The following post was submitted by Color 2015 sponsor, GTI Graphic Technology, Inc. 1.      Tell us about GTI? GTI was founded in 1975 and is the leading manufacturer of tight tolerance lighting systems for critical color viewing and color matching assessment. We are based in Newburgh, NY, and we also have sales offices in Germany and the United Kingdom. Watch Company Overview Video 2.     What makes GTI unique? There are a lot of things that make us unique, all of them good. – We are 100% dedicated to the lighting business. All of our products are designed to assist with the visual appraisal of color or color-critical lighting applications. – All of our products are manufactured at our headquarters in Newburgh, NY. – Our people. We have a highly skilled and dedicated team that takes a customer-first approach. – Our ability to solve customer problems. Because of our technical expertise and the fact that we do all of our own design and manufacturing, we are able to offer a wide range of color viewing booths. We also offer customized solutions that include very large lighting systems for final product inspection, unique desktop systems, and everything in between. – Our attention to detail. An in-house spectroradiometric laboratory and a 100% measurement and verification production process guarantees accuracy and precision is built into all products.Above: Nick Lena, GTI’s Director of Color Technology, uses a spectroradiometer to confirm a viewing station’s light quality is industry compliant. 3.      Who is GTI’s typical customer?Anyone who is concerned with the color quality of the work they are producing. Our customers range from independent photographers who purchase a small desktop viewer to major brands that we have put together complete color harmony rooms for. 4.     Where do you see growth occurring for GTI? As you know, GTI grew up with a focus in the graphic arts and photographic industries. This continues to be a primary focus for us, and we’re still seeing growth in the packaging sector. We’ve used this knowledge and expertise to expand into non-imaging markets such as paint and coatings, plastics, textiles, food, and automotive. I see these industrial markets as a strong growth opportunity for us in the future. 5.      What do you envision for GTI over the next five years? We will continue to focus on the lighting business—improving our products and developing new ones that fit the market’s changing requirements. I also anticipate further incorporation of LED technology into the product line. Currently we use LED to simulate certain retail environments, but as the technology advances, we believe it can become a suitable source to properly simulate daylight. We are carefully monitoring its progress.Above: GTI’s ColorMatcher® Series includes five...

The following post was submitted by Color 2015 sponsor, GTI Graphic Technology, Inc. 1.      Tell us about GTI? GTI was founded in 1975 and is the leading manufacturer of tight tolerance lighting systems for critical color viewing and color matching assessment. We are based in Newburgh, NY, and we also have sales offices in Germany and the United Kingdom. Watch Company Overview Video 2.     What makes GTI unique? There are a lot of things that make us unique, all of them good. – We are 100% dedicated to the lighting business. All of our products are designed to assist with the visual appraisal of color or color-critical lighting applications. – All of our products are manufactured at our headquarters in Newburgh, NY. – Our people. We have a highly skilled and dedicated team that takes a customer-first approach. – Our ability to solve customer problems. Because of our technical expertise and the fact that we do all of our own design and manufacturing, we are able to offer a wide range of color viewing booths. We also offer customized solutions that include very large lighting systems for final product inspection, unique desktop systems, and everything in between. – Our attention to detail. An in-house spectroradiometric laboratory and a 100% measurement and verification production process guarantees accuracy and precision is built into all products.Above: Nick Lena, GTI’s Director of Color Technology, uses a spectroradiometer to confirm a viewing station’s light quality is industry compliant. 3.      Who is GTI’s typical customer?Anyone who is concerned with the color quality of the work they are producing. Our customers range from independent photographers who purchase a small desktop viewer to major brands that we have put together complete color harmony rooms for. 4.     Where do you see growth occurring for GTI? As you know, GTI grew up with a focus in the graphic arts and photographic industries. This continues to be a primary focus for us, and we’re still seeing growth in the packaging sector. We’ve used this knowledge and expertise to expand into non-imaging markets such as paint and coatings, plastics, textiles, food, and automotive. I see these industrial markets as a strong growth opportunity for us in the future. 5.      What do you envision for GTI over the next five years? We will continue to focus on the lighting business—improving our products and developing new ones that fit the market’s changing requirements. I also anticipate further incorporation of LED technology into the product line. Currently we use LED to simulate certain retail environments, but as the technology advances, we believe it can become a suitable source to properly simulate daylight. We are carefully monitoring its progress.Above: GTI’s ColorMatcher® Series includes five...

When met with a hard business decision, the safe route is to stick with what we know. With years of previous evidence suggesting your current path leads to financial stability, why would you need to change your plans now? Safety does equal security after all—or does it? Take Kodak, for example. According to Jeffrey Hayzlett, primetime television and radio host, former Fortune 100 CMO, and 2016 President’s Conference keynote speaker, when Kodak tried to play it safe in 1975 by dismissing digital camera inventor Steven Sasson, they made the worst business decision of their history. “They had the only product that people would run into a burning house to save,” said Hayzlett in a 2015 Media and Entertainment Services Alliance article. “[But Kodak] just did not adapt. In business, if you don’t change or adapt, you end up dying” (CMS Wire, “Ex-Kodak CMO Jeffrey Hayzlett Warns: Adapt, Change or Die”). After years of running small and big companies, Hayzlett’s experience taught him that the scale of the business doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a difference in problems they face. Essentially, businesses must continue to look at their marketplace conditions and make adjustments to their business strategies or risk failure. “When you start to think that ‘we only do this’ instead of ‘we could be doing that,’—that is the day that you start to die,” said Faye Oney in his article “Jeffrey Hayzlett to Media Companies: Adapt, Change or Die.” Hayzlett will talk more about his experiences at the 2016 President’s Conference in his keynote presentation, Think Big, Act Bigger. Based on his newest book by the same name, the program is a take-no-prisoners, no BS, attitude adjustment for those who call themselves entrepreneurs. Learn more about Hayzeltt’s session and the 2016 President’s Conference when you visit...

When met with a hard business decision, the safe route is to stick with what we know. With years of previous evidence suggesting your current path leads to financial stability, why would you need to change your plans now? Safety does equal security after all—or does it? Take Kodak, for example. According to Jeffrey Hayzlett, primetime television and radio host, former Fortune 100 CMO, and 2016 President’s Conference keynote speaker, when Kodak tried to play it safe in 1975 by dismissing digital camera inventor Steven Sasson, they made the worst business decision of their history. “They had the only product that people would run into a burning house to save,” said Hayzlett in a 2015 Media and Entertainment Services Alliance article. “[But Kodak] just did not adapt. In business, if you don’t change or adapt, you end up dying” (CMS Wire, “Ex-Kodak CMO Jeffrey Hayzlett Warns: Adapt, Change or Die”). After years of running small and big companies, Hayzlett’s experience taught him that the scale of the business doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a difference in problems they face. Essentially, businesses must continue to look at their marketplace conditions and make adjustments to their business strategies or risk failure. “When you start to think that ‘we only do this’ instead of ‘we could be doing that,’—that is the day that you start to die,” said Faye Oney in his article “Jeffrey Hayzlett to Media Companies: Adapt, Change or Die.” Hayzlett will talk more about his experiences at the 2016 President’s Conference in his keynote presentation, Think Big, Act Bigger. Based on his newest book by the same name, the program is a take-no-prisoners, no BS, attitude adjustment for those who call themselves entrepreneurs. Learn more about Hayzeltt’s session and the 2016 President’s Conference when you visit...

From the Super Bowl to the super market, bluemedia and its president, Jared Smith, cover it all. And we also mean that literally—they also produce and install wraps on buildings, race cars, and fleet vehicles The next project Jared will cover is Color 2015, December 5–8 in Phoenix, AZ. We caught up with him to talk about his session and find out just how bluemedia has earned its place as one of the top printers for Super Bowl L. (Any chance you can score us some tickets, Jared?)   PIA: You work with some big-name clients, like the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, Coke, ESPN, NASCAR and NHRA to name a few… What are the top challenges you’ve faced in delivering their products? JS: We’ve learned that our job can have no plan B. We must be proactively prepared—ridiculously prepared—to get the job right the first time. When we are working on a building wrap, the scene might include police, road closures, rented lights, swing stages, and harnesses. When it takes 30 minutes to raise the swing stage platform up to the top of the building, this is not the time to find out you have a missing tile, a bad print, or a color issue. We have a purpose-built QC center at bluemedia that must take steps similar to when NASA heads up to the moon. We can’t forget anything—the cost for all would just be way too high. Our customers don’t come to buy bluemedia to buy signs and printing. They engage bluemedia to execute projects and events that make use of our massive in-house capabilities. For those clients with those types of needs, bluemedia is a great source. PIA: Working with a variety of markets, including sports, big box retail, and agencies, how does your company ensure brand accuracy from end to end? Brand accuracy for us starts by taking steps to ensure we understand the brand first. This means we ask for style guides, branding guidelines, messaging rules, and Pantone colors very early in the process. We go a step further to research the brand and look at specific examples of how the brand is positioned currently. This gives us a great jump start on increasing the probability that our proposed solutions align with the brand right away. The next main focus in brand accuracy after design is color. We don’t tweak color per job. We tweak the entire color environment from monitors, to color space on design computers, to proofing devices, to lighting, to measuring equipment to the final press and the media profiles used. Our strategy is to have a neutral environment that always produces an accurate output of any digital file. PIA: What...

From the Super Bowl to the super market, bluemedia and its president, Jared Smith, cover it all. And we also mean that literally—they also produce and install wraps on buildings, race cars, and fleet vehicles The next project Jared will cover is Color 2015, December 5–8 in Phoenix, AZ. We caught up with him to talk about his session and find out just how bluemedia has earned its place as one of the top printers for Super Bowl L. (Any chance you can score us some tickets, Jared?)   PIA: You work with some big-name clients, like the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, Coke, ESPN, NASCAR and NHRA to name a few… What are the top challenges you’ve faced in delivering their products? JS: We’ve learned that our job can have no plan B. We must be proactively prepared—ridiculously prepared—to get the job right the first time. When we are working on a building wrap, the scene might include police, road closures, rented lights, swing stages, and harnesses. When it takes 30 minutes to raise the swing stage platform up to the top of the building, this is not the time to find out you have a missing tile, a bad print, or a color issue. We have a purpose-built QC center at bluemedia that must take steps similar to when NASA heads up to the moon. We can’t forget anything—the cost for all would just be way too high. Our customers don’t come to buy bluemedia to buy signs and printing. They engage bluemedia to execute projects and events that make use of our massive in-house capabilities. For those clients with those types of needs, bluemedia is a great source. PIA: Working with a variety of markets, including sports, big box retail, and agencies, how does your company ensure brand accuracy from end to end? Brand accuracy for us starts by taking steps to ensure we understand the brand first. This means we ask for style guides, branding guidelines, messaging rules, and Pantone colors very early in the process. We go a step further to research the brand and look at specific examples of how the brand is positioned currently. This gives us a great jump start on increasing the probability that our proposed solutions align with the brand right away. The next main focus in brand accuracy after design is color. We don’t tweak color per job. We tweak the entire color environment from monitors, to color space on design computers, to proofing devices, to lighting, to measuring equipment to the final press and the media profiles used. Our strategy is to have a neutral environment that always produces an accurate output of any digital file. PIA: What...