GEON opens up to e-Book
Sheetfed printer adds a new dimension to its catalogue, magazine and brochure products with in-depth interactive features for the web.
The transformation of printed pages into dynamic web-enabled files is delivering extra value to GEON print customers. The company’s new e-Book project is making use of pioneering technology to add another dimension to its traditional print offerings.
Operating from GEON’s design studio at Banksmeadow, the e-Book project was launched before Christmas under the direction of Melissa Murdoch as product manager. It is promoted as ‘Bringing Print to Life’ and opens up a new avenue to develop sophisticated printing.
According to Melissa Murdoch, e-Book product manager, (pictured with Louise Jones, GEON Design Studio Manager) the trials with a number of GEON corporate customers have been a great success. “Once they get their heads around it they love it,” she said.
So far GEON’s design studio have produced e-Books for such major clients as Volkswagen, Nestlé and Chanel. The products range from internal email newsletters to corporate brochures, product catalogues and magazines. Now the company is opening up the offering to the broader marketing community.
“We wanted to make sure we were able to do everything we promise before we opened it up,” said Murdoch.
The e-Book’s flick format turns pages on a screen and allows many more options to be integrated into the original print-ready files delivered to GEON. Video, sound bites, animation and weblinks are just some of the standard features in the technology. For lengthy publications such as annual reports, which are now no longer compulsory to print, the e-Book enables companies to continue to produce a high-level corporate publication without having to print more than required. The report retains all the design elements of the printed original but can now have all the pages of figures and statistics accessible through embedded links, animated graphs and pop-ups.
Product catalogues are a natural for the e-Book format. Once transformed into an electronic version they are able to deliver far more information about the items, while keeping a reader-friendly image-intensive layout. Clicking on a product image opens up a page of specifications, while readers are able to move through the document with great ease, accessing the information they want via content tabs, zooming in for greater clarity and of course, printing out whenever required. Interactive order forms are a notable feature, allowing browsers to become customers at the click of a mouse.
In addition to print
It may seem strange for a print company to be promoting a non-print alternative to its clients but according to Louise Jones, GEON design studio manager, the aim is to supplement not supplant print.
“e-Books are an addition to the print job. We don’t want people to stop printing, but once they have sent the PDF files we can add so much value to them,” she said. “Customers can use them as disks to include as part of marketing campaigns, or send them as emails or put them on their own web pages.”
The GEON design studio already takes care of the creative for many of the company’s top clients. While the experienced designers are able to transform a customer’s print design into a vibrant e-Book, they have also developed special expertise in knowing what works best in the new format.
The GEON designers are ready to accompany the company’s sales personnel to the client’s premises to discuss how best to leverage their design. Image-intensive pages help make use of the e-Book dynamic. Text-heavy sections can be embedded and accessed through buttons and links.
The possibilities of the e-Book are endless. Audio and video links can be embedded in the publication. These allow the development of content-rich travel brochures, where photographs of destinations can be instantly transformed into travelogues. Telephone and computer marketing collateral can bring audio to life at the turn of a page.
The initial popularity of the e-Books is opening up opportunities for the GEON print sales force, which has embraced the value-add. The company is currently working on developing a national and trans-Tasman rollout of its design studios with Louise Jones already at work on the Auckland site. The aim is to make GEON the first stop whenever a client considers print, or an e-Book, to communicate with its customers.
Check out the GEON e-Book website at