As I said templates are great for variations on a theme but there is a huge amount of printing work done everyday based on unique artwork.

The job could be anything from a flyer the boss has asked the receptionist to put together in MS Word or PowerPoint or it could be an 88 page, 6 colour annual report prepared for a Fortune 500 company by a St Kilda Rd or North Sydney Agency using Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.

In Australia there is a clear leader when it comes to the delivery of artwork to printers called D2P Express. D2P Express is about 4 years old and delivers jobs to Printers all over Australia. You can find out more about D2P and Express at www.d2p.com.au. You may be surprised by some of the companies that use the D2P Express engine, like the Kwik Kopy Australia Franchise Group, Fairfax, University of Queensland and RMIT amongst others.

D2P Express uses a high quality PDF Engine that is distributed by the Printing Company to their customers or anyone thinking about being a customer for FREE.  You can download the software from the Printer’s website or contact the Printers and request a CD and manual.

The main benefits of this solution have to be the simplicity and speed with which a high quality PDF can be created, proofed and delivered.

Step 1.

You print your artwork from the application you created it in using the supplied PDF Printer and click “OK” when asked.

Step 2.

The PDF is created automatically for high quality output on the Printing Company’s equipment. You don’t need to touch a thing. When it is finished the PDF opens automatically for you to check that everything is to your satisfaction.

Step 3.

After you have checked it, close the PDF and you will see a window open with “Preview” “Submit and “Cancel”. If you are happy with the PDF click “Submit”

Step 4.

The PDF is then uploaded to the Printer’s website, where you can log-in, tell the printer how you want it printed and check the status of other jobs.

Dramatic Results

Remember the job I mentioned in the problems section that had $1200 worth of prepress in it with two operators spending at least a day and half each prepping the job? Well they converted the customer over to D2P Express and the next time the job came in one operator had the job proofed in an hour and printing plates made inside 2 hours.

And the system is just as beneficial to saving your time too. One production manager at a trade magazine publisher worked an hour less everyday after converting to this workflow.

• It’s Free
• Well, your artwork is a dream for the printer to work with, fast, small, high quality and no nasty surprises waiting for them, so;
  • The printer can turn your job around faster and be more confident in committing to a deadline for you
  • The ease of processing will be reflected in the prices quoted to you, meaning these printers are cheaper than what you are used to
  • As you become comfortable with the system you may decide you don’t need proofs printed, saving more time and money
  • As the error rates are slashed by this system the chances are there will be no nasty surprises waiting to embarrass you when the job is delivered
• It’s much faster than any other delivery method, by the time you have finished filling out the order the job is as good as in the printer’s hands.
• It’s always available, you can use it 24 hours a day 7 days a week
• It’s reliable, the PDF you see on screen is the print job you will receive
• You can give the software to your Graphic Designer for sending your print jobs through
• You won’t dread the phone ringing when you have a job being printed
• No more collect for output, print lasers, burn a disk, call the courier, “Oops, I forgot a font”

“If this is so good how come I have never heard of it?”

Well you might have but you just didn’t realise, click here to see a list of the Australian Printers that have invested in technology to save their customers, time, money and their sanity.

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