Jim Dittmer was fortunate to have started his career in the color prepress business in 1977, well before the advent of digital imaging. He says he was also fortunate to work with the first Scitex system in the Pacific Northwest, the first versions of Quark and Photoshop, and scanners ranging from early analog types to the latest all digital input stations. Jim’s training and apprenticeship work with the classically trained dot etchers and color camera craftspeople had the greatest beneficial effect on his career and business. Having the time to learn from professionals with decades of practical experience, is an advantage that's almost impossible to duplicate in today’s world.

Portland based JDA Creative Color is like the scanning department of a good tradeshop. They specialize in scanning (employing a variety of drum and CCD based scanners), digital manipulation (retouching, color correction, and compositing), and digital output (ICC managed proofing, Wide Format, and Fine Art printing).

SCANNERS
Heidelberg Tango drum scanner
Imacon Flextight Precision II
Pixelcraft 8200

PRINTERS
Epson 9000
Epson 7500

COMPUTERS
Many Macs and a PC

Jim, give us an overview of JDA Creative Color.

Our goal is to achieve steady, sustainable growth attained by focusing on creating unmatched value of product, price, and service. We have a small staff, low overhead, fast turnaround and moderate volume.

What are your plans for beefing up this year?

We began investing in digital output for proofing about 4 years ago. Since then we've added Wide Format capabilities and, most recently, Fine Art/Gicleé services. They have done well and we plan to promote them heavily this year. We intend to add staff in both customer service and production this year. We will solidify our digital output department with directed promotion and new equipment

With the wide format ability, are you using local suppliers for the equipment and consumables?

Because of our heavy focus on scanning, we really use very few consumables. The exception being our wide format and art print operations, where we use the Internet to search out the best deals and service. We have consequently developed close relationships with several far flung suppliers - one in San Diego another in Miami. Our hardware vendors tend to be people we know personally and we are very loyal to. Some are local others in the greater Pacific Northwest region.

Do you think print advertising will ever be replaced by other mediums?

I believe we will see a return to print advertising and content distribution over the next few years. Although the WWW has some exciting attributes, it also has some painful problems that are inherent in it's structure. We are beginning to see the failure of Internet advertising, the demise of highly touted clicks for bricks retailers, and the reluctance of investors to speculate in the digital realm.

The e-print space has seen it’s turmoil. What are your thoughts in this area and have you used any of these suppliers?

What an interesting question. It actually illustrates the problems of the "e-conomy" perfectly. What exactly is the ePrint space? A search of "ePrint" on your website returns no matches! A wider search results in hits ranging from digital art prints to an online archive of physics and math articles. I presume you mean print brokerage/auction services that are meant to bring print buyers and providers together. We'd been listed with PrintBid.com (ceased trading) and never received a single qualified lead. Our profile was quite specific that we are a high end prepress supplier specializing in scanning, digital manipulation, digital proofing, and fine art Gicleé printing and yet the typical request came for a bid on 10,000 business cards!

How is a print vendor supposed to know what is right for them in this area?

Every company needs to have a person who asks these two questions:

1) I know we can, but should we?

2) What is the problem for which this is the best solution? It's obvious that many iEnterprises don't have that person. In what way do Internet collaboration schemes improve on person to person communication? How does filtering a project through an uninvolved third party add clarity? Am I really better off with this than an FTP site, email, and a telephone? Finally, how many projects are so far flung and large, that I would need this service? So far, none. Frankly, I suspect that these service based companies will have evaporated long before we need them.

What kind of proofing equipment do you have?

We use digital proofing exclusively, currently featuring an Epson 9000 with an Onyx rip and our own custom ICC profiles.

Many print buyers select vendors based on price or equipment list - How important is it for a buyer to work with a supplier that also brings deep technical knowledge?

Choose a supplier who can and will answer your technical questions. As our industry becomes more technical and shifts the expectation of expertise earlier in the production process, you need a reliable source of information. In the past we had apprenticeships to pass knowledge on, well defined job parameters, and decades to practice and hone your skills and craft. Today we expect the designer just coming out of art school to be proficient in digital retouching, page layout, scanning, typesetting, and of course, design. This is, at best, unrealistic and having a person you can call for help is essential.

Choose a supplier who can help you find other suppliers. A good prepress supplier will know several different press houses and may have a completely different take on their service and capabilities.

Choose a supplier who works with companies like yours. If you specialize in smaller projects, work with suppliers who are comfortable working on those projects. Consider picking the smallest, competent supplier available! Your work will represent a larger proportion of his income and will probably result in better service and give you better pricing leverage.

Once you find a supplier you like to work with, stay with them. Get to know them, let them get to know you. Most suppliers are competitive in there pricing. As a supplier, what we value most in a client is loyalty and we repay loyalty that with special service. Anyone will treat you well when you give them lots of time, easy work, and big budgets. The test comes with the challenging job, tight budget, and even tighter deadline. People who know, like, and trust you will make it work for you.

Are you a member of PIA or NAPL?

We aren't currently members of any. In all honesty, I'd rather be a member of my client's industry associations than my own. Knowing my clients problems so I can help solve them is much more important than the problems of giant printing conglomerates.