Coloring Corporate Communications

While color is predominantly restricted to sales and marketing materials today, it will gradually be integrated into internal documents as well.

Color represents one of the largest growth areas for in-plants in the foreseeable future. In the four years from 1997 to 2001, annual impressions from production process color printing systems (25 ppm and faster) are predicted to skyrocket from 1.03 billion to 10.08 billion, according to the "U. S. Print On Demand Market Forecast 1996-2001" issued by CAP Ventures last year.

Offering in-house color reproduction services is an excellent way to capitalize on this dizzying growth, while providing customers with one of the most effective communication tools available. This color explosion could not come at a better time, as electronic distribution, distributed printing and shorter run lengths have combined to tighten many in-plants' monthly volumes.

Much of this color work will be produced on demand to allow frequent updates and more timely documents. Of the $19.43 billion process color market represented by corporations in a 1997 CAP Ventures survey of print buyers in large corporations, almost $4 billion would benefit from print on demand, while an additional $950 million would benefit from shorter runs and customization (see chart).

One New York law firm has been producing marketing materials in-house for several years. Today these materials are not only produced on demand, but are customized to contain descriptions specific to practice areas and geographic regions. The firm's manager of marketing support says that supplying unneeded information clutters communication with the prospect.

While color today is predominantly restricted to sales and marketing materials, color will gradually be integrated into internal documents as well. That's already happening at Stratus Computer of Marlborough, Mass. The worldwide supplier of computer systems and services is already producing human resources brochures, employee education schedules, compensation booklets and covers for internal reports of all types on a color copier-printer, according to Linda Phelps, a designer and desktop publisher in the firm's reprographics department.

Why would companies produce internal literature in color? As it turns out, it's not to impress employees. It's because color helps communicate information, which, as Phelps explains, is certainly as important when speaking to an internal audience as it is for an external audience.

Abundant Applications

Every department has documents that would benefit from colorful content: from the accounting department's financial reports and spreadsheets to marketing newsletters or stock updates created by the investor relations group. Additional applications include pages of product specifications, direct mail promotions, forms and technical and training manuals. The need for color is dictated by the need to clearly communicate key messages.

For internal memos, highlighting the background of key paragraphs helps readers identify crucial points. The addition of a single accent color to a black-and-white document can be performed on-line by fully featured, high-volume copiers. If in-plants are considering purchasing or upgrading high-volume units, the ability to add accent color should be a consideration.

Another option is spot color printing, the ability to add up to three on-line colors, plus black, to an electronic file during printing. Departments can use spot color in business graphics, artwork and illustrations that are part of reports, proposals and newsletters.

Most word processing and spreadsheet programs already offer the ability to assign color to either the background or foreground of text and graphics, so it's easy for users in all departments to add color to a variety of documents once they know output is readily available.

Color Motivates

Process color is certainly the most appropriate reproduction technique for materials containing photographic images and all high-profile corporate documentation. Color energizes sales and marketing materials and motivates prospects to purchase products and services.

Experienced in-plants often split jobs and run covers on process color devices, while using faster and less expensive spot color printers to produce interior pages. At Stratus Computer, for example, covers are often produced on a process color copier-printer and integrated with spot color pages. The spot color copier-printer has an insert drawer that permits color pages or other special stocks to be integrated into the document for on-line finishing.

Currently, spot color volumes tend to be higher because these devices represent much higher speeds and lower costs. Stratus Computer's central reproduction department produces an average of 80,000 spot color impressions a month, while averaging 25,000 process color pages monthly.

"We can produce 40 to 50 images a minute on our spot color printer, but only about five or six images a minute on our full-color unit," Phelps notes. "The difference in speed and cost helps us advise our customers on which device is the most appropriate."

Getting Started

It may be wise for companies that do not yet have a color device to start with a spot color printer, which is faster, less expensive and can also handle traditional black-and-white copying and printing, along with booklet making and on-line finishing. Most companies will offer both methods with the in-plant managing the workflow.

Not only are there different kinds of color output, there are different technologies at work, including ink-jet, thermal wax, dye sublimation and electrophotographic printing. The quality and speed of electrophotographic devices continues to improve and this technology is expected to dominate production of business documents. Accent color copying, spot color printing and process color copying and printing are all available with electrophotographic engines.

Ink-jet units offer an attractive package of high quality and low cost that will play an important role in both desktop and wide-format color markets. This technology is the runner-up to electrophotographic in corporate applications.

Even though electrophotographic devices produce attractive overheads, high-level presenters may chose to enhance their speech with the highest quality available—and that often means dye-sublimation printers. Photographic image quality and low equipment expense are advantages. On the other hand, these devices are slow, and expensive consumables drive the cost to $2 to $3 a page. Primary applications are presentation graphics and proofs.

Thermal wax has very limited application because it does not offer any price/performance advantages over other existing technologies and suffers from slow speed and high expense.

Color Means Complexity

The introduction of networked color output will encourage in-plants to rely more heavily upon resources provided by suppliers or outside consultants. Full-color devices are not plug-and-play. Publishing in color is at least 10 times more complex than black-and-white publishing.

Large file sizes complicate matters. Color matching is a continual challenge, since the same file produced on different printers usually yields different images. Converting images from RGB to CMYK devices further complicates the equation. Service and support are crucial issues in delivering high-quality color services.

In-plants that are not currently offering networked color output, and many of those that are, should ask vendors about help desk and on-site training, in addition to hardware maintenance. It makes sense for in-plant personnel and users to attend at least one or two seminars on color publishing techniques. Simply adding color to a document does not guarantee effective communications. Color is a tool that can be distracting if misused, so it's important that users learn how to apply it correctly.

Incorporating color in business documents can help to elevate the importance of the in-plant, while enhancing the appearance and effectiveness of communication vehicles.

Color Improves Performance

It is well-documented that color lengthens a reader's attention span and increases the amount of information that is retained and remembered. A recent study at Loyola College in Maryland demonstrated just how effective color is at improving performance in a business environment.

According to the study, subjects saved time sorting documents, scanning for specific words and comprehending a message when color highlights were used, rather than bold text, special fonts or no highlighting techniques at all.

In-plant managers can use these statistics as the basis for a marketing campaign within the organization to tout the benefits of both spot color and process color reproduction.

In-plants first need to survey customers to find out which applications would be the best suited to color, and then determine which type of color reproduction is most efficient.

Rick Clayton manages Danka's portfolio of networked color products. Over the last 20 years, he has been integrally involved in marketing color devices for both Canon and Xerox. For more information, e-mail Rick at

rclay75081@aol.com