News & Information for Creative Minds

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Michael Makin, CEO, Printing Industries of America joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable for an industry update, share details on their recent efforts to rebrand their organization, and some details on their services. Printing Industries of America has over 12,000 member companies and is the largest printing organization in the world. Michael explains that the printing and publishing industry is far from "dead"; it has in fact grown over the past decade contributing over $170 billion to the U.S. market. Although there have been consolidations in the over 37,000 plant facilities, their overall business is shifting from ink on paper to digital printing and services. PIA is very active in Washington, D.C. lobbying for postal rates and related issues and feels confident that they will continue to represent the industry effectively in 2009 and beyond.

Michael also explains the components that make up the Printing Industries of America, which include business issues and also technical/research programs through their Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF). PIA provides not only government lobbying, but technical support, and education programs that cover technical and business topics. Formerly known as PIA/GATF, Michael felt that the acronyms traditionally used by their organization were confusing the market and not serving their members effectively. This year, they have combined all areas under the "Printing Industries of America" brand.

The printing industry is a very close-knit family oriented business sector, and the organization has been serving their efforts since 1887. Earlier this year Michael produced a hilarious YouTube clip, which expresses PIA’s passion and commitment to their industry; "I Love PIA/GATF".

For more information about their association and services visit: http://www.printing.org.

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

This week, Jay Nelson brings a review of the best holiday gifts for your favorite designers. If you have any designer friends, you’ll agree that the most beautifully wrapped and thought out gifts you receive this year will be from them, so if you’re looking for a way to make their season bright check out his tips for ideas. Jay scoured the headlines and recommends; Pantone inspired mugs, custom designed items at CafePress or Zazzle and other sites, Verbatim’s retro Vinyl CD’s or Digital Movie DVD’s, or their Archival grade CD, Logitech’s Space Navigator, or NewerTech’s Voyager Hard Drive case.

For more on Jay Nelson and his Design Tools topics visit: http://www.design-tools.com

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Chad Siegel, Group Product Manager, Design Segment, Adobe Systems Inc. joins hosts Scott Sheppard, Gene Gable, and Jay Nelson to explain the latest features for designers in Adobe Creative Suite 4. Gene, an Adobe beta tester, feels strongly that this is Adobe’s most integrated application suite yet released since their acquisition of Macromedia in 2005. Chad confirms that this version is the most complete multi-media offering in terms of delivering a seamless, cohesive set of design tools for any creative professional.

Chad shares some anecdotes about the challenges Adobe faced in developing the integrated user interface and some of the benefits of now having an integrated UI across all components. Chad explains that their entire process from conceptualization, to testing in Adobe Labs, and final delivery have made most Adobe employees now feel like "kids in a candy store" with unlimited possibilities of integration and extensions among the platforms. A great example is Adobe Acrobat’s 9 integration of Flash technologies helping creatives develop interactive designs.

Some of the highlights include that the rendering and print engines have been integrated on the back end of the applications, what this means for designers is that now it’s easier to reliably export or output into a range of formats. Chad recently participated in the Adobe MAX 2008 North American Conference, held last week in San Francisco. He feels the key benefit of this conference was his ability to get live feedback and interact with users.

Chad also shares some tips on how the new 3D tools and overall video workflows within After Effects and Photoshop that can really open up some opportunities. Gene and Jay also open up discussions on how today’s economy can affect a designer’s ability to justify upgrading their software - Chad provides some key considerations that can expand a creatives capabilities which can not only bring them new business but open them up to new clients. Chad also explains that with the redesigned interface in Creative Suite 4, can also save time by requiring fewer keystrokes and with the tighter integration many fewer steps to accomplish the same tasks. Chad also shares a glimpse of some of Adobe’s future developments including the potential for a pay-as-you-go model currently being piloted in markets outside the U.S.

Find out more at: http://www.adobe.com, or see Adobe’s favorite social links by visiting: http://delicious.com/adobe/

For more on Jay Nelson and his Design Tools topics visit: http://www.design-tools.com

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Option-Click or Right-Click HERE to download this radio program (mp3)

Fabrizio Scippa, Creative Director/Signor Dettaglio & Marc Aguilera, Color Management Director/Eclectic Technologist from Encompus, Inc. join hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable for some hands-on tips about how they are using and have integrated color management tools into their design workflows. Encompus specializes in creating brands and identities for medium sized businesses and Fabrizio explains that color in the look of the brand is an extremely important element in their design philosophy. Since they often create brands for their clients across all mediums print to web, color consistancy is very important to them.

Fabrizio shares examples of how color has opened up many business opportunities for them. Growing up in Rome around a family business in interior design, Fabrizio has learned the impact of color in many forms. Marc, who has a photography background, works well with his team because he is able to accurately measure color elements in nature and successfuly are able replicate and communicate them for each project. Like many studios, Encompus sees color as being a top priority and Marc shares some details about their workflows and how they are able to maintain consistancy in their studio using standards such as GRACoL 7; share those color settings, calibrating their monitors and proofers. Marc shares that they provide each client with a document that "decodes" their brand colors within the various color spaces and is actively involved in color education speaking at seminars around the country.

Marc also shares some tips on how designers - who are often overwhelmed by the technology of color - can easily improve color consistancy in their designs with tips he’s presented in his discussions during the Color Control Freak seminars. His hands-on experience enable him to get the most of out available color tools from X-Rite, using their measurement and calibration devices in addition to relying on the Pantone Goe™ System and Pantone Matching System® swatches to acheive color they can rely on. Marc also explains how they use the EFI RIP designer edition to accurately match colors in their output.

Jay Nelson joins the chat with focused questions for Encompus about the Pantone Goe™ System and their ColorMunki. Marc shares a live client example where they were asked to match a terracotta tile color that after measuring it with the ColorMunki, found there was no exact match in the standard Pantone Matching System®. Fortunately for Encompus, when cross-referencing the color to the Goe system, they were able to identify an exact match that pleased the client and enabled them to

For more information about Encompus and examples of their work visit: http://www.encompus.com/

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay shares a great tip for a retro-plugin that will definately spark up your next design called Permanent Press by Mister Retro at: http://www.misterretro.com. This unique plug-in lets you create professional quality vintage offset printing and ink effects with any design, photograph, type treatment or image. Jay’s hot topic of the week is whether or not the design industry is ready to adopt the Pantone Goe™ System. The bigger question is are the printers using the newly defined Pantone Goe™ System base inks or are they using their existing inventory with some other matching techniques? Overall, the new color system offers a larger range of colors, organized it into a manner that addresses some of the flaws inherent in the older, but widely adopted Pantone Matching System®.

For more on Jay Nelson and his Design Tools topics visit: http://www.design-tools.com