Vandalia, OH - June 3, 2003 - Attendees of the Association of Esko-Graphics Users Group (AEG) annual meeting, held May 1-3 in St. Louis, left with substantial appreciation of Esko-Graphics’ prepress applications and a greater knowledge of current prepress technologies. The sessions, which included a full agenda of prepress updates, provided a helpful platform for users to learn how to maximize their investment in their Esko-Graphics solutions to solve prepress challenges. "The meeting this year was very informative," comments Mark Kyner, systems manager at Carey Color. "The users came with a lot of good information to share and good questions for Esko-Graphics product management. It is such a rich learning environment when you can sit with other users and have your direct questions answered by Esko-Graphics product and research and development staff." The group was greeted by Kim Graven-Nielsen, CEO of Esko-Graphics. As is the custom, he provided the audience a first-hand vision of future product development at the company. "The sense of direction from Esko-Graphics Senior Management, along with the new products update is always enlightening. It shows a strong foundation and reinforces the decision we made to go with Esko-Graphics," remarks Phil Kispert, art director at Southern Atlantic Label Company. In particular, the series of Adobe product and technology presentations met with considerable interest, along with the synergy with Esko-Graphics DeskPack, released within the past year. "One of the highlights for me was the DeskPack mini session. This session offered users an in-depth hands-on experience with the product managers right at your side. Our company hasn't had a chance to spend the time to review DeskPack yet. This experience will be helpful when I explain the merits of the software to my company," notes Randy Keyser, Systems & Image Assembly Manager at Beck Graphics Solutions. Beyond Adobe Illustrator, Acrobat and Esko-Graphics DeskPack, the full agenda covered a wide range of prepress topics and applications, including automated workflow, color theory, PackEdge 3.0, Internet proofing tools, and alternative color. "The DeskPack mini-session allowed me to discover tools such as such as checkX (quality control, preflighting tools for an Illustrator workflow) and boostX (high-end production tools for the desktop). This type of interactive learning made the meeting time well spent. All of us at our facility can benefit from these tools," says Jeff Dafoe, Mac operator at Triad Graphics Communications. Many sessions were aimed at helping users become more effective with their software solutions. In addition to the hands-on demo lab, where users could have questions answered by product developers and professional service consultants, an extremely popular session was 'Tips and Tricks', where users shared some of their product pointers with others. "I'm a relatively new user. Any advice helps me immensely. I found it stimulating being around experienced users and learning shortcuts about how and what you can do with Esko-Graphics tools," comments Ken England, Prepress Supervisor at Huston Patterson Printers. Jean Brown, Plant Manager of the Doyle Group in Oakland, CA, summarizes the meeting well. "It was beneficial interfacing with the developers. Building relationships with those who create the programs for new products is invaluable. Their discussions were very direct. They obviously value our (the users) input. It was also helpful talking with peers and learning about their innovative solutions. It's a testament to Esko-Graphics’ open technologies that they allowed users to demonstrate how they have implemented solutions incorporating some third-party products. As a result of this meeting I have a good sense of where the company is headed. In fact, a recent meeting at our offices with an Esko-Graphics sales rep to expand our presence with Esko-Graphics technologies was due to the comfort I felt from the AEG meeting. The Doyle Group feels that Esko-Graphics is committed to the flexo industry more than any other manufacturer in packaging prepress."