As many of you who are kind enough to read my articles know, I normally write on subjects relating to workflow and technical prepress. I thought as a break I’d write this month on something that is very near and dear to my heart: our community of printers, publishers, agencies and service providers and their importance as a cohesive group for the development of new technologies and our collective success.

Before I go any further I want to apologize to you all for my absence over the past few months. I have been in planning for and have just assisted in the implementation of a business plan that has turned our Periodicals group at Wizards of the Coast into its own company... Paizo Publishing, LLC. This has taken up a great deal of time and resources, with little left for other pursuits. Please let me assure you that I’m back and will have future wild and woolly tales of startup ventures and what is required if you were of the mindset to begin one! My special thanks to Randy for his patience and support during this time. Thank you my friend!

OK, back to business. When I first entered the printing industry in the dawning of the desktop publishing revolution I had no idea what I was in for. I had come from the aerospace community in Southern California and was blazing out on a new career. What first struck me was the tradition associated with print and the sense of a real industry wide community. This could not have been better portrayed than by a gentleman who allowed me to apprentice at his small prepress service bureau, effectively teaching me the basics that I use to this day (thank you Rennie).

I found help wherever I turned. I received support and knowledge from my ex wife (thank you Cathy) who was already a print veteran. I got sound advice and support from her coworkers who all had deep roots in print and typography. I was given opportunities by companies and tried to return support in kind by educating myself as much as possible and simply striving for perfection, and in doing so achieving consistent excellence for those companies. What I found was a community of seasoned professionals who were eager to do whatever they could do to help me be as successful as I wanted to be. I strive to live up to their lofty standards to this very day.

Don’t be a "Lone Ranger".

To me, the practical aspect of establishing community ties is profit for one’s company and personal professional success (on the personal side it’s lending a helping hand to others). Some production folks and entire companies I know of operate as "Lone Rangers". They come to work, do their thing, produce their products, and quite frankly do little to improve their operation or themselves professionally. In my humble opinion... "bad idea".

Two things happen when we fail to innovate and improve through learning... individually we do not advance professionally and as a company you begin to stagnate, or worse yet, make poor business decisions that can cause you to die on the vine - along with your employees.

What are our alternatives to the "Lone Ranger" syndrome?

Individuals and companies can strive for excellence in many different ways and at many different levels starting with the basics. The Internet has a vast wealth of information, thanks to sites like WhatTheyThink.com and others. Spending minimal time each day pursuing such sites can advance not only one’s knowledge of industry specifics, but can keep one abreast of industry advances and trends. I personally have found online forums like PrintPlanet.com of great help. I feel that our success at Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and our PDF/X1a workflow was greatly enhanced by input from the members of the PrintPlanet.com forums.

Professional publications are available both by paid and free subscription. I subscribe to every relevant professional publication I can. I make them available to my staff for their review and constantly encourage them to learn as much as possible from these valuable resources. Books published by organizations like GATF can provide valuable reference material when needed, and believe me, you will eventually need it.

Last, but certainly not least, are our professional organizations. There are too many to even list in this short space, but needless to say that direct involvement with organizations like GATF, DDAP, Idealliance, and the like, pay off in dividends that not only assist you and your company, but our industry as a whole. As mentioned, the online forums were a great resource in developing our PDF/X1a workflow, but much credit has to go to the combined efforts of many DDAP members and their willingness to share information and collectively learn by trial and error... it was a great ride!

In summary, getting you and your company directly involved provides a vehicle for open exchange of knowledge and ideas. It enables all of us to tap into a great wealth of collective knowledge and, in many ways, motivates us to be innovators and not simply individuals and companies that settle for the status quo.

If you and your company don’t already benefit from these wonderful resources do yourselves a favor and do! As I like to say, "Relying on on the job training alone does nothing but recycle old ideas." Lower manufacturing costs can only be achieved through creative innovation and a healthy injection of new ideas. In short, if your company had the skill sets necessary to implement cost saving measures without outside help/education, you would have probably already done so. There’s plenty of assistance out there. One only needs to take the steps necessary to truly be an active part of our wonderful industry!

Until next time my best to you all!