JimRaffel.com » GRACoL

Industry Meeting Displays Power of Many

JimRaffel — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 01:45:06 +0000

Earlier this week I attended two days of meetings focused around graphic communications industry specifications, standards and best practices.

There is nothing glamorous about this work. Almost 30 of us crammed into a small conference room. Not at a fancy hotel but graciously offered at no cost by Kodak (one of the member companies of the organization). Additional members joined in via Webex and a conference call. For two days competitors, customers, trading partners all put those hats down to do what’s best for the community as a whole.

In retrospect it’s rewarding work. Our graphic communications industry (the printing and pre-press parts of it) have been hit hard by the economy and the radical shift in the way people communicate and get their news. As a group we discussed and worked on ways to help make the people and companies in the trenches lives a little easier.

I went looking for a way to help and give back to an industry that has been so good to me. I found it by offering my social media expertise to the organization. As much as I may know about color, several of the people in that room have forgotten more about it than I will ever know. It’s beholden on all of us to find what we can offer to the community and give freely. I’ve written about “give to get” before and if you’re here you get that concept.

Everybody in the room contributed over the two days. Perspectives, ideas, and comments came from all quarters. As a result our industry is a little better today than it was on Monday. The lesson is to show up somewhere you normally don’t go and see if you can make a difference.

Where can you make a difference? Head over there and give it a shot then stop back and let us know how it turned out.

Feature Post: Printing (on paper) vs. Google

JimRaffel — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:44:38 +0000

Authors Note: If you do not work in the printing industry, read this post from the perspective of accepting change in your industry and recognizing who your real competitors are.

Your competition is not the printer down the street. Your competition is Google. Right now, they are kicking your butt.

The Situation – The last decade has not been an easy one for the Graphic Communications (we used to call it Printing Industry). Many organizations failed to accept that changes in information delivery are permanent and ever increasing. Others were slow to adapt and now are scrambling for their very existence. For those companies with a real, authentic and sustainable business model built to sniff out change and hustle to adapt – good times are ahead.

For large segments of the population electronic communication is overwhelming. Use of email, and social media tools like Facebook and Twitter will increase, but the noise that must be overcome for your advertising signal to be heard make these mediums less than ideal for advertising and promotional dollars. On the internet you get about 2-3 seconds to capture the prospects mind so they commit to look further at your message.

The Opportunity – How many emails do you delete each day without even opening them? That is after spam filters have captured a large percentage of the noise for you. Now, take a look at your postal mailbox. If your pile of mail is like mine it is about 1/4 to 1/3 the size it used to be. There’s so little junk mail I actually look at the pieces now. All of them.

Some of the junk mail I receive is beautiful printing. Extended gamut, die cut, spot coated, hyper-personalized so that the piece speaks to my needs and solves my problem. Occasionally pieces are so impressed I hang onto them and show my wife. Yes, that matters – a marketing touch is a marketing touch. Do that with an email I deleted.

Direct marketing merchants are still printing catalogs, lots of them. Each catalog may have fewer pages and mail to fewer recipients but that just means there are more targeted higher quality versions of the catalog. The direct merchants know that a printed catalog increases the likely hood you will visit their web-site and continue to browse and ultimately purchase. Their catalog is no different than a pay per click ad, designed to drive traffic to the point of action where you can spend your dollars.

The Plan – I have worked with the leaders, the followers and the “now out of business.” I have watched, listened and learned in my almost three decades in this industry. If you have a sales staff that can sell and do the things listed below together we can be successful, very successful.

1. The golden age of printing is ahead of us not behind us, so you can stop whining and complaining now.

2. Stop watching re-runs on TV and read one business book a week instead. Yes, one a week, it’s a cake walk when you turn the TV off.

3. Learn what your competition is doing – not the printer down the street, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc. (Hint: If you don’t have accounts on all four of those – do it right now. You don’t have to love them, but you have to understand them before they eat your lunch.)

4. Embrace the G7 methodology and learn what GRACoL is all about. (have you read all the FREE documents here?) There will be plenty of commodity jobs to fill the presses that require GRACoL and G7. With the first four steps you just became a break-even printer.

5. In order to achieve and maintain the GRACoL master printer status you will need a top notch continuous improvement and process control program in place. Without a such a program in place the next step is out of your reach so don’t even bother.

6. To print stand out pieces extended gamut, die cutting, spot coating and hyper-personalization are the future. Do you understand the technology and consumables you will need to get there? (Hint: The future is now and you are already behind if you don’t have the a plan.)

7. Pick your suppliers and outside experts carefully. Ask yourself if they have skin in the game. If they are drawing a paycheck as opposed to holding an equity stake in the business the answer is no. Your local dealer rep (working for a mega dealer) scrambling to meet his sales goals and sell you more of the consumable you already use (that are less than ideal for your environment) seldom has the time or motivation to help you with the six steps above.

So, there you have it seven steps to create you own golden age of printing. If you decide to join me steps 1-3 can be completed by the end of the day and you can be well on your way to step 4 by this time tomorrow. The hard work will not even seem like hard work when you start to see the results.

Comments are open on this and all posts at JimRaffel.com. Join the conversation and let me know what you think about the above post and how implementing the steps is working out for you.

Color & The State of Printing Industry 2010

JimRaffel — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:22:37 +0000

Color & The State of the Printing Industry 2010 also appears on the ColorMetrix Color Conversation blog.

It never ceases to amaze me how integral color knowledge is to the graphic arts industry at large, yet how few people in the industry really understand the topic. The problem is that color, like the game of chess, is very easy to learn and almost impossible to master. I believe this is because true color knowledge requires solid math skills. Color Science, after all, is applied physics.

In 2010 and beyond, the printing companies that thrive (profit leaders) will be leaders in color knowledge and implementation. For example, the GRACoL G7 methodology is the practical application of color science to achieve a more consistent and predictable print result regardless of where the digital files are converted to ink on substrate. Gee, sounds like a Real, Authentic & Sustainable way to reduce waste and increase productivity.

A significant advantage ink on substrate has over other information delivery methods is color vibrancy and consistency. Sure my iPod Touch, my Blackberry, my computer screen, and my TV screen can all deliver amazing and eye catching visual messages, but how consistent is the color fidelity of the same message delivered to multiple devices? (It was a rhetorical question, but the answer is awful).

On the other hand, you can produce a corporate color like “Coke Red” on just about any substrate anywhere in the world if you choose to do so, and I wrote about it here. The printing industry also has the capability to create amazing color messages by utilizing interesting combinations of unique spot colors. The key again is you can control the color and consistency of these colors like no other medium that is delivered to the general public.

The color challenge I issue for 2010 is twofold. First, invest the resources necessary to become a high level practitioner of color science, or provide the means for someone in your organization to do so. Second, keep your eyes open for projects that benefit from the delivery of a high level of color fidelity and color consistency to the general public. Go after these projects with a vengeance selling the benefits that you as a printer can provide over any other message delivery method!

Hard Work: A Year In the Making

JimRaffel — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:07:25 +0000

Tomorrow morning a press release will announce that ColorMetrix and SpotOn! Press have agreed to work together on a project to provide enhanced interoperability between our two products. There will be lots of flowery prose and 50 cent words in the release so I will spare you the sales talk here. Tonight I will write the story of how two “competitors” agreed to work together to provide an enhanced value proposition to our customers.

A little more than one year ago I began talking with my friend Bruce Bayne about how his SpotOn! Press software and our ProofPass.com color verification and process control system, while competitive products on some levels, really solved two different parts of the color verification and process control puzzle. It was a great conversation and right away I knew I was dealing with a kindred spirit.

At the time Bruce was busy dealing with the release of his version 1.0. I was busy ramping up work on one of our largest customization projects. We continued to have conversations as our paths crossed. Sometimes months would go by between calls or emails but the lines of communication remained open. As Print ‘09 approached it was clear that to survive in this marketplace I would need to once again re-invent ColorMetrix and forge new strategic business relationships as some tried and true partners from the past went different directions, including directly competing with me.

At Print ‘09 Bruce and I along with a couple members of his team sat down for a cocktail supper high above Chicago at ROOF, the year-round rooftop lounge on the 27^th floor of the theWit hotel. In hindsight a lofty venue was the perfect place to launch almost three months of work hammering out the details of getting two technology products produced by two small businesses working together.

Over my 23 year career in the printing industry I have worked with the good, the bad and the ugly. At a couple of key crossroads I have been lucky enough to have mentors who nudged me in a slightly different direction than I would have gone on my own. (There is a reason I have an MBA and not a Masters in Computer Science.) I have worked with smart people, people of integrity, personable people, fun people, serious people, you name them I have worked with or for them. This interoperability agreement really works for one reason; Bruce Bayne and Jim Raffel trust each other and get along.

We entered into this agreement because it is real, authentic and sustainable. Tomorrow morning our joint press release will tell the story of two separate companies that will work together to sell each other’s products. Sunday we will debut the interoperability of the two products at the PIA Color Management Conference in Phoenix. I am not positive what the future holds but I know it’s a lot brighter working side by side with Bruce Bayne and SpotOn! Press than going it alone.

EXTREME Color Management Conference Update

JimRaffel — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:21:39 +0000

It has really been too busy to write something each day. I do have some topics rolling around in my head and will write more when I get back to the office. So far it has been a good conference with many excellent speakers.

During lunches and other networking opportunities I did pick up a bit of frustration on the part of Ink Vendors and users of G7 related to repeatability of ink trap from press run to press run. Achieving the ISO spec for the individual Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black is no problem but getting repeatable trapping (measured with L*a*b* of course) is often times very difficult.

The panel I was part of focused on press room process control. I bring this up because part of the answer to the ink trapping problem is better utilization of process control techniques by printers. I presented two case studies of printers who have successfully utilized our ProofPass.com product to see significant improvements in press room quality and consistency.

I will focus on these two topics and more when I have more time to write.

#69 IDEAlliance Proofing Summit in Review

JimRaffel — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:00:00 +0000

Recently I attended the IDEAlliance Proofing Summit held in conjunction with the Publishing Business Conference and Expo at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. During the one day summit I managed to take three pages of notes focused on the meeting’s key topic of Virtual Proofing to the Numbers.

During the initial industry panel a question was raised about how to deal with virtual proofing systems from multiple vendors. Large publishers obviously deal with many printing companies and those companies make use of many of the different virtual proofing systems now available on the market. While it did not seem appropriate to make a comment during the meeting, I will remind my readers that ProofPass.com allows verification of ANY virtual proofing system with centralization of the results on a ProofPass.com internet server.

Bill Pope (of FTA) then spoke about the 2008 Virtual Proofing Systems Certification Program. Bill made a great point that sound color management is the key to successful virtual proofing. While ISO specs inks that most printers are now using, good color management is required to simulate those colorants on a monitor. Bill also made a great point about dealing with proofing disappointment up front. While I loved the comment, I think we all know that customers want what they expect x not necessarily what they see….

A fairly technical overview of the certification program was then provided. I found two items of particular interest during this portion; 1. A shift is being made to utilization of Delta E2000 for virtual proofing verification (already supported in ProofPass.com); 2. One of Bill’s key steps to verify that nothing has been “fudged” by the vendor is almost identical to the ProofPass.com verification procedure.

Some other comments I picked up throughout the day:

Pressroom monitors will need to be replaced approximately every 18 months.
Office/prepress monitors should last about three years
About 90% of the Pantone spot colors can be achieved with a high degree of accuracy on monitors costing about $5,000.
Grey balance uniformity corner to corner on a monitor is key
Color clipping on monitors might be overstated – it is localized to fully saturated colors and just results in a slightly duller rendition of the color.

All in all, it was a day well spent with the publishing and agency side of our business.

#66: How a New Media Writer Breaks Writers Block

JimRaffel — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:52:45 +0000

I am now two and a half years into the Jim Raffel’s Golden Nuggets / JimRaffel.com journey. I have gained a whole new appreciation for those who write on a regular basis and an especially great appreciation for those who write on deadline (I sort of slammed you deadline writers last week, but it’s a darn hard job and I am pleased you all keep doing it so we have printing trade journals to read.)

Writers block happens: Over the course of the last two and a half years, I have had more and less prolific periods of writing (the less of course we affectionately refer to as ‘writers block’). Some of my less prolific times have been caused by extreme busy cycles in my main stream business life (ColorMetrix Technologies, LLC). Other less prolific cycles have been caused by a simple lack of what I felt were quality topics worth taking my time to write and your time to read.

A tool to help me solve the less prolific cycles was in front of my nose the entire time……

I last wrote about New Media vs. Old Media and that got me thinking about other advantages we new media geeks have over the traditionalists. I periodically peek at my Google Analytics page which provides me with very detailed statistics about what content gets read at JimRaffel.com among other interesting things. (Yes, big brother is watching!)

The following is a list of the top 10 search terms utilized since Jan. 1, 2007 to get to JimRaffel.com as reported by Google Analytics. Next time I will present the top ten URL’s visited since Jan. 1, 2007. While most of the results are not really that surprising, they are quite interesting. In the balance of this post and in my next post I will simply present the information with a few broad overview comments. In the future I am going to address writers block by coming back to these lists (well, the up-to-date versions I will be able to find at Google Analytics).

Top 10 Search Terms:

matamerism
tvi printing
grey balance
jim raffel
gracol 7
“standard deviation” printing offset capabilities
gracol
grey balance brunner
tvi dot gain
tvi print

I am going to start with #4 on the list since it allows me to stroke my ever so delicate ego. Actually, I am humbled that people searching for my name have visited the JimRaffel.com site as often as they have. I honestly had no idea what to expect when I took Jeff Gitomer’s advice from his Little Red Book of Selling and began to publish this email newsletter. The combination of this #4 ranking and the number of positive comments I get when visiting customers and colleagues on this list is quite frankly the only reason I keep writing. I know I have said it before but I truly believe I would be unable to overstate my thanks to you my readers, colleagues, customers, and friends.

OK, back to what you all really care about. Matamerism is the number one topic that brings people to JimRaffel.com? You have to be kidding!?!?! It is the only real shocker that shows up on this list time and time again. It could simply be a search engine anomaly that places me high in the search list or it could be an under addressed topic in our industry. I believe the growth of virtual proofing may have reawakened this sleeping giant of the graphic arts industry. We are now trying (and quite successfully, I might add, in the case of ICS and Virtual MatchPrint/Insight ) to replicate what we do on paper with a subtractive printing process on additive process computer displays driven by crazy little unpredictable phosphors. Next time you see Franz from ICS or Chris Edge from Kodak take a moment to say thanks for what they have made possible. It is truly amazing.

I have left the best for last. This paragraph, like any paragraph with the word GRACoL in it, will generate more comments positive and negative than any other topic I write about. But hold on gang, this subject is finally starting to make some real sense to me. I was speaking with my good friend and colleagues Eric Magnusson of Left Dakota, last week about his session at the upcoming PIA/GATF Color Management Conference. While I do not know all the specifics of his talk (you should really attend if you want to know ) we did discuss that the G7 gray balance technology fathered by Don Hutchinson is the cherry on top of the printing banana split. Huh, has Raffel gone off his rocker? Nope, Eric solidified it for me. We still need Density, TVI (Dot Gain), and Trap, etc. to make sure our press is in the ball park and running pretty darn near it’s sweet spot. Why? Because we have not yet determined how to interpret Neutral Print Density curves (at least I have not) to indicate when we have loose blankets and roller train problems like some real industry geniuses in my user base have. Take a look at my post about Gary Briney over at Hennegen.

This is getting quite long for a Golden Nugget so I am going to save the more in-depth analysis for future posts. Suffice it to say that my writers block has been cured for the short-term!

#52: GRACoL G7 Comments from the field

JimRaffel — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:02:37 +0000

It has been an interesting couple weeks in the field for me. Color experts at four of the largest printing companies in the world have made almost exactly the same comments about the new GRACoL and SWOP data sets, and G7 methodology. I want to stress that the comments that follow are not mine, but are instead a summary of what I have heard from experts in the field who have to work with the data sets and methodology every day.

Data sets: The data sets are good and we will be using them. The data has clearly been massaged and is not wholly from press sheets, but good nonetheless.

G7 Methodology: The methodology is unnecessary for us. We have had our presses grey balanced for years.

It is good to have confirmation that the running to grey balance as many of us have been doing for years is validated. The G7 methodology is just one way of arriving at good grey balance with a specific set of inks. While it would be wonderful if everyone ran perfect G7 or SWOP ink sets those of us who are honest know this is not the case.

This explains why these very large and successful printers have chosen to achieve pressroom grey balance in their own way, and then run to match the proof created with the data sets mentioned above.

The experts mentioned above also validate that having quality â€œstandardâ€ data sets is critical to being able to print the same job in multiple plants control by multiple owners all over the world. It does not appear, however, to be critical that each vendor use exactly the same process to achieve grey balance on press as long as grey balance has been achieved. (More than one kind of mouse trap can be used, and G7 may or may not be a better mouse trap.)

#48: Make Proofs That Match Your Press

JimRaffel — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 13:53:41 +0000

Since #45 in December we have been discussing resolutions to improve the quality of your proofs. In order to gain the full benefit of this installment one should have read and implemented the suggestions in #46 & #47.

Proceeding forward it does not matter if you are utilizing a methodology like GRACoL G7, or a more traditional color management approach. In either case you will include a target on each print job with the same color bar swatches that you output on the proof (#46). This will allow you to measure the press ok sheets and compare them to the proofs, thus building even a larger statistical database to call upon.

When utilizing software like our ColorMetrix and ProofPass.com products for process control and print certification purposes it does not matter if you are using a methodology like G7 or traditional color management. While there are some new formulas out there to run the collected data through the tried and true colorimetric data (L*a*b* and derivatives along with some version of Delta E), do a great job comparing two similar or dissimilar imaging systems.

Unlike density and dot gain values which must be used with pigment sets designed for 4/color process printing, L*a*b* values allow the comparison of an inkjet proof and an offset press sheet. This is possible because we are looking at the actual colors, not values derived from a formula which assumes a certain pigment set.

Not only will you be comparing the measurements of the proof to the press sheet, but you will be building a history of what is a “normal” print condition of each press and paper combination. Some refer to this as finding the “sweet spot” of the printing press.

Overall, as your volume of collected data grows you will be able to refine the system in small steps by reviewing the proofing and press information both independently and together. Using numeric results, charts, and graphs you will be able to see small differences in color that can be adjusted for over time. No system is stable over time, so continuous monitoring is a must in order to maintain stable color.

#40 Grey Balance & Printing like a Master

JimRaffel — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 15:28:37 +0000

I have written before about the Printing across borders initiative and late last week made a post to the mail list which I feel generated a very good response. My post shown below was in response to a post questioning the GRACoL MasterPrinter‚Ñ¢ program:

It stands to reason that that a printer with tight control over TVI would in fact also be a “better” MasterPrinterT. With conventional 4/color process printing (both offset and flexo) large variation in dot size will cause large shifts in color.

Also, in some testing (unrelated to G7T method) we have found very large delta E shifts in grey balance do not necessarily translate to large or any shift in saturated colors at the outer reaches of the gamut. So, if part of ones work is reproduction of saturated corporate colors G7 process control techniques alone may not be sufficient.

link(subscription required)

Joseph J. Pasky made the following comments in response to the first paragraph above:

Yes, that is exactly correct…a point that Felix Brunner has been trying to make for more than 30 years. Even small shifts in midtone gray balance are FAR more noticeable that very large changes in SID. He is the one who ‘invented’ controlling a press with midtone, not only SIDs. From my understanding, he’s even got patents on several aspects of this. (GRACoL didn’t come up with this ‘last week’ in a marketing focus group.) Brunner established the order of importance: 1. gray balance, 2. tone reproduction, 3. color. But, he also looks at every aspect of the reproduction curve, from highlights to solids.

link(subscription required)

Others made some very valid comments also but I decided to pick the one that told me I was “exactly correct.” Seriously, the group has generated some good discussions about printing to standards and using new methodologies. I would suggest visiting the web-site and subscribing to the email list.