While at the IPA Technical Conference earlier this month, I had the opportunity to run through the evaluation of the five virtual proofing systems on display. The combination of the evaluation experience and the release of our ProofPass.com [Virtual] product have solidified my thoughts on virtual proofing at this moment in time.
Virtual proofing will continue to replace hard copy proofing in the perishable weekly printing market. In this very specific market which includes weekly news magazines, Sunday newspaper supplements, and weekly sales mailers virtual proofing will replace hard copy proofing over a relatively short period of time. While the obvious reason (and a good one at that) is cost, I feel the real reason for a rapid move to virtual proofing in this market is time compression of the production cycle. The Sunday supplement market competes almost exclusively on price and the weekly news magazines compete almost exclusively on up to the minute in depth coverage of the week’s big news stories.
In other printing markets such as packaging, specialty products, and high end coffee table work virtual proofing will make significant gains as the intermediate proof. I do not, however, feel that the contract press side proof will become a virtual proof in this market anytime soon. I truly think it will take a full work generation to see virtual proofs replace physical hard copy samples in this market. I pick the full work generation, because we will need individuals in charge who have “grown up†looking a critical color on an LCD monitor.
Another factor to consider in the virtual proofing world is that those $2,000 to $5,000 LCD’s are the new proofing consumable. As you plan your virtual proofing strategy remember to factor in monitor replacement every 12-24 months depending upon the number of hours the monitor is actually turned on each day. Also, watch high end monitor prices drop like rocks just as flat panel televisions have.
So, what did I think of the IPA soft proofing evaluation? While the evaluation was blind I saw two of the systems stand out head and shoulders above the rest of the pack. You need to do your homework before investing in any of these systems. Even with the best two I would not replace hard proofs except for perishable weekly work.
[…] it is), than it is no wonder virtual proofing is being used more and more for intermediate color (as I predicted in a previous post) and good old reliable ink jet proofs are still being produced as a final contract […]