Better ways to make PDF and PDF/VT for direct mailing

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Better Ways to Make PDF and PDF/VT
for Direct Mailing
Martin Bailey
CTO
Global Graphics

Global Graphics company confidential. Copyright © Global Graphics Software Limited, 2012.
2
Who uses PDF for variable print and direct mail?
58.8
21.1
20.2
15.8
10.5
6.1
5.3
5.3
5.3
3.5
1.8
11.4
6.1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Optimized PDF
PPML
Fiery Free Form
VPS
Optimized PostScript
VIPP
SNAP
PPML/VDX
AFP/IPDS
JLYT
Other
Don't know
Don't use optimized print format
FIG 1: Optimized print output language usage
Users were asked to select the top two optimized print output formats used for variable data job production (Multiple responses permitted).
End-User Workflow Survey, InfoTrends 2010
InfoTrends 2011 DFE study
suggests around 85%
usage of PDF

3
Why PDF for variable print and direct mail?
• Supported on many digital production presses
 Easy to move between presses at the last minute
• Created by almost every composition tool
 Mix and match composition and presses
• Capable of graphically rich designs
 To match collateral, magazine advertising, etc
• Universal access to viewers
 Can be viewed/approved by anyone, anywhere
• Even non-specialists can make reliable files
 Opens the market to short run jobs from new customers

4
PDF/VT improves PDF for variable print
• In 2001 PDF/X was published
 Increases robustness of file delivery for conventional print
 ISO 15930 parts 1-8, 2001-2010
• In 2010 PDF/VT was published
 Intended to do the same for Variable & Transactional
print
 ISO 16612-2:2010

5
How does PDF/VT make PDF better? (1)
• Builds on PDF/X
 Reinforces self-discipline by requiring all fonts embedded,
all colors characterized etc
 Easy for preflight vendors to offer simple options to check
file reliability
• Supports “document part metadata” (DPM)
 A hierarchy of metadata about pages in the file
 Enables connectivity to job tickets at the page level
 Key technology for variable-length bound personalized
jobs

6
How does PDF/VT make PDF better? (2)
• PDF/VT ‘hints’ identify re-used graphics
 Encourages composition vendors to construct files
efficiently
 Enables DFEs to process files faster
• Support for ‘streaming’:
 PDF/VT-2 supports near-streaming ‘chunking’ workflows
 PDF/VT-2s supports job delivery in a single file stream
• So PDF/VT is good … but it’s not a magic bullet …

7
So your new press is installed …
• The prints look great
• The finishing is configured
• Your production and sales staff are trained
• You’re tuning your job scheduling and pricing
• You’re hitting deadlines, keeping your customers
happy …

8
Life is good!
• Jobs running through the press are like
the life-blood of your business

9
And then you get a “heart-attack” job
• Out of the blue that job you thought would be easy …
isn’t
• Your DFE has slowed to a crawl, deadlines are looming …
• It’s like a cholesterol crumb for your press!

10
You are not alone
Unpredictable
delays can wreak
havoc with low
margin/high volume
jobs often found in
business/transaction
al applications
Mike Rodriguez,
RR Donnelley, USA
I have experienced many
challenges when
receiving badly
produced PDF’s for
variable data
documents, the
difference can be from
days of additional
processing to not
processing them at all!
John Charnock,
St Ives, UK
Files that are not properly
optimized result in a
significant increase in the
amount of time that it
takes to print a job and can
create unpredictable
results. Even the slightest
glitch can result in a
tremendous amount of
waste or lost time.
Andy Psarianos,
FE Burman, UK

11
It doesn’t take much
Sheet-fed
• 120ppm means 0.5s
to process each page
• An extra 0.5s per
page on a 10,000
page job adds 30
mins to the run
Continuousfeed
• At5200ppmtheDFEhasto
deliverapageevery
11.5ms
• Anextra0.1sperpageona
big,million-pagejobadds
24hourstotherun!

12
And if each job takes longer …
• You don’t print as many jobs in a shift
 Your ROI is reduced
• You may miss the deadline for that job
 You annoy your customer
 There may be regulatory or contractual penalties
• It may knock-on to later jobs
 Disrupting your whole schedule and risking other deadlines
• You may need to move jobs to other presses
 May be problematic for media choices or print formats
• You may need extra expensive, expert staff on hand to
troubleshoot

13
How do you avoid the heart-attack job?
• There are lots of guides on designing direct mail jobs
to increase response rate, starting with:
 PODi’s “Digital Print Applications Workshop” in 2002; and
 the Digital Print Council’s “Designing for Digital” in 2003
• But a decade later there’s still nothing that helps
with the actual construction of a PDF for optimal
production

14
Until now!
• “Do PDF/VT Right™,
how to make problem
free files for variable
data printing” has been
published to help you
and your customers
avoid the heart-attack
job
• Produced by Global
Graphics

15
With thanks to our sponsors:

16
Statins for variable data print
• Do PDF/VT Right provides
• A backgrounder to understand the speed challenges in
variable print production
 And how press vendors respond to them in sizing DFEs
• PDF/VT at a glance to show its benefits
• Actionable recommendations to make your jobs run
smoothly through the DFE

17
Who’s it for?
• Introductory sections are widely relevant
 From brand owners and CMOs to production managers
and PSP management
 They explain why you need to ensure that somebody in
your workflow deals with the technical challenges
• Most of the specific recommendations are applicable
to graphic designers and composition operators
 Depending on composition tools and workflows
 A short section is specifically aimed at relevant software
vendors

18
The bottom line?
Don’t make the DFE swallow an
elephant if you only
need to give it
a mouse!

19
Meaning …
• Don’t make the DFE work much harder than
necessary to achieve your design goal
• This doesn’t mean compromising on the final
appearance
• It means achieving that appearance more efficiently

20
Examples …
• Using a 24 megapixel photographic image at 1” across
means it’s placed at 4000ppi
 You press probably doesn’t benefit from more than around 300ppi
 So you’re sending 175x as much image data as you need
 And the DFE has to process all of that
• A drop shadow on a black background is invisible
 But it triggers live PDF transparency handling in the DFE
 Significantly increases processing required.

21
Recommendations in 6 sections:
• Use PDF/VT
• Image usage
• Live PDF transparency
• Vector graphics
• VDP layouts
• Issues for software vendors

22
Where do the recommendations come from?
• Global Graphics’ Harlequin RIP has been used for high-volume
digital print for ~10 years
• We get great feedback from the field
• We’ve responded by:
 Optimizing our own code when appropriate
 Working with composition vendors to improve their output
• Primary UK expert to ISO committees developing PDF and PDF/VT
• We’ve shared our expertise for several years with Harlequin OEM
partners
• Now we want to share our knowledge with the industry

23
Where do I get a copy?
• Ask me for a copy here
• Or from:
www.globalgraphics.com/dopdfvtright

24
Questions?
martin.bailey@globalgraphics.com
www.globalgraphics.com/dopdfvtright

Sell More … Deliver Better
Empowering you with the skills to grow your business
APPFORUM.ORG
TWEET YOUR FEEDBACK: #APPFORUM14
March 31 – April 2 Las Vegas

Better ways to make PDF and PDF/VT for direct mailing

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Better ways to make PDF and PDF/VT for direct mailing