Think Big

Looking for a way to increase services and business? Realize the benefits of printing large, high-quality color pieces.

WHEN you want to grab someone's attention what do you use? Yes, color would be one solution, but even orange can look washed out if it's not big enough.

So what's big enough? Try 36x48˝ on for size. Got your attention yet?

Wide-format color printing is not a new phenomenon. But a lot of in-plants are catching on to the attractive format size used for big jobs like posters, banners or important charts, such as those used for congressional hearings.

The latter is printed by the Department of the Treasury's Printing and Graphics Division in Washington, D.C. Director Kirk Markland says he uses his LaserMaster (now ColorSpan) DisplayMaker Professional with Color Mark Pro 1600 mostly for presentation materials.

"Our biggest uses are for special event posters, announcements and for charts that are used in congressional testimonies when the secretaries go to the Hill to [discuss] economic trends," says Markland. He also uses it as a proofing device for color covers in case multiple copies have to be made. This proves more efficient for the shop, he says.

The 34-employee in-plant turns out about 60 jobs a month on the printer, Markland says, providing a valuable resource for its clients and other governmental departments.

"We function as a service bureau for the Internal Revenue Service, Customs, Secret Service and the Mint," says Markland. "The DisplayMaker has allowed us to provide better quality products, and it's less labor-intensive and more efficient."

In the past, the in-plant printed posters in black and white, took them to a stat camera and blew them up.

"The camera only went up to 20x26˝ I believe," Markland recalls. In order to achieve color, the shop would have to literally cut out color strips and paste them onto bar charts. "Now we can do all the art work on the Mac and send it straight to the printer," he says. The result: a professional and high-quality product.

Getting the word out about their DisplayMaker is pretty effortless with employees telling other employees about the service offered. "People know of our capabilities," reiterates Markland, "and they tell others."

The shop is currently developing an intranet site to let more customers know about its services.

Fade To Blah

In the past, the longevity of inks has been a problem, with environmental conditions causing them to fade. Sandra Crowley, vice president of corporate communications at ColorSpan, says there will be continued improvement in inks, but whether they will fade or not depends on where the actual product is placed.

"If you hang a poster out in direct sunlight, in the middle of an Arizona summer, then the ink is not going to last as opposed to somewhere else with less lighting," she says.

But Kodak Professional's Francis McMahon says that his company has a unique ultra-violet ray protection in its inks that is guaranteed for 30 years inside and one year outside.

"We can actually hang a poster in our homes for 30 years without a change to it," says McMahon who's the director of national accounts and manager of segmentation marketing. But what if you want to hang it on your front porch, where the sun hits it just right?

If all else fails, lamination is another tool that adds protection to your documents. It also adds life to colors by bringing them out with that "luminous" look.

Several benefits of laminating your documents are:

• Protection from scratching.

• Protection from moisture and UV rays.

• Cost savings due to elimination of the need to buy glossy paper stock.

Solutions: Fade to Bright

Advancements are being made in wide-format ink durability. According to Crowley and McMahon, things are only going to get better.

"Inks are either light-fast or water-fast and [in the past] did not run a wide gamut," notes Crowley. "Now, more brilliant colors are available, and the fact that [the industry] is going to eight colors has been a tremendous advancement."

The capability to take a pigmented ink and give it a die-based quality gives it a better image, says McMahon. "Previous inks were not archival, meaning they could fade in a week or a month, and you couldn't hang them outside where direct sunlight would be."