The paper problem - no specifications

Typically paper - the most used printing substrate - accounts for some 30-50 percent of the overall print project cost. And despite the fact that it is also often the most expensive component of the final presswork it's surprising that there are no published standards, specifications or trade customs in the paper industry.

The assignment of a particular grade to a quality category and the establishment of sales policies are made by each paper mill based on its own internal evaluation of its products relative to those of its competitors. 

That makes direct, objective, competitive comparisons between different papers virtually impossible. 


The color of paper is identified using adjectives like "cream","natural", "white", etc. rather than objective definitions such as the CIEL*a*b* coordinates that printers use. Again, there are no specifications or tolerances provided by mills as to the consistency of a specific paper color either through the stack, roll, or when the same brand is supplied by mills located in different regions.

The brightness of the sheet is one common measure of distinction. It is measured by comparing the amount of light reflected by the paper surface to the amount of the same light reflected by the surface of magnesium oxide established as the standard of 100%. A common term used in quoting the measure is “G.E. brightness,” although G.E. no longer manufactures the measuring instrument. "Brightness" is also not a measurement that printers or buyers can measure themselves. Even though variation is part of every manufacturing process, there are no defined tolerances for paper brightness.

There are no specifications or tolerances or even notification of optical brightener agent content. This has become a major issue as the mills have mostly switched from clay fillers to calcium carbonate. This problem has resulted in the fact that papers today, for the most part, no longer meet the ISO 12647 specification. Papers with optical brighteners are impossible to visually match between printing technologies which can cause severe disconnects between proof and presswork as well as greater color shifting as presswork and proof are viewed under different lighting conditions.

"Caliper" defines the thickness of paper, measured in thousandths of an inch, which can also be expressed as a point size - e.g. If the caliper of a paper measures .009 inches it is a "9 point" stock. As paper caliper varies, presswork color may also vary. But again there are no defined tolerances for paper caliper either through the stack, roll, or across the width or length of the sheet.
If the sheet metal used in car manufacturing was specified and toleranced with the same technical rigor as a sheet of paper is for print manufacturing - the cars would likely be undrivable.

Aurasma - Augmented reality that might replace QR codes?

After becoming very popular in Asia and Europe, QR codes are just beginning to gain popularity in North America (for more on QR codes click HERE). However a new technology that recognizes images captured by a smart phone or tablet device can do many of the things QR codes can do - without the QR code itself. In this report by the BBC note how the Aurasma technology brings printed materials to life.

A report from the BBC on the Aurasma technology, a 15 second ad precedes the 2 minute video.

A demonstration of Blippar augmented reality which also uses image recognition to bring interactivity to print.
Of course walking around holding out your smart phone as demonstrated in the video may not be a smart idea in some cities.

U.S. Postal Service uses wrong art - printer gets the blame

Why is it that the printer is always blamed when there's an artwork mistake?

Recently the U.S. Postal Service released this new 44 cent stamp:
honoring Liberty Enlightening the World, better known as the Statue of Liberty. The U.S. Postal Service issued a press release about the new stamp stating: "The statue, located on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, was designed by French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi."

Unfortunately, that is not the statue featured on the stamp. Instead it is a half size replica located in front of he New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas Nevada.
Liberty lighting the way in Las Vegas.
The original on the left and the replica 2,600 miles away in Las Vegas.
The original press release (now updated) makes no mention of the statue shown on the stamp being the Las Vegas replica rather than the New York original.

Unfortunately Time magazine referred to the Post Office error in these words: "Even the Post Office didn't pick up on the printing error" and "perhaps the original message of the stamp has been lost in the misprint" (Click HERE for the full Time magazine story).

It seems that the printer always gets the blame when things go wrong.

Errol H. R. Etienne - April 28, 1941 - April 22, 2011

I first met Errol Etienne when he had a graphic design studio in Montréal, Québec. My wife was his "mechanical man" and prepared all his camera-ready artwork. He was a profound influence in my attitude towards the graphic arts as he epitomized the complete commercial artist excelling at design, illustration, photography, and typography.
A few pages from "Brown Things" a self promotion book written and illustrated by Errol and screen printed on handmade Japanese paper.
Étienne was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1941, but spent most of his childhood in Québec, Canada. At the age of 27, in 1968, he graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, California.
The "Incredible Fuzzy Wonder Book" a small promotional book featuring various moustachioed celebrities including Errol and partner Jim Carpenter produced during his brief Toronto stay.
In the mid-seventies he moved to Vancouver, Canada, where he did business under the name of the "Frog and Bison" "Frog" being a reference to his years in Montréal, Quebec, and "Bison" for a former associate in Montana. At that time Errol also operated a studio/gallery, the "Frog and Swan" with artist/calligrapher Robin Arkell. Errol embodied no-compromise professionalism: "I don't let people make changes in my work because it's so personal. I know production and what the job needs, and the only thing that's important is the end product. How you get to that is the problem because the only standard is that it must be excellent. There is really is no excuse for a mediocre final product."

Errol's career veered off track in the early 1980s due to illness and it wasn’t until after a liver transplant in 1994 that he could return to his craft, but found the need to work differently in a different market. “When I came out there were computers and everything had changed for graphic designers.” So Errol gave up graphic design work and with his wife Jan became a vagabond and worked in a “mobile studio,” a GMC motorhome that took them across the country, painting, meeting with collectors and selling his work at private shows and small town markets.
"The light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long - and you have burned so very, very brightly."

Competition - A lesson from the 2002 Olympics

Competition is at the core of most business ventures - including printing. Sometimes a lesson for success can be learned from other competitive endevors as in this one provided by Steven Bradbury at the 2002 Olympics.

Steven Bradbury (the tall guy) competing at the 2002 Olympics. Click the "Play" arrow to watch this short video.
Proof that it pays to never give up, regardless of how you may be viewing the competition from your current vantage point.

The graphic arts vendor tour

Usually we try to find a graphic arts vendor at a certain location - but sometimes the vendor is the location. So pack your luggage, make sure your camera is loaded with pixels and take a trip to these vendor brand tourist traps.

Dip your toes in pristine placid Agfa Lake located in the State of New York. It's a popular weekend destination since Agfa Lake is a just a short three hour drive from Kodak's headquarters in Rochester NY. Although Agfa Lake bears a similarity to one of the Great Lakes it is not quite on the same scale.
Adobe Arizona is sometimes confused with the much smaller rival town of Double Adobe which is also in Arizona. Adobe has a certain sameness to it that is shared by many Arizona towns. Interestingly there are no working bridges in Adobe.
Canon is a city in Franklin County, Georgia, United States. For some reason there's a great deal of statistical information on the internet about Canon (the city). Population is about 755, and there are 315 households, 221 families, and 361 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 94.97% White, 2.52% African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.26% Asian, 0.66% from other races, and 1.46% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.19% of the population. And on and on and on.
Although it's a small city, it hosts a lot of newspapers including the American Union, The Free Press and the Universalist Herald, the Franklin County Register, and the Canon Echo. So, despite there being a great deal of Canon printing the name may not always be top of mind when one thinks of print.

Esko is an unincorporated community in Carlton County, Minnesota, United States. Most of the residents are descendants of Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish immigrants who settled the area during the early 20th Century.
In the year 2000, the population of Esko was approximately 4100. For some undocumented reason the population has been steadily increasing over the last several years. Although once Esko gets incorporated that growth may not continue.
Fuji is located on the banks of the Fuji River and enjoys a warm maritime climate with hot, humid summers and mild, cool winters. The city has been home to numerous paper factories including Nippon Paper Industries (former Daishowa Paper Industries) and Oji Paper Company since the Meiji period. It is also known for producing a few well known soccer players.
Heidelberg probably has the largest geographical tourism footprint of all considering there's a Heidelberg Germany:
A Heidelberg, Mississippi:
A Heidelberg, Pennsylvania:
And even a Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia.You might say that if Heidelberg is on your itinerary, you've got a complete tourist experience with one destination.

Kodak is actually a very tiny community in Tennessee. There's a street intersection where two different roads cross each other:And a "Trade Center"And that's about all that's left.

Screen, in Ireland, is popular with tourists, but it often appears on maps under a different name - which can make travel a bit confusing. Some maps don't list it at all and even satellite images of Screen try to blur the location.
Xerox is a community in Florida that can be a bit hard to find since most communities in Florida are just duplicates of each other while internet travel sites try to point searches to Xerox offices instead.

From pressed steel toys to presswork

Recently I purchased a 1940s toy dump truck at auction.

Doing a little research on the background of the toy I discovered that "Lincoln Specialties", or as it was more commonly known, "Lincoln Toys" has an interesting connection with printing. The company that made it - "Kay Manufacturing" - was founded by father and son team, Haven and Fredrick Kimmerly in Windsor Ontario. With the Second World War raging in Europe, business was good and they received government contracts to build ammunition boxes and truck fenders for the Canadian Army. Their products also included bicycle carriers and kickstands as well as automobile visors and the ultra-collectible steel "Coca-Cola" licensed coolers.

But as the wartime economy slowed down new products were needed to replace the loss of government contracts. They decided to focus the company's efforts on the burgeoning post-war baby-boom toy market. So, the Kimmerlys set up "Lincoln Specialties" in 1946 in order to market their new "Windsor Steel"-made products and by 1953 the toy selection had grown to over 24 different styles of trucks in three different sizes and two different cab designs.

Unfortunately, despite their succeses, increased foreign competition and unsuccessful bids to win back automotive contracts that were abandoned during the toy boom forced Lincoln Specialties out of business in 1959.

Fredrick Kimmerly (1920 - 1985), who was always artistically inclined, had admired how printers had lithographed the decals on his trucks and the products they carried.So, in 1968 he launched Standard Printing as a family owned business specializing in thermography, and embossing. The business continues to this day under the stewardship of Fredrick's eldest son Paul, his wife Lori and their two children.Sadly, Paul does not own a Lincoln toy himself - but he does own the original English pressed steel toy that served as the prototype for the now, highly, collectible Lincoln toy trucks.

Predictions for 2011 - well, specifically about the print industry

Interestingly there don't seem to be many pundits going out on a limb and making predictions for what will be the big issues in print in 2011. So I've gathered what little I could find (even if they're a bit weird), edited them for brevity, and added a few of my own.

Gartner: Predictions for 2011 an [sic] Beyond

Each year Gartner puts the focus on the decline in pages and stagnation of printer shipments, but yet they state “the value of print continues to increase. When done well, print is a key revenue-generating component of multimedia communications.”

Key Predictions:

• Cloud Printing Services (CPS) "anywhere, anytime access" will drive rapid acceptance by global 1,000 companies.
• More and more, the growth of electronic communications, especially voice and video, will also cut directly into the print market, reducing its revenue by 10% by the end of 2014. By 2014, 90% of global 1,000 companies will implement CPS for mobile personnel.
• In the office environment, managed print services (MPS), which reduce costs and improve workflows, is accelerating growth to the point that more than 50% of large organizations worldwide will employ MPS by 2015 to purchase and manage their print assets.
• Combined with other practices such as "pull printing," CPS can simplify IT support requirements and drive cost savings as well as user acceptance by effectively separating a computer's or mobile device's operating system from the print function. By 2015, 50% of office printing will entirely or partially circumvent the queuing and routing in Windows or another OS.
• By 2014, screen and application sharing and increased voice and video content will decrease printed page volumes by 10%.

2012 Doomsday Predictions: 2009-2012 Development Trend of Global Printing Industry

• By 2011, North America and Europe print market share will drop to 28% and 31%. Asia and other parts of the market share will increase to 30% and 11%, while the total value will exceed 720 billion U.S. dollars.
• In 2010, digital printing's share of the total increased to 14%. By 2020, about half of the world’s printed materials will go to digital presses for production. Variable data printing will be the main driving force for the industry.

Print Asia - Speculative predictions for the next decade

• The industry continues to be fragmented and without coherent leadership. By 2014 the industry will actually put forward a new generation of real print industry leaders that can think about the industry from beyond their own individualistic point of view.

Kendall Press Blog - 2011 Predictions for Marketing, Printing and Business Communications

1. People wanting to talk to people.
Out- impersonal phone trees and online form fill ins
In - tools - old and new that let individuals connect quickly and directly.

2. Customers Rule
Out - marketers pushing product, cookie cutter approaches, preaching
In - listening, helping, providing content of value to the consumer, preferably free but always fast ("in real time") and accurate

itdonutblog.co.uk/ - predictions for 2011 (desktop printers)

• The future is in the cloud. You won’t just be able to create and edit documents stored in the cloud, but you’ll also be able to send them to any printer you have permission to print on, from wherever you are located.
• There are additional features planned for printers such as newspaper feeds, where you can subscribe to your desired newspaper and have it printed at home ready for your morning cup of tea.
• Some new printers now have a high definition a digital camera built in. These can scan pages in less than a second, so look out for them in the next year.
• Expect the next year to be focused on smartphone and tablet connectivity.

My own predictions for 2011

I'm not sure if these are predictions or wishes for the new year or just rants.

• Desktop inkjet printer sales will go down as consumers do not replace the ones they have bought but don't use because of the ridiculous price of ink. I recycled my Epson printer in 2010 and do not intend to replace it since I can't afford the ink it takes to unclog the thing.
• Truth in advertising will continue to fail the consumer when it comes to marketing desktop printers.
• Government labeling regulations will continue to fail the consumer when it comes to desktop printer ink cartridge contents.
• Government anti-monopoly regulations will continue to fail the consumer when it comes to having a choice in ink suppliers.
• By 2012 the peak in large digital press sales will have occurred. Printers that were in the market to buy one have already done so. Vendors, banking on the sale of those large presses, will not be happy.
• The vendor and industry pundit mantra that the only future for print shops is in becoming a "full marketing services supplier" will be recognized to be the marketing hype that it is.
• Industry professional organizations will continue to fumble about and make member golf outings their priority.
• What few graphic arts schools will continue to graduate students prepared for jobs that vanished the day they first enrolled.
• By 2015 there will no longer be any print trade shows in North America.
• Graphic equipment vendors will hit the technical wall - it's not going to get any better because it's good enough as it is, and it's fast enough already, and even if it was cheaper no one can afford it anyway.
• QR codes will finally take root in North America (and won't need an explanation when they're printed).
• More people will quit Facebook than sign up.
• The "cloud" will arrive, settle, put everyone in a fog and when it dissipates it won't be mist.
• Most print shops will quietly go on with business as usual.

TRONitized - the influence of TRON on graphic art (well mine anyway)

In 1982 Disney released the seminal movie TRON, a film which wasn't a large commercial success but did become a cult favorite.It was a very different world back then. Mobile phones were the size of briefcases and very few people had access to a "real" computer but settled instead for machines like the Commodore VIC-20 and the Atari 400/800. If you didn't know what a spreadsheet or word processor was, then at least you play video games on the device.

TRON was the first film to really expose people to the potential of computer graphics and at the time had a big impact on my graphic design and illustration work.State of the art computer graphics when TRON was released.
What impressed most people about TRON were the glow effects. That is what they thought were the computer effects. But in reality the glow effects were done with old-fashioned non-digital methods which I was able to recreate in my basement photo studio.Recreating the TRON glow: from left bottom layer to right top layer: lith film negative, 1/4" thick frosted glass, colored acetate gel, lith film positive.
Photographing all the layers in register from directly overhead using an old vegetable crate turned into a lightbox created the glow "computer graphic" effect.
If needed, a second exposure (with a lith film mask) using a special lens filter (sometimes homemade using nylon stockings) would add a little sparkle.
It was a vary tedious process as I first had to plan then create the artwork. I used 2 1/4" x 2 3/4" film in a special holder on my 4"x5" view camera. Each image required several exposures depending on the complexity of the final effect. There was no way to preview how the final image would look, so the exposed film would be taken for processing late at night so that it would be ready for viewing the next morning. If anything was wrong, any small error in registration, or exposure, or a spec of dust in the image meant that it would have to be reshot.

Despite the complexity of the process, my illustration style based on this technique:
Was used for corporate brochures:
As well as the early promotions for Vancouver's 1986 World's Fair:
And product brochures:
Magazine covers:
And various editorial illustration applications:
Universally, art directors thought that I was a real wizard of computer graphics and was able to give them the high-tech look they were after - even though, secretly, all I used was hand drawn art mixed in with some old-school photographic film trickery.

TRON: Legacy will be released to theaters December 17, 2010.

A billion dollar printing fiasco - U.S. $100 bills made worthless by a "printing" error.

Was it a failure of basic print quality control?

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing has identified a problem in the new security enhanced $100 note. Apparently the notes have blank patches caused by "sporadic creasing of the paper" which were discovered only after the printing was completed.The Bureau's current visual print quality control system may be inadequate for the demands of this new level of security printing.
1.1 billion of the new bills have been printed but officials don’t know exactly how many of those bills are flawed. There is, however, speculation that as many as 30% of the bills are affected. It's estimated by officials that sorting the bills by hand could take 20-30 years. While sorting using a mechanized system may cut the time down to just one year.

Fed officials are working with staff from Crane and Co, suppliers to the US government of currency paper since 1879, to solve the problem. Crane and Co. have denied that the paper they supplied is the cause of the Fed's troubles.

Although the Bureau is now looking into automated inspection to find the defective bills, it does seem strange that, apparently, they don't already use an automated inline full press sheet inspection system.


Printing, inspecting, and packaging of defective $100 bills at the U.S. Federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
This problem means that the Federal Reserve will not have sufficient inventories to begin distributing the new $100 notes as planned and will instead be printing more of the old style bills in order to meet demand. One only hopes that the Fed will implement more stringent quality controls when reprinting the old style notes.The old style bills will be pressed back into service until the defective new bills are found and destroyed.
"I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong."
Benjamin Franklin - whose portrait graces the $100 bill was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a noted author, inventor, and most importantly a printer.

Printing plates

Inspired by the previous post I've continued on the automotive theme and discovered personalized car license plates - a.k.a. "vanity" plates. They are a great way to publicize your deep involvement in the graphics communications industry. Here are a few examples to inspire:
Here are a few more sent to me from Dan Pierce. Thank you!
And courtesy of Kevin P. Keane at IAPHC, The Graphic Professionals Resource Network: