Graphics Down Under
By Adrienne Palmer for Big Picture magazine
New opportunities in graphic applications may be right beneath your feet. Here, three shops show how floor graphics can maximise the space for your client's final products with interesting projects including a Metro station domination in D.C., a basketball court at Alcatraz and a newly renovated public park in Philadelphia.

The Big Wide Word: Marketing Tips for Wide-Format Shops
By Richard Romano for WhatTheyThink magazine (USA)
One of the challenges that a lot of traditional commercial printers have in making the transition to wide-format—either in part or in toto—is not in putting ink on a substrate, but in understanding how to sell wide-format, since it is a very different animal than small-format printing, and certainly different from traditional offset printing.

Do You Have the Follow-Through-Discipline --- to Self-Promote…?
By Sid Chadwick, Chadwick Consulting, Inc. American Printer magazine
“The battle of life in most cases is fought uphill, and to win it without a struggle is almost like winning without honor. If there were no difficulties, there would be no success; if there were nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to be achieved….Difficulties may intimidate the weak, but they act only as a wholesome stimulus to men of resolution…”….Edmund Burke, Business Stories, Anecdotes and Humor,  Joe Griffin

Colour management standards for the best print output
By  Paul Lindström for FESPA
Fairly early on in digital imaging it was realised that we needed standards, not only for the image files themselves, but also for colour encoding.

Wide Format: Much More Than Just Print
By Steve Bennett, Vice President, US Central Region Sales, Esko (www.Signindustry.com, USA)
Typically, signs, direct mail and printed collateral contribute to exposure, motivation and recognition of needs toward a product. These lower-value tools contribute to 30 percent of the buying decision. But research has demonstrated that 70 percent of purchasing decisions are made at the point of purchase.

Challenges In Sizing the Sign and Display Market
By Richard Romano for WhatTheyThink magazine USA
How big is the wide-format market? That’s not an easy question to answer, since companies that produce wide-format graphics, and even the subset generally classified as “sign and display,” are not easy to track and quantify. The situation was best expressed by Dr. Joe Webb last year: “the wide-format market is like Florida. Everyone is from somewhere else.” Strategies for Management determined largely where those somewheres were, and the largest original sources were:

inked
by Vince Cahill, Big Picture magazine USA
How European Union regulations are driving ink reformulations across the globe and what you can expect from new LED UV-cure and latex products

TRACKING DOWNTIME ON THE SHOP FLOOR
By Terry Combs, Screenprinting USA
Most shop owners think that their plants operate fairly efficiently, but taking the time to monitor production downtime often shows otherwise.

What Information Do You Need ….What Questions Need To Be Asked… To Make Better Decisions…?
By Sid Chadwick, Chadwick Consulting, American Printer (USA)

“What information do you need to make better decisions…. and to share with your department personnel?”…Question Posed By A Smart CFO --- To A Talented Plant Manager (who also has an accounting degree…!)

Italian web enterprise opens print market
By Graphic Display Community magazine (Europe)

Through belief and raw determination, one Italian print service provider has used a bold online model to win significant volumes of business throughout Europe.
Today pixart.it has the financial stability, hardware investment and experience to exploit the benefits of digital print technology on a huge scale. Graphic Display Community visited Marghera, near Venice, to find out more.

Make it POP

By Mike Antoniak - Big Picture magazine (USA)

Large format's advances have led to a growing impact at points of purchase

HP’s ‘Digital Print for Corrugated’ Summit: Getting the Ecosystem Right
Bob Leahey for InfoTrends
Color digital printing for packaging so far has been mainly for primary package printing—first in color digital labels where brand owners now spend about $3.2 billion annually, and more recently in folding cartons and flexible packaging, where digital print is really just getting started.

Workflow - It's All About Your Business
By Bryan Manwaring, SignIndustry.com
As a digital graphics printer, the key to profitability is a productive workflow. Keeping your equipment and operators productive is a requirement that directly affects your bottom line.

Learn about the history of Optimus MIS and the success it has brought to it's users
Africa Print Journal - go to pages 42 and 43
Nicola Bisset has brought Optimus to the Australian and New Zealand wide format sector and has enabled its users to improve their businesses with this valuable MIS and Sales Tool. She will be at the Sydney Visual Impact show in May.

10 Low cost marketing vehicles to try
By Patrick Whelan, Ameican Printer USA
As you peruse the following 10 marketing suggestions, you’ll find they are fairly easy to implement. But one caveat—don’t underestimate no. 10. You can’t just wing it and hope your sales improve.

Thomas Valjak talks about HP's plans for PageWide technology
Large Format Review magazine (UK)
In June 2014, HP announced it would ‘disrupt’ the US$1.3 billion production print market – previously dominated by monochrome light-emitting diode (LED) printers – with its PageWide technology; its existing small format inkjet-based PageWide Technology would be...

Stay Ahead with Accurate Sign Estimating Using Advanced Technologies

By Johnny Duncan, SignIndustry.com (USA)
Submitting the winning bid for sign projects is more challenging today than ever before. Click for some insider perspectives on optimizing your company efficiency with estimating.

Laminating Problems and Solutions: Let the Application Be Your Guide
American Printer magazine  
My buddy Steve Johnson at Copresco recently installed a Protopic III-540 laminating system at his Chicago area digital printing plant.“The lamination process enhances the aesthetics and adds value to printed pieces by giving the impression of higher quality and importance,” Johnson.“The new system increases our laminated book-cover capacity and provides better control and faster turnaround of clients’ projects.”

Wide Format Printing Technology and Trends for 2015
By Sophia Moore, American Printer magazine
Over the past few years, consumers have been treated to a fast paced innovation in the world of digital printing. This has seen an introduction of some of the best technologies aimed at meeting varying consumer needs this helping in business growth and satisfaction.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles
By Mike Antoniak and Jake Widman, Big Picture magazine USA

Tips on working with high-profile clients, special considerations for aviation, logistics of on-site installations, and the payoff of philanthropic work