NEW YORK -- February 20, 2003 -- According to a TrendWatch Graphic Arts special report released today, the demand for high-quality (suggesting film based or digital halftone) color proofs is down throughout the graphic communications industry. As noted in the report, several factors seem to be boosting this trend, most notably technological advancements in back-end printing technologies, an increase of alternative media outlets, such as the web, and an overall growing acceptance of lower quality proofs. And of course digital printing, where the file is printed directly to the output printer, also decreases the demand for high-end color proofs. The TrendWatch Graphic Arts "Proofing: The Customer is Always Right" report is a perspective on the past, present, and future of digital and analog proofing for print, Web, and beyond. The report is now available for online purchase at the TWGA eStore in PDF format. For more information, go to the TWGA website (www.trendwatchgraphicarts.com). Researcher's Quote... "Traditionally, high-quality proofs have been the evidence the print clients used to ensure their jobs were going to be produced correctly," notes Vince Naselli, Director, TrendWatch Graphic Arts. "A high-quality color proof would indicate that the color, layout and text were properly being reproduced before the job reached the printing press, where edits and alterations are expensive to make. According to this recent research, print buyers are becoming increasingly more confident with lower-quality, and lower costing, proofs, such as PDFs. In fact, the fastest growing proofing methods for design and production firms, publishers, and print and prepress businesses is PDF/QuarkXPress files sent by e-mail, followed by desktop laser and inkjet prints. Clearly, print buyers have far greater trust in today's technology." According to the Report... -- The single-sheet proof (i.e. Matchprint) is still the number one type of proof that printers use with their clients, but digital halftone proofing is tied at 25% with PDF/QuarkXPress files at number two; -- Among commercial printers, 22% of those who have a wide-format printer use wide-format output as proofs; 78% also sell it as actual wide-format output; -- 60% of corporate design departments, who are PDF users, are challenged by "color proofing"; -- Magazine publishers are most challenged by color proofing (37%); Catalog publishers are the least challenged by color proofing (31%); Methodology... The foundation of this report is based upon data compiled from TrendWatch Graphic Arts' own proprietary historical databases (for creative professionals and printers) as well as the TWGA Design & Production 14, Publishing 14, Internet Design & Development 6, and Printing 16 survey reports. Additional supporting data was extracted from publications issued by NAPL and the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF). Information was also gleaned from various industry sources, including industry trade magazines as well as consultant expertise. Availability... The 166-page TWGA "Proofing: The Customer is Always Right" report is available for purchase by visiting the secure TrendWatch Graphic Arts eStore online at www.trendwatchgraphicarts.com or by phone at 866-873-6310. The price for the report is $1595. TrendWatch Graphic Arts eStore customers can download this report in PDF Acrobat format immediately after purchase.