Printing Industry Commentary & Analysis

Articles by Shelby Sapusek and Jim Raffel

Shelby Sapusek is a Certified Digital Color Instructor and loves to help brands, marketers and printing companies excel at using color. Jim Raffel is an industry old-timer with a ton of print management, process control and color management experience.

Displaying 1-16 of 16 articles

Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek Geek Out Over the ISA Sign Expo

Published June 20, 2022

Resident Print Geeks Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek recap some of the technology and product announcements that caught their eyes at the recent International Sign Association (ISA) Sign Expo.

Shelby Sapusek Geeks Out with Greg Imhoff

Published June 14, 2022

Resident Print Geek Shelby Sapusek talks with Dreamscape’s Greg Imhoff. Dreamscape is a producer of digitally printed wall décor, and now has 32+ unique, texturized, colored, printable wallcoverings. Dreamscape puts a lot of effort into quality control and especially color management, performing spectral analysis throughout the production process.

Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek Talk About Print Geeks

Published June 13, 2022

Print Geeks is a dedicated section on WhatTheyThink that takes a deep dive into the more technical and—“geeky”—aspects of color management and color education, offering feature articles and video interviews curated by Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek. Check it out at whattheythink.com/printgeeks.

Geeking Out with RIT’s Bruce Myers and PUA’s Bill Pope

Published April 19, 2022

Resident Print Geeks Jim and Shelby spent some time talking with Bruce Myers of RIT and Bill Pope of PRINTING United Alliance about changes to the printing and packaging programs at RIT. We also found out how Bruce geeks out—and it’s all about color!

Geeking Out About UV Inkjet Technology with Gabriel Conti

Published March 29, 2022

Resident Print Geeks Jim and Shelby sat down with Gabriel Conti, CEO of Kover, to discuss many aspects of UV inkjet technology including the importance of having highly trained and educated machine operators.

MA^EN Studio's Myrna Gutierrez Geeks Out Over Textile Design

Published March 14, 2022

In the latest edition of the Print Geeks interview series, Jim and Shelby have a conversation with Myrna Gutierrez in which they discuss what goes into textile design projects. One of the best takeaways was to go walk the aisles of Home Depot looking for things to print on.

Dan Uress and Scott Adams Geek Out Over Mobile Color Solutions

Published March 3, 2022

In the latest edition of the Print Geeks interview series, Jim and Shelby have a conversation about mobile color measurement and verification solutions with Dan Uress of MeasureColor and Scott Adams of JM Fry Printing Inks. This discussion explores the trend toward mobile-first in the color measurement and verification space.

Using Virtual Design with Kristen Dettoni

Published February 21, 2022

In the latest episode of the Print Geeks interview series, Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek talk to DesignPoolPatterns.com's Kristen Dettoni about the advantages of having ready-made vector art designs for the commercial interior design space.

Matthew Sheridan Geeks Out Over New Color Measurement Instrument Technology

Published February 17, 2022

In the latest installment of the Print Geeks Interview Series, resident Print Geeks Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek talked with Matthew Sheridan, Founder and CEO of Nix Sensors, about how portable battery-powered, Bluetooth-enabled spectrophotometers are changing the landscape of color measurement in a fairly disruptive way.

Jim Raffel Geeks Out with X-Rite’s Ray Cheydleur

Published December 14, 2021

In the latest installment of the Print Geeks Interview Series, Resident Print Geek Jim Raffel talks to Ray Cheydleur of X-Rite about what has been happening in color standards and instrumentation in 2021 and what to look for in 2022 as we head toward the upcoming PRINTING United Alliance Color22 conference, to be held in La Jolla, Calif., January 22–25

Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek Geek Out with Dan Gillespie

Published October 25, 2021

In the latest installment of the Print Geeks Interview Series, Resident Print Geeks Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek talk to Dan Gillespie of Alder Color Solutions about the importance of education in the graphic arts, and a growing dearth of experienced graphic arts employees.

Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek Geek Out with Bill Pope

Published October 5, 2021

In the latest installment of the Print Geeks Interview Series, Resident Print Geeks Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek talk to Bill Pope of PRINTING United about the importance of education in the graphic arts.

Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek Geek Out with Marty Davis

Published July 27, 2021

In the latest installment of the Print Geeks Interview Series, Resident Print Geeks Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek talk to Marty Davis, President of Alder Color Solutions, about how “color management” should really be “color IT.” It’s not just being able to hit a brand or PMS color, but how fast can you get to color? Are you wasting materials and time getting to color? Are you reworking jobs?

Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek Geek Out with Color-Logic’s Mark Geeves

Published July 13, 2021

In the latest installment of the Print Geeks Interview Series, Resident Print Geeks Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek talk to Mark Geeves, co-founder and director of sales and marketing for Color-Logic, about the importance of education and training in the graphic arts and printing industries, as well as how to bring new people into the industry.

Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek Geek Out with PUA’s Ray Weiss

Published July 1, 2021

In the first installment of the new Print Geeks Interview Series, Resident Print Geeks Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek talk to Ray Weiss, Director of Digital Print Programs for PRINTING United Alliance, about the importance of education and training in the graphic arts and printing industries.

The Print Geeks: Color Control 101

Published June 23, 2021

Highlights of a recent Print Geeks webinar in which resident geeks Jim Raffel and Shelby Sapusek of ColorCasters were joined by contributor Dan Gillespie of Alder Color Solutions to discuss five common areas where color management fails in the world of inkjet printing.