Spire Express » Printing

Stephen Beals discusses large format proofing

Mike — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:01:17 +0000

The problem with standards is they are intentionally designed to allow print providers to closely match color on a wide variety of media, printed on any device, no matter what technology is being used. That’s great if you want the poster printed on your 12-color inkjet device to match the same image coming off a web press. But often, that’s not the best way to sell wide-format output. If you are covering the side of a building with an image, you want the colors to pop…
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Very cool printing apps for the i-phone

Mike — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:48:39 +0000

$10 seems like a fair price not to have to carry a pantone book around with you. Of course, there’s no substitute for the real thing when you really need to know how a color will print. But this app is really neat. Allows you to assemble suites of different colors and even lay them on top of a reference color (something that you have photographed, for instance.) I can’t wait to try out the photoshop app as well.

See a review here

See a youtube tutorial here

First Ever Presstek-branded DI press

Mike — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:02:31 +0000

The Presstek Genius 52 UV is the world’s first waterless UV sheetfed offset press. It prints in four or five colors with UV curing inks that rapidly and completely harden through an efficient integrated drying system, thus allowing further processing such as laminating or punching with no waiting period.

Frank Roman Timeline

Mike — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:03:15 +0000

A11 things have a lifespan, whether they are living things, inanimate things, or even the universe (the ultimate collection of things). They start out as nothing, become something, and ultimately become nothing again. This pseudo-philosophical statement begins a discussion about technological change, a subject dear to everyone’s heart. • The handset typesetting (and letterpress printing) era began in 1439 and ended in 1970 (500+ years). • The offset era began in earnest in 1936…

Another cool VDP example

Mike — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:36:54 +0000

XMPIE - example

How to: Make your ad dollars go farther

Mike — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:15:40 +0000

Targeting customers in a media-fragmented marketplace is a continual challenge for advertisers. The abundance of advertising sources has overwhelmed and divided consumer attention. This means advertisers, media planners and media buyers need the right tools to help them decide on the best allocation of advertising dollars.

Cool VDP Example

Mike — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:02:19 +0000

Here’s a very cool example of variable data printing that we received in the mail. I particularly like the coffee stain.

LINK

File-prep and color management

Mike — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:45:37 +0000

To achieve great prints from your files, you can wait for the planets to align, and say a few of your favorite magic words. Or, you can prepare your files in a logical way using a structured workflow and set up a color-management system that works to better control the color and consistency of your output.

The ‘Print Buyer Drupa’

Mike — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:22:56 +0000

Drupa, more than any other show, is about trends more than it is about products. Suppliers to the industry take advantage of this global gathering to show their wares, but, perhaps even more importantly, to talk about their strategies for the future.

Newspapers Think Locally for Online Ads

Mike — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:26:51 +0000

In an effort to make up for their plunging print-ad revenues, newspaper companies have been scrambling to train their sales teams in the intricacies of selling online ads to local marketers. But in many cases they aren’t selling a lot of ads and at least some of the new ads they are managing to sell are cannibalizing their print-ad revenues, industry analysts say.