown, offers up a great list of reads on the topic at hand—this month's topic being design. My most favourite of all the purposes of our magazine, however, is the opportunity to share with you what is new and exciting.
I am proud to announce that this month we're launching our first-ever industry event. We're thinking of naming it, appropriately, "Survivor Printers, 2011: Valuable Strategies for Printers from Those who Continue to Prosper." The title says it all. However, before we begin planning and production, we want to know what YOU want. It will likely be in September in Toronto. So please, tell us what YOU think and what types of events YOU feel the industry needs that can truly help ALL OF US move forward. The content and structure of this event will reflect your much-appreciated feedback. Please contact us and tell us what the industry needs right now and how these kinds of events can actually help us move forward. For more information, see our People and Events feature on page 14.
UV COATING
UV coating is a process whereby a polymer resin changes from a liquid to a solid with the help of an ultraviolet light source. UV coating can be a direct replacement for lamination and provides a protective covering that adds value to any document, increasing the vibrancy and richness of its colours (as well as protection from scratching and fingerprints). UV coating may be applied as a gloss, semi-gloss, matte, high-gloss, or in some cases with a special roller as a textured finish to many common applications – such as books covers, brochures, menus, postcards and calendars.