Attendees at five upcoming conferences to hear about Nanography digital technology

Gilad TzoriLanda has announced that two of the company’s Nanography™ experts will participate in five upcoming speaking engagements designed to further educate and explain about this revolutionary category in digital printing. The two Landa exerts will be Gilad Tzori, Vice President of Product Strategy and Sharon Rothschild, Packaging Product Line and Segment Manager.

Details of the events are as follows.

NIP28 (An IS&T Conference) - September 9-13, 2012, Quebec City, Quebec
Gilad Tzori will present the NIP28 afternoon keynote address, “The Nanographic Printing Process”, on Wednesday, September 12 at 2 pm. Tzori will focus on Landa’s breakthrough technology and the qualities of Landa NanoInk™.

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Vision and digital technology required to deliver a stunning result.

10 deckchairsWhen the Arts Council England South West approached artists Becky Adams, David Mackie and Heather Parnell to commission a public work of art in the form of hundreds of different deckchairs to be sited on Weymouth’s promenade during the 2012 Olympic Games, their intention was to engage participants in creating unique patterns yet which together had an overall design quality. Weymouth & Portland achieved the honour of hosting the Olympic sailing events, so considerable effort went in to decorating and presenting the town.

Through a series of workshops; connecting the artists with local residents, schools, special needs centres, churches and groups; a number of ideas and themes for the deckchairs emerged. Local artists Sandra Stalker (a printmaker) and Kim Edwards (a textile artist) worked alongside  Becky, David and Heather in the process and assisted the workshop participants in exploring those aspects that make Weymouth and Portland distinct – and it was these that resulted in the creation of the three main themes: local architecture, seaside activities / nostalgia and the seashore.

A collective quality

With the workshops taking place over a year prior to the start of the sailing events; the artists gathered the material from the residents and developed the two core aspects of the project: ensuring a collective quality to the mass result, whilst maintaining the original creator’s idea. Of course, delivering such a variety of designs – all unique – required investigation into production methods with digital textile printing being the only viable route. Traditional methods would have been far too cumbersome and costly; the beauty of digital production ensured the quality of design was maintained, that vibrant, consistent and long lasting colours were achieved and the project kept to budget.

Heather Parnell and her fellow lead artists on the project have extensive experience of public art commissions and residencies, and share a fundamental belief in the power of the environment and participation to influence well being and quality of life.

“We liked this project because it looked like it would not only be fun, but give us a chance to embrace colour and seaside culture; from Punch & Judy to the prehistoric fossils of the Jurassic coast,” Parnell comments. “Additionally, we were also very interested in working with – and finding out more about industrial print and textiles.”

UK printed and manufactured

The final prints were produced for the project by a UK company using a Mimaki JV33 wide format dye sublimation printer. Whilst digital print was the only viable production method, it still presented a challenge to their supplier as every single piece of artwork required preparing individually, but as Parnell confirms, it had enormous advantages.

“Manufacturing the deckchairs in the UK and producing them digitally was for me, a great example of the wonderful versatility of contemporary commercial print. I did my first degree in fine art printmaking and [a screen printed] process could not have coped with so many individual designs.”

Modern digital printing processes

Although the core drive for this project was creative and community involvement, close tabs still needed to be kept on the costs. Parnell notes that this was only possible with the use of digital production. “Modern digital processes can provide single prints without set up costs breaking the bank,” she notes.

International visitors as well as the local residents of Weymouth and Portland have taken the finished works to heart, enjoying the new addition to their famous promenade and sharing photographs and opinion via blogs and social media sites. The project blog at http://olympicdeckchairs.tumblr.com has had visits from around the world and shows off a range of images taken as the project evolved throughout the last 18 months.

Parnell concludes, “Digital print has changed the possibilities of what is produced and by whom. The intensity and fastness of colour, sharpness of images, scale of production, small print runs, turnaround time and cost make it a very versatile, high quality and attractive option.”

The deckchairs featured throughout the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics on the Georgian seafront in Weymouth – home of the sailing and windsurfing regatta and a popular holiday resort on the South Coast of England.

Hybrid Services Ltd are the exclusive UK & Ireland distributors for Mimaki

www.hybridservices.co.uk

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Successful summer offers extended

podium pricesUK based printMAX has announced that due to the success of its summer offers, the large format print specialists have decided to extend these until early September.

The promotion began on the first day of the Olympics and has an obvious tie-in with the games. A blog has been published by the company showing their support for the upcoming London Paralympics. printMAX are extending the offer to end on the day of the closing ceremony of the Paralympics; the very final day of London 2012.

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The latest video instalment of Roland’s national tour of customers features Pace General Manager Neil Tucker discussing his satisfaction with the Roland VersaCAMM SP-540i and Eco-Sol Max inks.

Neil Tucker is a Roland user and proud of it

Pace operates from two sites, a purpose built production unit incorporating the creative suite and offset printing and finishing facilities, and a busy retail outlet in the town centre where their Roland VersaCAMM SP-540i printer/cutter is proudly displayed within sight of the shop floor. Pace’s “I’m a Roland user and proud of it” video can be seen at www.rolanddg.co.uk/iamproud.

Neil Tucker general manager says: “The VersaCAMM attracts plenty of attention from customers keen to discover what it can do and our showroom is full of great examples of its versatility. It will print anything from paper to banner material, gloss or matt vinyl and magnetic material.”

One look around the Pace showroom tells you that the company sets itself very high standards, and the superiority of Roland’s Eco-Sol Max inks and the harmony between the Roland printer, inks and VersaWorks RIP are essential to meeting those standards.

Says Neil: “Eco-Sol Max inks have been our ink of choice from the start. There are other inks available but we always wanted to use the ink that was designed specifically for use with Roland technology. It would be very easy to buy a cheaper unnamed brand but you never know what you’re going to get. With Eco-Sol Max, however, you know the quality will be first-class every time.

“The four-colour inkset allows us to match colours customers bring in. It’s durable, reliable and has never let us or our customers down.”

On a daily basis Pace are creating and producing graphics for signage, exhibition systems, banners and all manner of graphics and other items on their Roland. Neil says that the odourless ink allows them to run the Roland VersaCAMM for eight to ten hours a day without affecting staff or customers in the shop and its quick-drying properties mean they can offer a true on-demand service.

Pace use the larger capacity 440ml Eco-Sol Max ink cartridges which provide extra value for money and improved longevity. Yet even when cartridges run out mid-way through a job, Neil says the exchange is straightforward and results in no dis-colouration or lines at the point of changeover.

“We value our customers too much to risk using anything but the best equipment and inks. Having the Roland has helped grow our business and we can turnaround high-quality jobs, quicker. We’ve worked hard to earn a fantastic reputation for service and quality and wouldn’t chance throwing it away by cutting corners,” concludes Neil.

Tel: 0044 (0) 845 230 90 60

www.rolanddg.co.uk / www.rolanddental.co.uk / www.rolandforum.co.uk

Hybrid Services Ltd extends its current trade in promotion.

Mimaki_jv33-160

A £3,000 trade in allowance is being offered by Mimaki’s exclusive UK distributor, Hybrid Services Ltd, through its authorised reseller network to customers intending to invest in a Mimaki CJV30-160 printer / cutter or JV33-160 wide format printer.

Hybrid Services pointed out that with market leading print speeds, ultra high print quality, a substantial software package, including powerful PostScript Level 3 RIP software (and cutting plugin software with the CJV30), over 3.5 litres of vibrant and outdoor durable Mimaki SS21 ink, a powered take up unit and valuable, fully comprehensive two year warranty, both solutions are widely regarded as being the professionals' choice.

National sales manager, John de la Roche, describes the offer in more detail, “Any prospective customer looking at investing in either of these Mimaki machines is assured a £3,000 trade in allowance for their 24” or wider inkjet printer,” he said.

Mimaki_cjv30-160“Talk with Hybrid or any of our authorised resellers and we’ll put together an attractive proposal taking your existing printer into account. A CJV30-160 or JV33-160 could deliver a massive advance in productivity so it’s a great time to invest.”

Further information and full terms and conditions can be found by visiting www.hybridservices.co.uk or calling 0044 (0) 1270 501900.

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Special summer promotion on machine orders.

UK based printMAX, the Roland large format printer specialists, has just announced a summer price promotion on machine orders throughout August. With offers across the entire Roland range along with some unique and intriguing finance rates.

printMAX podium-promo[1]Not only are printMAX reducing the price of the printer units but they’re also throwing in a selection of freebies to make the offers even more enticing, resulting in a more cost-effective investment for the customer.

Managing Director, Michael Bolton said: “We like to give our customers a little bit extra, whether that’s a great offer, free inks or a great media bundle. We’re aware that the old Tesco slogan ‘every little helps’ rings true with a lot of businesses so we will always do our utmost to ensure we exceed expectations.”

Free additions thrown into the packages include media bundles of up to £750, free ink upgrades, membership to istockMAX along with printer specific packages such as BOFA units and cabinets.

To find out more contact their sales team on - 0044 (0) 800 567 7676 or visit www.printmax.co.uk

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IG

Since International Greetings adopted a Roland VersaUV LEC-540 printer/cutter for prototyping its creative greetings products, its designers spend up to 40 per cent more time doing what they do best: designing innovative products for clients.

International Greetings Dion Hester and the Roland DG VersaUV LEC-540 The VersaUV LEC-540, a 54-inch wide, CMYK, white-ink and clear gloss enabled UV-inkjet integrated printer/cutter has transformed the £70m turnover company’s workflow beyond recognition. Instead of creating proofs and prototypes through a series of long and slow processes such as thermal transfer and foil blocking - until recently the industry standard - the company now prints its prototypes onto the very media the final versions will be printed on. This gives clients a proof that is almost an exact match for the final product in look and feel and dramatically reduces the time taken to create these prototypes.

“The new machine’s been a real godsend and has opened up a massive range of opportunities by really pushing our business forward,” said Dion Hester, Designer, International Greetings. “As our products had to be manually created before, our design studio had restrictions on what could be developed, due to the time and resources we had to commit to building each new concept. However, with the ability to now print CMYK plus white ink, emboss, crease and contour cut all from the one device, we can quickly mock-up items that are almost an like the real thing – this is a real treat for our design studio and most importantly the result is clients who are very happy with a highly creative, quality prototype.”

When exploring the market for a new prototyping solution it was the gloss and white applications combined with Roland’s integrated print and cut technology that first caught International Greetings’ eye. With white and gloss, the VersaUV LEC-540 can create remarkably rich colours and effects such as matt and high-gloss finishes in a choice of textures and patterns, including the ability to simulate UV varnish and embossing. Foil is something International Greetings uses often and Roland’s UV printing technology allows the VersaUV LEC-540 to print directly onto these types of media, while blocking out sections of the design and using the gloss to bring in satin effects where needed.

“White ink and embossing effects are functions we use often and this is constantly growing as our designers experiment with ever more creative designs and applications. This machine has in many ways released our designers’ imaginations from the constraints of time and budget that were associated with manual prototyping,” said Dion.

Dion often undertakes his own projects in-house to showcase the machine’s capabilities to the rest of the team in order to fuel the atmosphere.

The VersaUV LEC-540’s compact design and small footprint meant it could be installed right next door to International Greetings’ design studio and because there was no need for additional ventilation in their work area there was no disruption or extra costs to the installation.

“The install and the continued running of the machine has all been painless. We were up and running from day one and producing client work with it by the end of the first week,” he said.

On getting to grips with the machine, the company entered Roland DG’s worldwide creative awards competition with its innovative work producing Christmas crackers, earning an honourable mention from the judges. The case study involved printing 12 crackers as a presentation leaving gift for one of the company’s board members, printed on Mirri Silver Board using the VersaUV LEC-540 and EFI Fiery XF RIP software.

The printing process for this provided a real test for the Roland printer/cutter, which it passed with flying colours. In all, a total of five passes were undertaken: firstly a white layer of ink under certain parts of the design, followed by a CMYK pass, one pass of matt varnish and two differing levels of gloss varnish to create a varied emboss effect.

With the crackers, and in a lot of International Greetings’ subsequent work, the VersaUV LEC-540’s colour management capabilities came to the fore. Previously the company used foils and thermal transfers produced on different substrates on different devices, which led to inconsistency of colour on prototypes. Now, with a single device for all their prototyping work, they have greater control over colour and clients continually remark on the improved quality of proofs they are now provided with.

Dion has also been impressed with the Roland’s reliability but for added piece of mind the company opted for a RolandCare service and support package. He said: “When called upon, we have received impeccable service with our RolandCare warranty. I’ve been in the industry a long time and it is comparably the best service I’ve ever had. When they say they’ll phone back, they actually do, and whenever the engineer needs to visit you can be fairly sure you’ll pick up a new trick or two.”

Dion and International Greetings would not hesitate to recommend the VersaUV LEC-540 to other creative agencies and, just one year on, is considering installing another to relieve the pressure on the massively over-subscribed printer.

For further information on International Greetings, please visit www.internationalgreetings.co.uk or for details on Roland’s VersaUV LEC-540 printer/cutter visit www.rolanddg.co.uk

or call 0044 (0) 845 230 90 60.

24 students achieve first full qualification in digital print.

Walsall College Graphic Design students proudly holding their certificates Asfi, created by UK Walsall College, is dedicated to creating bespoke qualifications in conjunction with industry and employers, providing training and qualifications that are tailored to employer demands.

 The awarding organisation has worked in conjunction with several companies, including Accord Housing and Roland DG, to develop short, nationally recognised and accredited qualifications, delivered largely in the workplace.

 The asfi ‘Award in Basic Principles of Large Format Digital Printing’ course is the first full qualification the organisation has accredited and meets specific training needs within the signmaking industry.  Created in conjunction with global wide-format printer manufacturer, Roland DG (UK), the new course aims to promote quality digital print and professional and safe performance within the digital print environment.

 Students were formally recognised for their achievements during an award ceremony at Walsall College’s Jerome’s Restaurant on Monday 2^nd July.

 Carl Jordan, Director of asfi said: “We are delighted to be celebrating the success of students on our first full qualification.  Asfi works with businesses to create recognised training through units and qualifications that are tailored to meet specific employer and industry skill needs.”

 Gillian Montanaro, Head of Marketing of Roland DG (UK) said: “Working with Walsall College and asfi, individuals are able to keep up with the fast moving technology within the Signmaking and Graphics industry.  Students can attend training programmes that keep their skills set up to date and obtain hands-on wide format print production experience.”

 The 24 successful candidates included a group of Walsall College Graphic Design students, who took the course to experience the production and reprographics side of design first hand, and understand what it takes to realise and produce their creative ideas.

 Graphics tutor at Walsall College, Kevin Myler said: “In today’s competitive job market, the need to obtain as many design related qualifications and first-hand experience is essential to maximise the student’s employability prospects. Future employers want to see real desire and ambition in anybody they take on, and the award is a step in this direction. This qualification is part of new initiatives within the department of Graphic Design that aim to engage the learners with employers and industry standard resources.”

Walsall College

http://www.walsallcollege.ac.uk/courses/signmaking/intermediate-apprenticeship-in-signmaking/

Roland

http://www.rolanddg.co.uk/support/academy/

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New range launched to meet rigorous demands of wide format printing

Sun Chemical, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of printing inks and pigments, has launched a new range of solvent-based inks it hopes will meet the rigorous demands of the latest wide format printing equipment.

Sun Chemical - Wide Format PrintingThe Streamline ESL HPQ and the Streamline Ultima HPQ range has been designed specifically for use in wide and super-wide format printers which use high-quality solvent based inks. Sun Chemical commented that with the ever increasing pressure and developments of the print market, it is continuously making improvements to product performance to ensure that they are of the highest quality and meet the needs of this expanding market.

The company said the new ranges have been developed following extensive feedback of customer needs to provide high print reliability and print quality.

Nick Goodall, The Colour Crew General Manager, who participated in the beta testing scheme for Sun Chemical’s Streamline Ultima HPQ commented: “We’ve had a very positive experience with Ultima HPQ - no problems at all! We had an issue with blocked ink heads with our previous ink system which increased the amount of down time. Cleaning and replacing them was a significant cost to the business. Essentially, with Sun Chemical’s Streamline ink system, we’re getting the highest quality ink product and performance at half the price of OEM.”

Another participant in the beta testing scheme Steve Moralee, Director, AM Printshop Ltd, also said:  “We are very impressed with ESL HPQ because we are now also much more in control of our ink outlay. In the past, the amount of ink we used on a job was so varied that it was difficult for us to estimate the total production cost. Sun Chemical’s new Streamline ink system has provided us with excellent print quality while reducing our material costs by over 50 per cent. This means that we are now in a position to compete commercially on a national level, creating a whole host of new business opportunities.”

Sun Chemical Streamline range Sun Chemicals added that the new additions to the Streamline range have been carefully matched to the original products for colour shade and strength as well as physical properties, enabling customers to continue to use all the existing settings when converting from the original inks.

The company maintains that both ranges have very high print quality that exceed OEM product performance in many cases and also feature excellent adhesion to a wide range of media commonly used in the sign and graphics markets.

For more information visit www.sunchemical.com/streamline

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