Proofing

[Muddy]

I'm new to the digital print world with the aquisition of a KM 6501. We are having great success with it already and think we made the right decision.

Coming from the offset world EVERY job gets an Epson hardcopy proof. What is the practice in the digital world?

We don't do walk in as we are in an industrial park so if we are emailed or FTP'd files with a quick turnaround often we can produce the job before we show a proof to the customer. I'm really big on "touching" customers as often as I can so proofing gets me in front of them on a regular basis so it serves that purpose as well.

I know most of you are going to say selective proofing that depends on the scope of the job but I guess I'm just looking for a general consensus of common practice.

 

[che.c]

Selective proofing that depends on the scope of the job.

Nah really though, that is the score. If you proof for colours and try and run the job a week later (or later the same day ), it's often tricky to hit the exact same colour - so print two copies if you're going to do that, one for them, one for you.

Mostly we just use pdf proofs.

If it's a fussy customer over colour, calibrate, print a proof. Get it passed, then calibrate and run the job. And hope the temperature and humidity are the same. And that the print pixies are in the same mood too.

It's worth bearing in mind that doing a proper proof on digital is basically printing one copy of the job and stoppping, so there should really be a cost to that. On the other hand, if the job has no changes to be made to it, then the once it's passed, is already sitting in the RIP ready to rock.


If you wanna feel up the customers then just deliver the jobs personally and bask in their warm and grateful joy over the stellar quality print you've just served up to them.

 

[mattbeals]

Would it be of benefit to be able to publish the PDF as a flash document so the customer can see it on line for proofing? It is possible to preflight and correct the document on uploads/submission, present the preflight report in the flash document/browser and highlight the changed objects. You can even allow for commenting for approvals and such.

 

[Craig]

It's kinda a loaded question based on the customer. Some of our customers are just fine with a PDF proof, we do have a disclaimer that states the colors on their screen may or may not match the final output. But for the rest of our customers they will come in and sign off on a print form the 8000AP. I really have very little problems hitting that same color again after they proof it, unless they change the developers or drums between the proof and the run.

 

[Keith]

I know most of you are going to say selective proofing that depends on the scope of the job but I guess I'm just looking for a general consensus of common practice.

Most of the time, it's a customer created file. They get no proof, mainly, because there is not enough time. If we create the file, most will get a PDF emailed to them. Apparently, they want the job fast, not good. Like Craig, we will print a proof from the "press", most of the time right on the stock they requested and rarely have trouble hitting the color. If the job is not going to be printed immediately, we'll print two copies (like che.c does), again, with little trouble hitting the color. But hard proofs are rare for me because 90% of the time they need it fast and they don't have time to look at a proof.