Clancy . . . overflow . . . the best bits . . . funnies
This finishing technology, used to bind the pages of magazines, books and brochures, sparked what is claimed to be the first major revolution in book production since Gutenberg's invention of letterpress printing. Its inventors, German brothers, Hugo and August Brehmer, went from Leipzig to the USA, but found that the ties that bound them to their hometown were too strong and on their return they founded the plant at Leipzig Plagwitz in 1897.
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Business is looking up for creative firms in the USA. According to a new Trendwatch forecast more than one-fourth (28%) of design and production firms reported that business was "excellent, better than the last 12 months," up from 15% just six months earlier, while almost half (47%) of all design and production survey respondents expect that business in the next 12 months will be "excellent, better than the last 12 months," a rise from 35% since last year.
Mind, no good news is without its challenges and 51% of all creative firms cited 'pricing' (deciding what to charge for multi-media work) as a challenge, the highest it's ever been. Also in-house DTP - Clients doing their own desktop publishing work hit a record business challenge high of 49% this year - at 57%, graphic designers are feeling the pinch more than other creative markets.
If you want the full report www.trendwatchgraphicarts.com
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Digital printing is coming closer to imitating offset quality every day. Now Xeikon is introducing a transparent toner for a satin finish that is applied underneath the other colours. According to the press claim the result is a subtle satin finish, which enables certain components of the image to be given additional highlighting. Adding components that show up under UV light makes the toner suitable for security applications such as admission tickets.
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A document is a document, right? Not so, according to Xerox Research Fellow, Steven J. Harrington, who has developed the theory of document intents. He believes that while the underlying intent of a document is constant, there are more than 150 value functions that impact on its effectiveness. Attributes such as design, the user's comfort with the technology, whether it is easy to find necessary information, and feedback about completion, are all values that are quite independent of the content of the document.
The concept of document intents and ways to quantify the 'eye appeal' of document properties, such as aesthetics, formed the basis of a paper he presented to the American Association for Artificial Intelligence's symposium on Style and Meaning in Language, Art, Music and Design in Washington, D.C.
If you ask me, this is just the kind of endeavour that makes America such a great place, despite everything.
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Creo's ThermoFlexo Sleeve Imaging device has been selected as the recipient of the 2004 FlexoTech Award for Innovation in Prepress by the FlexoTech International Print & Innovations Awards ceremony on October 20.The European annual awards are judged by an international panel of leading flexo authorities from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, Italy and Germany.
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Manufacturer of accessories and controls for the printing and publishing industry, Baldwin, continues to improve, announcing net sales for the first quarter of US$39,997,000 compared to $34,511,000 for the first quarter in the prior year. That's 16 percent up. Companies continue to issue this type of information, which is really only of interest to fund managers, but in Baldwin's case it is symptomatic of its continuing come back. To illustrate, Gerald Nathe, chairman and president said, "We believe a strengthening global economy combined with a vigorous graphic arts printing market will help sustain continuing improvement in Baldwin's performance."
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The festive season is almost upon us and quick off the mark are that indefatigable bunch of party animals, the Galley Club have just started sending out invitations to this year's Christmas Party and would like to extend the invitation to all who may be interested.
Date: Friday, 10th December
Venue: Union Hotel (cnr Pacific Hwy & West St) North Sydney
Time: 6.30 - 11.00pm
Cost: $30 members, $40 non-members
(includes drinks, canapes, free pool)
Membership can be renewed on the night
RSVP: by 1/12/04 to Samantha at catering@galleyclubsydney.org.au
For further enquiries contact Janis Barbi on 0413 2720 91 or president@galleyclubsydney.org.au
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And finally . . . here's a gentle old-fashioned little piece for no particular reason.
In a retirement village an elderly couple had been dating each other for a long time.
At the urging of their friends, they decided it was finally time for marriage.
Before the wedding, they went out to dinner and had a long conversation regarding how their marriage might work. They discussed finances, living arrangements and so on.
Finally the old guy raised the question of sex.
"How often do you think is appropriate?"
"I would prefer it infrequently," she said shyly.
He thought for a moment. "Is that one word or two?" he asked.
