PrintWeek Power 100 revealed in print this week
This year’s list features 26 new entries and, with a printer reclaiming the top spot, a brand new number one. “Putting together the Power 100 is always one of the highlights of the editorial team’s year and compiling the 2013 list was no different,” said PrintWeek editor Darryl Danielli. Thanks to everyone who voted in the Power 100 online poll, which received more than 2,500 nominations, and congratulations to Chris Savage, managing director of Round & About Publications, who won the iPod Nano that was up for grabs. The ranking, which features who’s in, who’s out, who’s up, who’s down, the reasons why and the results of the public vote was published in the 19 August issue of PrintWeek out today. An online version will not be available until later this week. If you’re not a subscriber to PrintWeek magazine, you can sign up here....
read morePrintWeek Power 100 revealed in print today
This year’s list features 26 new entries and, with a printer reclaiming the top spot, a brand new number one. “Putting together the Power 100 is always one of the highlights of the editorial team’s year and compiling the 2013 list was no different,” said PrintWeek editor Darryl Danielli. Thanks to everyone who voted in the Power 100 online poll, which received more than 2,500 nominations, and congratulations to Chris Savage, managing director of Round & About Publications, who won the iPod Nano that was up for grabs. The ranking, which features who’s in, who’s out, who’s up, who’s down, the reasons why and the results of the public vote was published in the 19 August issue of PrintWeek out today. An online version will not be available until later this week. If you’re not a subscriber to PrintWeek magazine, you can sign up here....
read moreAJD becomes HP-only large-format house
The device was installed three weeks ago and joins the company’s existing fleet of HP printers including two HP Latex 260s, two HP Designjet Z6200 photo printers and an HP5500, which was installed in 1999. AJD Group, which comprises AJ Print, BPE Signs and Just, offers a range of products including POS displays, posters, roller banners and vehicle wraps. Managing director John Attridge said that the installation of the L280 meant that the business could now produce 2.5m-wide banners without the need to put seams in. The company sold its Roland SJ1000 to make way for the new machine and Attridge said he was already eyeing other printers and ancillary finishing equipment. He said that the company had made the decision to become an HP-only house, including all inks and media, for two reasons. “Firstly, we have used the brand for many years and therefore know and trust it well; and secondly, the superior technology allows us to provide a 24-hour print service with only eight hours of manned supervision, thus avoiding the need for two complete shifts of labour,” he explained. Attridge said that as well as investing in more equipment in the coming months, the business intended to “make competitor acquisitions” that would add to its capacity. As a result of its planned acquisitions, which Attridge said were still confidential, the £1.2m-turnover group is forecasting an ambitious £15.5m in sales by the end of 2016. “Whilst this looks ambitious, contracts already in place that are yet to begin, as well as others in the pipeline, suggest that this figure may in fact balloon toward £80m should critical formation factors come into being,” said Attridge. The business also intends to increase its 13-strong workforce to 20 by the end of 2013....
read moreAJD becomes HP-only large-format house
The device was installed three weeks ago and joins the company’s existing fleet of HP printers including two HP Latex 260s, two HP Designjet Z6200 photo printers and an HP5500, which was installed in 1999. AJD Group, which comprises AJ Print, BPE Signs and Just, offers a range of products including POS displays, posters, roller banners and vehicle wraps. Managing director John Attridge said that the installation of the L280 meant that the business could now produce 2.5m-wide banners without the need to put seams in. The company sold its Roland SJ1000 to make way for the new machine and Attridge said he was already eyeing other printers and ancillary finishing equipment. He said that the company had made the decision to become an HP-only house, including all inks and media, for two reasons. “Firstly, we have used the brand for many years and therefore know and trust it well; and secondly, the superior technology allows us to provide a 24-hour print service with only eight hours of manned supervision, thus avoiding the need for two complete shifts of labour,” he explained. Attridge said that as well as investing in more equipment in the coming months, the business intended to “make competitor acquisitions” that would add to its capacity. As a result of its planned acquisitions, which Attridge said were still confidential, the £1.2m-turnover group is forecasting an ambitious £15.5m in sales by the end of 2016. “Whilst this looks ambitious, contracts already in place that are yet to begin, as well as others in the pipeline, suggest that this figure may in fact balloon toward £80m should critical formation factors come into being,” said Attridge. The business also intends to increase its 13-strong workforce to 20 by the end of 2013....
read moreWomen’s lifestyle takes a big hit in latest ABCs
Company, published by Hearst Magazines UK, was hit by a 36.7% drop in circulation, while Cosmopolitan, Red and Elle‘s readerships contracted by 15%, 10.5% and 10.2% respectively. The only paid-for women’s title to experience growth was Hearst-Rodale’s Women’s Health, which increased circulation by 1.8% to 102,116. Bauer Media chief executive Paul Keenan said: “ABC figures are one important part of a wider picture that makes up a brand’s reach and influence. “Our focus is all about building valuable audience reach through delivering content wherever, whenever and however consumers want it.” Despite circulation drops of 16.9% and 11.6% respectively for its titles Heat and Grazia, Keenan remained upbeat about their development on a multichannel level. “They have all grown reach in this period through innovation by developing relevant and compelling content across all platforms,” he said. IPC Media titles Woman’s Own, Woman and Woman’s Weekly also decreased in circulation by between 3% and 8%. The publisher has focused heavily on its digital developments over the past year with 27 of its brands publishing digital magazine certificates in the last six months. Cookery and kitchen titles were among those that experienced the biggest growth during the period, some by as much as 18%. Supermarket magazines retained the biggest circulations, with titles from Tesco, Asda and Morrisons topping the list with 1.9m, 1.9m and 1.2m copies respectively. Patrick Fuller, chairman of marketing agency Result, called the latest ABC results “underwhelming” for print, with digital growth being the only good news story for publishers. He said: “Cookery and kitchen is a buoyant category that is experiencing circulation growth because of the high percentage of customer magazines within the category – namely the supermarket titles that have become an entrenched part of shoppers’ overall media consumption.” He added that supermarket titles reached more than 11% of the population – a level of penetration unparalleled by any other print or digital channel in the UK. “This is an extremely compelling prospect for advertisers who are faced with the conundrum of dwindling audiences and the need to achieve profitable incremental sales,” he said....
read moreWomen’s lifestyle takes a big hit in latest ABCs
Company, published by Hearst Magazines UK, was hit by a 36.7% drop in circulation, while Cosmopolitan, Red and Elle‘s readerships contracted by 15%, 10.5% and 10.2% respectively. The only paid-for women’s title to experience growth was Hearst-Rodale’s Women’s Health, which increased circulation by 1.8% to 102,116. Bauer Media chief executive Paul Keenan said: “ABC figures are one important part of a wider picture that makes up a brand’s reach and influence. “Our focus is all about building valuable audience reach through delivering content wherever, whenever and however consumers want it.” Despite circulation drops of 16.9% and 11.6% respectively for its titles Heat and Grazia, Keenan remained upbeat about their development on a multichannel level. “They have all grown reach in this period through innovation by developing relevant and compelling content across all platforms,” he said. IPC Media titles Woman’s Own, Woman and Woman’s Weekly also decreased in circulation by between 3% and 8%. The publisher has focused heavily on its digital developments over the past year with 27 of its brands publishing digital magazine certificates in the last six months. Cookery and kitchen titles were among those that experienced the biggest growth during the period, some by as much as 18%. Supermarket magazines retained the biggest circulations, with titles from Tesco, Asda and Morrisons topping the list with 1.9m, 1.9m and 1.2m copies respectively. Patrick Fuller, chairman of marketing agency Result, called the latest ABC results “underwhelming” for print, with digital growth being the only good news story for publishers. He said: “Cookery and kitchen is a buoyant category that is experiencing circulation growth because of the high percentage of customer magazines within the category – namely the supermarket titles that have become an entrenched part of shoppers’ overall media consumption.” He added that supermarket titles reached more than 11% of the population – a level of penetration unparalleled by any other print or digital channel in the UK. “This is an extremely compelling prospect for advertisers who are faced with the conundrum of dwindling audiences and the need to achieve profitable incremental sales,” he said....
read morePrinters Superstore expands portfolio with MGI deal
The new partnership will be unveiled at a joint open house event to be held next month at Printers Superstore’s Leeds headquarters. According to Printers Superstore joint managing director Graham Moorby, the tie-up is a natural fit for the company, which holds the UK agency for Hans Gronhi and Shinohara offset presses. “MGI’s products offer an interesting mix to the range of products we sell already. The hook is that we’re regularly talking to commercial printers that are thinking about digital or already have it,” said Moorby. “The MGI is the ideal crossover product for our customers because it’s a more conventional costing model with no click charge and the products offer the kind of litho-grade build quality our customers like.” Moorby said that the two companies had been discussing the partnership for some time, after the Printers Superstore team took a close look at the MGI machines on display at last year’s Drupa. “Printers Superstore are a well-known company with a big user-base for new equipment, parts and consumables. They are an ideal partner to sell MGI machines, which we can offer to this market as a great added-value product,” said MGI Technology managing director David Evans. Printers Superstore will begin marketing the MGI range, which includes the Meteor 8700XL digital press and JetVarnish 3D digital spot UV coater, immediately. However, MGI Technology will provide service and support for the products initially, with Printers Superstore taking responsibility for service after the partnership has bedded in. The company will have sales responsibility for areas from just north of Leicester up to and including Scotland and also some areas of North Wales. “These are really our stomping grounds,” said Moorby. The 4,260 A4pp/hr Meteor 8700XL will be on display at the firm’s open house event on 18-19 September, where it will run alongside a five-colour B3 Hans Gronhi GH525. For more information, visit www.printers-superstore.com/openhouse_sep13.html...
read morePrinters Superstore expands portfolio with MGI deal
The new partnership will be unveiled at a joint open house event to be held next month at Printers Superstore’s Leeds headquarters. According to Printers Superstore joint managing director Graham Moorby, the tie-up is a natural fit for the company, which holds the UK agency for Hans Gronhi and Shinohara offset presses. “MGI’s products offer an interesting mix to the range of products we sell already. The hook is that we’re regularly talking to commercial printers that are thinking about digital or already have it,” said Moorby. “The MGI is the ideal crossover product for our customers because it’s a more conventional costing model with no click charge and the products offer the kind of litho-grade build quality our customers like.” Moorby said that the two companies had been discussing the partnership for some time, after the Printers Superstore team took a close look at the MGI machines on display at last year’s Drupa. “Printers Superstore are a well-known company with a big user-base for new equipment, parts and consumables. They are an ideal partner to sell MGI machines, which we can offer to this market as a great added-value product,” said MGI Technology managing director David Evans. Printers Superstore will begin marketing the MGI range, which includes the Meteor 8700XL digital press and JetVarnish 3D digital spot UV coater, immediately. However, MGI Technology will provide service and support for the products initially, with Printers Superstore taking responsibility for service after the partnership has bedded in. The company will have sales responsibility for areas from just north of Leicester up to and including Scotland and also some areas of North Wales. “These are really our stomping grounds,” said Moorby. The 4,260 A4pp/hr Meteor 8700XL will be on display at the firm’s open house event on 18-19 September, where it will run alongside a five-colour B3 Hans Gronhi GH525. For more information, visit www.printers-superstore.com/openhouse_sep13.html...
read more5 Digital Printing Design Tips
Digital printing presents some unique challenges when it comes to design, but with some basic design conderations, you can create jobs destined for digital printing that look great and fly through production! Learn about the software tools and best practices for dealing with color, transparency, PDF creation, variable data and more at my hands-on Mac lab at PRINT13® in Chicago, IL titled Digital Print Design: 20 Top Tips ‘n Tricks. Here’s a sneak-peek: 1. Always color correct images in the RGB color space When images are converted from RGB to CMYK, you lose color information—a lot of it. As a result, you (and Photoshop) have fewer colors to work with, or average, when attempting to make color changes to an image. Also, when images are converted from RGB to CMYK, you’re creating the black separation and reducing the amount of CMY in the image at the same time. Depending upon how much CMY is eliminated in the separation, it can be very difficult—or even impossible—to make color adjustments to an image. 2. Test your fonts Freeware fonts are readily available for download all over the Internet. Some of these fonts can contains restrictions the prohibit PDF creation and printing–something you may not find out until you’ve finished designing your job. Before you design your project, it is always best to test the font. First, activate the font on your system. Then create an InDesign or QuarkXPress document using that font. Finally, export the page and try to create a PDF. If the PDF is created without any warnings, then the font can be embedded. 3. Avoid large solids While lithographic presses have the ability to reproduce solids evenly, toner-based devices have a tendency to mottle, show unevenness, or even banding. This is because ink and toner are radically different materials. When toner is applied to paper, it is dry. Toner is not actually absorbed into the paper fibers, instead, it is fused to the sheet using both heat and fuser oil, creating a bond. Consistency lies in how evenly the toner was applied to the paper, and how evenly it was fused to the paper. If tints and large solids must be used in a design, there are some ways to help counteract the uneven appearance associated with toner-based devices. First, try applying a filter (Photoshop Add Noise or Texture filters work well) to the large tint or solids. Another option is to also break up large color areas with other design elements such as text, images, or illustrations. 4. Folds Because toner is fused to the paper surface and not absorbed like ink, it can be more prone to cracking along folds. Thin lines, rules, and headline text across a fold is generally acceptable, but if heavy coverage must be used in the design, be sure to ask your print service provider to score the printed sheet before folding. 5. Variable text fields If you’re producing a VDP job, consider the longest word in a field when creating text containers for variable data. Anticipate odd word breaks, especially with variable type in large point sizes by randomly testing some of the data that will be swapped into the design during printing. Like these...
read more5 Digital Printing Design Tips
Digital printing presents some unique challenges when it comes to design, but with some basic design conderations, you can create jobs destined for digital printing that look great and fly through production! Learn about the software tools and best practices for dealing with color, transparency, PDF creation, variable data and more at my hands-on Mac lab at PRINT13® in Chicago, IL titled Digital Print Design: 20 Top Tips ‘n Tricks. Here’s a sneak-peek: 1. Always color correct images in the RGB color space When images are converted from RGB to CMYK, you lose color information—a lot of it. As a result, you (and Photoshop) have fewer colors to work with, or average, when attempting to make color changes to an image. Also, when images are converted from RGB to CMYK, you’re creating the black separation and reducing the amount of CMY in the image at the same time. Depending upon how much CMY is eliminated in the separation, it can be very difficult—or even impossible—to make color adjustments to an image. 2. Test your fonts Freeware fonts are readily available for download all over the Internet. Some of these fonts can contains restrictions the prohibit PDF creation and printing–something you may not find out until you’ve finished designing your job. Before you design your project, it is always best to test the font. First, activate the font on your system. Then create an InDesign or QuarkXPress document using that font. Finally, export the page and try to create a PDF. If the PDF is created without any warnings, then the font can be embedded. 3. Avoid large solids While lithographic presses have the ability to reproduce solids evenly, toner-based devices have a tendency to mottle, show unevenness, or even banding. This is because ink and toner are radically different materials. When toner is applied to paper, it is dry. Toner is not actually absorbed into the paper fibers, instead, it is fused to the sheet using both heat and fuser oil, creating a bond. Consistency lies in how evenly the toner was applied to the paper, and how evenly it was fused to the paper. If tints and large solids must be used in a design, there are some ways to help counteract the uneven appearance associated with toner-based devices. First, try applying a filter (Photoshop Add Noise or Texture filters work well) to the large tint or solids. Another option is to also break up large color areas with other design elements such as text, images, or illustrations. 4. Folds Because toner is fused to the paper surface and not absorbed like ink, it can be more prone to cracking along folds. Thin lines, rules, and headline text across a fold is generally acceptable, but if heavy coverage must be used in the design, be sure to ask your print service provider to score the printed sheet before folding. 5. Variable text fields If you’re producing a VDP job, consider the longest word in a field when creating text containers for variable data. Anticipate odd word breaks, especially with variable type in large point sizes by randomly testing some of the data that will be swapped into the design during printing. Like these...
read more