PRINT GEEKS
The WhatTheyThink Print Geeks section focuses on the inner-workings of the processes and technology used to create print in today’s ever-changing industry. Thought leadership and educational content focuses on print production workflow, color management and process control. Print Geeks is a place where ideas on technical and operational process concepts are presented, exchanged, and debated. ••••
The Print Geeks: Color Control 101
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. Read More
Where Design Color and Textile Printing Interconnect, the Workflow Must Be Digital
As digital workflow increasingly makes its way into the textiles & apparel supply chain, how do you simplify the complex process that carries a creative piece of artwork through print production? That’s the question that Debbie McKeegan, textiles expert and WhatTheyThink contributor, addresses in this article. Read More
The Two Approaches to Prepress that Could Have an Impact on Your Bottom Line
The time it takes to prepare a job for digital print depends on many variables: the type of application, job complexity, number of pages, quality standards, and of course, the type of systems you have in place to automate and enable all of these. This article, sponsored by HP and written by HP Indigo's “Workflow Chef” Gershon Alon, looks at prepress and what it means for your bottom line. Read More
Association Insights—Getting to Know the Ghent Workgroup
The Ghent Workgroup (GWG) is an international organization made up of graphic arts experts, users, hardware and software vendors as well as educational members building best practices for print and packaging workflows. David Zwang highlights the accomplishments the organization has achieved over the past 20 years, expanding beyond its initial goals. Read More
Show Me the Money: Making Print Secure
Printing is a valuable and versatile platform that provides methods of communication, identification, even interaction. However, what happens when you need your printing secure or validated? David Zwang looks at today’s options. Read More
Can Measuring OEE Improve Your Productivity?
It seems like everyone is talking about “OEE” these days. This article, sponsored by HP and written by HP Indigo's "Workflow Chef" Gershon Alon, explains how OEE is a standard way to measure the “overall equipment effectiveness” of a manufacturing process—in this case, the printing process. Read More
Automation for the Win!
Automation is the next step in a successful future. It enables print service providers to tackle a growing number of print orders with the greatest efficiency and accuracy. Beyond having financial and practical benefits, it can be yet another differentiator that helps organizations stand apart from their competitors. This article discusses the most common benefits of automation and offers insights into how to overcome the challenges associated with implementing it. Read More
APTech Brings Research, Standards and Education to 2021
Association for PRINT Technologies (APTech) President Thayer Long details APTech’s latest developments, and discusses the programs, events, and other services the association has planned for 2021. Read More
Prepress Automation Made Easy
If you have taken the first steps to automating your workflow, you will have seen significant benefits from software you had likely already invested in. In this article, sponsored by EFI and the second in a series, explores how to take your workflow automation to the next level by examining your prepress operation to uncover bottlenecks that require extra labor and slow the production process. Read More
Taking Color Management to the Next Dimension
Color Management is the critical part of any reproduction process, especially as it relates to brand identity. We have good tools today, but as print applications expand beyond conventional media—for example, to packaging and industrial applications—we are starting to outgrow them. Read More
Video
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? Watch Video
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. Watch Video
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. Watch Video
Color Calibration on the HP Indigo 100K Digital Press
Published: May 12, 2021
Basil Verdene, Color Group Manager for HP Indigo, talks about the advanced color management capabilities of the HP Indigo 100K Digital Press, including its ability to manage color while printing. Learn more about color management on the HP Indigo 100K in this video sponsored by HP Indigo. Watch Video
Frank’s “A Tale of Two Types”
Published: February 19, 2021
Frank tells a tale of two types: the sans serif font called Arial (let’s be honest, Helvetica, really) and the serif font called Times (New) Roman. It is said that Times will cut your ink use when printing. Frank, of course, investigates further, and what follows is a twisting tale of mistaken point sizes and shady serifs. Watch Video
Global Graphics Goes Full Speed Ahead with New Guide to Making Variable-Data PDFs
Published: June 1, 2020
Martin Bailey, CTO of Global Graphics Software, talks with David Zwang about “Full Speed Ahead,” a new guide that helps people make PDF files for variable-data printing more efficiently, especially as VDP is taking off in new markets and applications, such as labels and packaging. Watch Video
Resident Print Geeks
Shelby Sapusek
Shelby is a Certified Digital Color Instructor and loves to help brands, marketers and printing companies excel at using color.
Jim Raffel
Jim is an industry old-timer with a ton of print management, process control and color management experience.
Contributors
Dan Gillespie - Bonafide ColorGeek
Mary Schilling - Print Quality Guru
Interested in contributing thought leadership on the technical side of print? Get in touch.
[email protected]
WEBINAR
What Does It Look Like When Color Management Breaks
Industry leading color management practitioners Dan Gillespie, Jim Raffel, and Shelby Sapusek will take you through some common color management failures and ways to resolve them.
What you'll learn:
- How to choose the correct color management setting in Adobe apps and your RIP software.
- Why changing the default color management settings could give you more color gamut.
- How important simple machine maintenance checks can be.
- The path to more consistent, predictable, and repeatable color!
Thanks to Alder Color Solutions for sponsoring this free educational session.
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