Today's printing must function as a precision tool for communication. Printed materials must be accurate, timely and cost effective. Having the right imaging and printing solution in place can help optimise a company's creative workflow, drive time and cost efficiencies, and ensure the highest design work accuracy before going to a full print run. The design industry needs imaging and print solutions that enable it to focus on creativity and ambition.

The creative workflow

Technology plays a role at each stage and can help maximise the creative potential by reducing the time, effort and cost spent on issues such as colour accuracy, image quality and speed.

Capture and creation

Designers need the ability to synthesise input from many different sources and create a distinctive image that conveys a message about the product or company they are representing. An important aspect of the creation process is the generation of a variety of designs or photos that demonstrate different approaches to the product. Creativity cannot be realised without the methods and technology to transport it successfully to its final printed format. Designers can benefit from the colour precision, consistency and range of sizes offered by the HP Designjet 30 and 130 series. An important stage within capture and creation is the concept proof which is checked with the client to ensure the design is moving in the right direction according to design brief.

Proofing

When working through the proofing process from concept to finished artwork, proofing serves the designer three different purposes: to approve or correct a job before it is printed, to accurately show how the design will be realised when the design is produced, and to form a basis for agreement on what will be produced by the designer, customer and printer.

At each stage of this process, the quality of the document needs to remain accurate both on screen and on paper. Previous proofing methods could not deliver colour accurate copies between designer and client for approval electronically. New end-to-end digital solutions have now been developed for both designers and printers.

On top of HP's software RIPs to provide colour management, Best's Colour Management solutions work together with HP printers to guarantee the specifics of a document do not change significantly whilst the document is in the design stage and when electronically delivered to the printers. The colour management solution ensures that the colours being printed by the client are precisely the same as those sent by the designer. Best's Designeredition 4.0 has been developed exclusively to support the HP Designjets 30 and 130. In addition, HP and GretagMacBeth have collaborated to produce a colourometer that addresses differences between computer hardware. From designer to client the colours shown on screen can differ widely, GretagMacBeth's Eye One Display is placed over a monitor and used in conjunction with software to ensure the same colours can be seen on varying displays. An advancement on this is the Eye One Publish that can collaborate with the printer and media used to allow what is printed to represent exactly what is visualised on screen. This type of technology represents a major breakthrough in the problems caused by different pieces of hardware and media, between designers, clients and production. HP offers the GretagMacBeth Eye One Display in a bundle within the HP Designjet 30 and 130 series when sold.

The HP Designjet 30 and HP Designjet 130 are now on offer to facilitate the creative workflow process ensuring designers can rely on their proofs and benefit from a reduction in printing errors. These printers allow for high colour accuracy, professional photo image quality and exceptional fade resistance as well as the ability to print in a variety of sizes from A6 to A3+ and A3 to A1+ respectively. Colour proofs are an important stage within the creative workflow. For example it is imperative that corporate colours are the exact pantone when printed so that branding and recognition is reinforced. Colour proofs when signed off are a binding document for the print production team to work from. The HP Designjet 30 and HP Designjet 130 are able to produce prints of a quality that is high enough to be used in this way. Pre-press professionals can benefit from the HP Designjet 30/130 series through the ability to proof in a four up system (the option to print four pages to one sheet of paper) with colour stability being reached between 10 minutes and less than an hour depending on the media.

HP's media is designed to work perfectly with the new HP inks also launched with the Designjet. The new inks offer a fade resistance higher than other dye-based inks. Using the ink and paper together is key in the final quality finish.

Total solution

HP is dedicated to giving its customers a 'no mistakes' colour experience which not only takes the pain out of colour printing but also offers a colour consistency that was previously only achievable through the laborious and archaic offset production process. HP has the market position to be able to link creation, preparation and production and can deliver the extensive IT backbone to make it all work. HP has invested in identifying the key needs of the graphics professionals. The most important 'feature' professionals are looking for when it comes to imaging and printing solutions, is the colour consistency across their whole workflow. To make products which fit perfectly to the graphics environment it was critical to ensure they were part of the typical workflow. HP is the first in the market to deliver colour consistency through dedicated products, which provide best in class colour management hard and software components. HP offers product bundles with the appropriate colour consistency/management modules from Gretag Macbeth ranging from Scanjets to digital projectors, photosmart printers, Deskjets, Designjets and LaserJets. All are customised for the respective HP products. The solutions offered from HP gives the creative design industry the freedom and flexibility to print what they want, where they want and when they want using the consistency of colour accuracy across any HP ink, laser, design and Indigo platform. Together with HP, the creative design market now has an imaging and printing option for professional quality graphic design printing which delivers accurate colour and long-lasting professional image quality.