Digital Proof or Not To Digital Proof

[Skinflint]

I have been told that there are shops that produce work on digital devices ie: Indigo, iGen Canon etc.. without proofing jobs on the device at all before producing finished product.
The fact that there are web based companies doing this all day and night long, but these seem to be templates products with limiting options and on screen proofs.
My question is, how does a commercial shop create this type of workflow with the customers and projects. Has anyone had experience developing this type of workflow
and interacted with customers to help taylor them in this direction?
It just seems counter productive to be giving these digital jobs the same touches as a conventional job.
Printing proofs, assempling proofs, delivering proofs for digital work seems wrong.

Help see to understand if I am wrong on this.

Thanks

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Compared to an offset press, the cost of producing a proof on the actual device is very cheap in terms of paper+click+runtime. That being said, being able to actually find time on the press to run a proof in the middle of production may be a very different story, which would mean that the proof would not be as cheap as one may think!

It would depend on the client – what value do they see in a proof from the final device… And does their idea of “value” match the shop’s idea of charging for this service?


Stephen Marsh

 

[Skinflint]

What I'm trying to uncover is, how do some shops develop workflows that allow them to bypass the proofing process on the engine itself.

 

[maac]

The customers will eventually all fall in line. It will be painful for them but innovations in the printing trade technology will make it so. Back in the old days we had press proofs and then brown lines and then blue lines and 3m color keys with deluxe paper and match prints and then a very nasty cromolyn proofing system made from a powder not good the list goes on. Now we have the pdf proofs that they ok on there iPhone and look at on there uncalibrated monitor and the virtual 3d proofing system that shows how the brochure or booklet folds and the crossovers with the liquid lamination and embossed die with the die cuts. In time they will say to you I love this and why didn't we do this earlier. You just take the time to educate them on this new technology. It will all workout in the end if you bring the customer with you on this journey.

And the answer to your question is the pdf proofs and the 3d virtual proofing system. this is what we do. Most of the customer are Ok with this. And some like paper still.

 

[Tim-Ellis]

Our clients get on screen preview for all their orders. The statistics show that these are rarely viewed.

Our products are bespoke variable data templates. We develop the template with the client. They approve the board and colour from and early sample. After that we match to our own copy of the approved sample. (By eye or by spectro).

Products evolve over time or diverge. Unless there is a radical change in colour or substrate, everything will be approved without further physical samples.

We do have MellowColour tool's to produce certification of print runs but mostly we work on trust. The key thing is to provide a high level of customer service. When we screw up, our past record usually gets us out of the mess.

 

[Skinflint]

The customers will eventually all fall in line. It will be painful for them but innovations in the printing trade technology will make it so. Back in the old days we had press proofs and then brown lines and then blue lines and 3m color keys with deluxe paper and match prints and then a very nasty cromolyn proofing system made from a powder not good the list goes on. Now we have the pdf proofs that they ok on there iPhone and look at on there uncalibrated monitor and the virtual 3d proofing system that shows how the brochure or booklet folds and the crossovers with the liquid lamination and embossed die with the die cuts. In time they will say to you I love this and why didn't we do this earlier. You just take the time to educate them on this new technology. It will all workout in the end if you bring the customer with you on this journey.

And the answer to your question is the pdf proofs and the 3d virtual proofing system. this is what we do. Most of the customer are Ok with this. And some like paper still.

OK, what options are available for generating 3D proofs for commercial print?

 

[[email protected]]

I think the conversation should be "what is the value to you or your customer of the hard proof in the 1st place. Is is for color, size, fit, verifying fold info, handling of PDF stuff (like spot colors, overlays, transparency rendering properly, etc) Is it for an internal QC process or customer facing. There is really 2 audiences for proofing- internal and external. Once you understand where the value lies (and most importantly risk, since who is going to pay for any mistakes or issues, (unseen or other) when mistakes and customer satisfaction are on the line, a proofing process with clearly defined limitations (buyer beware) if steps are automated or using technology that is digital and easier, but may compromise accuracy as a hard proof. Customers can be offered workflows and price considerations when opting for a "digital process" to approve files, but doesn't mean they are entitled to the same error correction process and price adjustment when issues arise after printing.

 

[hojoclan]

Originally posted by maac View Post
The customers will eventually all fall in line.


This sounds like my new boss, he bought the company a couple of years ago and has become obsessed with web2print. We already did some and we even have on own coders and use our own in house software and templates specific to various customers needs etc but then he brought another person he worked with elsewhere and between them their attitude has become very much "Its my way or the highway" the only problem is several customers I've done work for for years have decided on the "highway".
You may say that new tech will force customers to do it our way but they are paying for a service, and there will always be high maintenance customers who need to have their hands held and talked through the process, if you are willing to lose those then don't be surprised when it is you going through the pain of down sizing because a printer down the road is prepared to work with your old customers.
I have always thought of proofing a job to be invaluable even if it is done for in-house reasons, having another set of eyes check for errors etc, but when finishing work that combines various elements from multiple sources so the customer can okay it a hard copy is a no-brainer.
I think I must be in the minority, the measure twice cut once attitude seems to be dying.