On Your Mark, Get Set, Print!

CGS-ORIS (Booth 432) is showing a renewed focus on packaging. “The packaging industry has potential for growth, but it has to deal with critical color issues in an increasingly competitive digital market,” says CEO Trevor Haworth. “Just as we helped publishers and commercial printers thrive in the midst of this kind of change, so too, we are helping every member of the label and packaging supply chain, from designers, to brand managers, and service providers.”

One development from drupa, ORIS XG Inks, are a new, extended-gamut eco-solvent ink set that includes orange and green. XG Inks give design and prepress firms the opportunity to prototype work just the way it will print. Managed by CGS’ ORIS Color Tuner // Web software, the combination of Roland VersaCAMM VS and ORIS XG Inks opens up a world of new possibilities.

CGS’ RealPro Packaging Suite, is an Adobe Illustrator-based workflow system and 3D visualization environment for labeling and packaging PSPs. As part of this suite, the RealPro Toolkit automates the label and packaging production process and reduces costs.

In addition, the booth features CGS’ approach to cross-fleet color management. ORIS technology has achieved success, most recently at Anderson/LA, a Consolidated Graphics company, where it was successfully used to unify color output over multiple devices, including proofing on Epson devices as well as printing on HP Indigo, EFI VUTEk, and offset. Also at the show, CGS partner Xerox (Booth 1200) unveils its Confident Color program, which features ORIS Press Matcher // Web for assuring consistent color on any digital press—even devices in multiple locations or from different manufacturers.

Mail-related services

Pitney Bowes (Booth 1238) is showcasing presort advantages, showing printers who mail how to achieve more by doing less. Its First-Class Mail and Direct Mail services provide postal savings and improved delivery.

Adding Standard Mail Drop Ship capabilities with a Pitney Bowes sorter can expedite direct mail delivery. The combination of lower costs, greater control, and quicker in-home dates can help grow customer business—and yours.

Bringing interactive print to life

Every printed page of this month’s Milwaukee Magazine is interactive, offering engaging reader experiences for editorial and advertising content, thanks to proprietary Actable technology from Quad/Graphics. The “Best of 2012” issue features 146 image recognition and augmented reality experiences that the publication’s more than 200,000 readers can launch on their Actable-enabled smartphones and tablet devices. Readers can go behind the scenes of a music studio, see a 3D gold watch pop off the page, hear the restaurant critic narrate dining listings, and kick extra points on a virtual football field.

“Quad/Graphics is leading the charge to be a technology integrator that will help our clients make print even more powerful in today’s multichannel media world,” says CEO Joel Quadracci. “Our goal was to show the many creative ways that interactive print can be used to produce even more engaging and powerful reader experiences.”

Linda Lundeen, Milwaukee Magazine Associate Publisher, adds: “Advertisers in the magazine showcased a variety of applications, including shopping guides, on-page videos, 3D renderings, social media sharing, photo galleries, and special offers. Advertiser interest was strong with many advertisers making commitments above and beyond their regular insertions. For example, 23% of advertisers purchased additional ad insertions in the issue, and 15% upgraded to full ad pages from partial ad pages.”

A video preview of the interactive issue is posted on the Milwaukee Magazine website. Quad/Graphics also has a video overview of interactive print solutions for publishers on its website.