A lot of the projects we've been doing for customers the past year revolve around existing prepress workflows. But rather than the traditional soft proofing solutions (much better than ours, and with lots of functionalities), our customers are often asking us to create very simple and intuitive applications.
Simplicity rules
These online proofing applications range from very simple to reasonably complex. But more often than not, they are made as simple as possible. This is done primarily for user acceptance. Both the end users (the customers making the approval), as the administrators (DTP personnel doing the uploads and management). In one case, the application consists of a stunning three page workflow:
- DTP uploads a PDF file to the server
- DTP enters an email address and a job number
- The end customer receives a mail, and from this mail goes to an approval window in which he approves/rejects. An email is sent back to DTP
Obviously this application was set up in no time, but the amount of resources saved for this printing company are enormous.
In other cases, the workflow includes more steps and information. Account managers, approval of individual pages in jobs, etc...
Complexity made manageable
And now and then, we go for the real big whoppers. Entire database publishing workflows set up for internal production, but with soft proofing and job tracking capabilities at certain points. Most of the work is done inside the studio, but at certain moments in the prepress workflow, end customers are given access to the documents. They log in and see the latest version of the artwork. Comments are given on this work in progress, and the finalized documents are presented for actual soft proofing.
Production collaboration
This type of production collaboration does not mean that the entire workflow needs to be set up in the FLO Suite. The upcoming integration with Enfocus Switch is a fine example of this. We will soon come out with Switch workflows where decision points can be placed online. A simple web interface will allow customers to decide which way of the workflow the job will follow after the decision point. A perfect us of this is obviously soft proofing.
Linking to the experts
Enfocus Switch is a good expert to link to when it comes to a prepress workflow. But for the soft proofing, and to ensure that the quality of the previewed files are acceptable, we will of course also need some solid partners. Some initial possibilities will include Agfa's Apogee Prepress, Trueflow by Screen and PrintFactory by PerfectProof.