New York, NY; June 28, 2005 – The where-to-go, what-to-do weekly debuted in the Windy City earlier this year, packed with entertainment information and geared to help Chicago’s nearly 3 million residents make their plans week in and week out. Time Out Chicago publishes weekly, hitting the newsstands on Thursdays and making for a hectic production schedule. Like many weekly publications, Time Out has very tight schedules – the advertising sales team wants the maximum amount of time to sell ad space and the editorial team wants the maximum amount of time to write the most current reviews. That means that the pressure on the production and art teams is intense. To meet the publication’s tight deadlines and minimize the production cycle, the staff has turned to Integrated Color Solutions (ICS) and Remote Director, the company’s monitor-based proofing system. “We don’t have the luxury of being able to ship color proofs to our printer,” says Cheryl Peters, Production Director for Time Out Chicago. “That’s one reason we use Remote Director.” With this proofing system, users are able to view the same artwork, add comments about color as well as content and build a complete record of the entire job from start to finish, all with the confidence of reliable and consistent color. “Remote Director allows us the ability to review rastered proofs and approve files electronically,” Peters says. At Time Out Chicago, time is not only important, it’s crucial. Producing a full-size arts and entertainment magazine requires tight deadlines and a tighter schedule. “We start closing 85% of each issue on Friday, with our materials delivering to the printer on Friday,” Peters explains. “We’re literally on press Saturday in most cases. With the balance of the magazine closing Monday evening, we are on press hours after pages are approved.” Time Out Chicago uses Remote Director as an internal proof for all of its images, for color-accurate proofing, eliminating all of the magazine’s hard proofing. Time Out transfers files via FTP to Quebecor World, which is tightly linked into its workflow. The files are processed and Time Out can see proofs in Remote Director in a matter of minutes. Additionally, the Time Out staff is more productive in color-correcting images, due to seeing a color-accurate proof almost instantly. Peters estimates that Time Out Chicago uses approximately 1900 proofs per month, with approximately 575 of those being with the magazine’s printer. With the overnight delivery costs associated with that number of files going to and from the printer, the expense savings is obvious. “We are excited to see Time Out Chicago implement Remote Director and enjoy both savings and reduced cycle time,” says John Sweeney, ICS vice president, sales and marketing. “The opportunity for publisher and printer to collaborate is key to a color-managed digital workflow.” In addition to the savings of time and money, Peters says that Remote Director also offers excellent color. “It allows us to apply ICC profiles specifically for the press and paper, so the color is very accurate,” she adds. Because of the different hues of pigments, dyes and tones have been eliminated, Peters says Remote Director is more color-accurate that traditional analog proofing solutions. She and her team are able to simulate printing conditional with the ICC profiles and can color-correct based on the stock they’ll actually be using. “We’re able to achieve great color with Remote Director.” “I’m such an advocate of this technology,” Peters concludes. “And it’s an excellent fit for our operation.”