In the printing industry, know-how is wherever you can find it—and everywhere you look. But, there are no think tanks or data banks where all of it is accumulated, just endless silos of information that somehow add up to the body of knowledge that underlies all forms of graphic production.

It would all be a good deal more mind-boggling than it is if it weren’t for the closest things that the industry has to “brain trusts”: a pair of trade associations that have taken upon themselves the daunting task of curating the industry’s practical intellectual capital. They’re small but highly capable groups with direct connections to evolving technology trends that define and sometimes transform the ways the industry gets its printing done.

One is the custodian of the industry’s most important standards and specifications. The other is a scholarly network of experts and professionals dedicated to advancing the science of printing on many fronts. Neither group knows or claims to know everything, but both have earned secure reputations as go-to authorities in the realms of printing knowledge where they specialize.