Features

Fespa 2015 promises not only to refresh your own large-format digital print knowledge, but to wake-up the creative community to its potential.

To many printers what Consolidated Printing founder Marilyn Jones has to say on the issue environmentalism is an alien concept. But should we be learning from it?

When other printers come to visit Consolidated Printing in northwest Chicago, they invariably spot that one thing is missing. Why, they ask, is their no external exhaust fan in the pressroom? The answer is simple: the company, which produces everything from media packs to digital colour printing and signage, doesn’t need an exhaust because it doesn't produce any harmful emissions when printing.

Walter Hale looks to the past to help you face a future where change is all around.

Is print a creative industry?

That’s the question I recently put to John Kampfner, CEO, Creative Industries Federation.

“I’ve never wanted to own a big company; I want a small company where I know what’s going on but that punches above its weight. My philosophy is to keep one step ahead of the competition in terms of technology to do that.

You know the saying “If you’ve got it, flaunt it”. Well Displayways is doing just that with its new printed graphics flooring application.

Steve Collins, wide-format inkjet product and channel manager for Agfa Graphics UK, explains its ‘technology meets creativity meets technology’ strategy.

The advancements in inkjet technology have certainly been a driving force behind an explosion of ideas. Major improvements in speed and quality have allowed people to push the boundaries of wide-format inkjet technology and with the evolution of UV printing and the ability to print directly onto the surface of different types of substrates, virtually anything is possible. We are now witnessing an increase in diverse applications used by graphic designers and architects as printing directly on materials such as glass, wood and ceramics becomes more commonplace.

BS 11000 is a standard for collaborative business relationships. Andrew Bury from validation company SGS UK argues why you should look towards becoming accredited.

“No man is an island” according to poet John Donne. And neither is any business if the trend towards collaboration is anything to go by.

The retail sector is under pressure from online shopping and the recession but is this good or bad news for wide format providers? Nessan Cleary investigates.

The retail sector is an important source of work to the wide-format print community so it’s a no brainer that we keep up to speed with trends and developments impacting upon the type and levels of work we can produce for such customers.

It’s easier to sell wide-format graphics if you can demonstrate how effective they are, but how easy is that? Nessan Clearly finds out.

The HP Latex 3000 was designed as a production machine but can it handle both image quality and high speeds? Nessan Cleary puts it to the test.

Last year we tested HP’s 26500 entry-level latex printers but there are also several larger models so we’ve been back to put the top of the range Latex 3000 through its paces. This is a fairly large roll-to-roll printer, capable of taking media up to 3.2m or two rolls up to 1.6m each side by side.

The Chinese brand Longier is offering a reasonably priced flatbed printer, but how well does it perform in practice? Nessan Cleary asks user Paul Serellis of Eazy Print in Eastleigh.

From time to time you come across a new player in the wide-format inkjet printer market, such as Longier. Its range is built in China but now available in the UK and Europe courtesy of Gary Hall of Hallmark Equipment Services. The first of these was installed over the Christmas period at Eazy Print, based in Eastleigh in Hampshire.