OUTPUT

Early whining about variable data printing (VDP) in the wide-format sector was probably my fault. To me, even many years ago, there was eminent sense in automating the inclusion of changing elements of data incorporated into a digitally produced job, thus removing the margin for error and the need for unerring keyboard skills.

Part of this desire to see customised wide-format print emanated from the embarrassment incurred when I was presented with a lovely banner, personalised to include my name – only to discover that the finished job was peppered with unnecessary spelling errors. The mistyping was caused, of course, by the keyboard operator's inability to transcribe my details correctly from a business card.

The nature of early wide-format printing meant that the output process was relatively slow and the generation of data to be used was comparatively fast. In those days, there was plenty of time during the period that the material was trundling along under the print-heads for the next version of the job to be tweaked on the computer and for individual elements of text and graphics to be incorporated.

Today it is very different. The high-speed throughput of wide-format digital printers has moved the bottleneck back to the pre-press area. Personalisation applied manually can slow everything down inexorably when several hundred posters are produced, each containing a different line of text or an independent graphic. It also carries huge responsibility for the poor soul slaving away at the keyboard trying to keep up.

As Laurel outlines, VDP has taken over in the world of credit card statements, insurance offers tailored to the recipient both geographically and demographically, and why we should change energy companies. In wide-format the same criteria increasingly are being used in the printing of point-of-sale and retail applications, right down to smaller print-and-cut applications. Automated personalisation reaps dividends in any output where elements such as an individual's details, price variants or sequential numbering are required.

Factor in, too, the length of time it takes to RIP what is, essentially, the same wide-format job several hundred times simply because one or more elements needs to be changed in each print. By RIPping the background image once, and using a VDP option to stream the personalised chunks in automatically, saves time and should eradicate potential margin for error. This functionality inevitably saves money, too, by removing bottlenecks and automating what was, conventionally, a labour-intensive part of the production process.

So variable data isn't scary. It's yet another example of how those in wide-format software development are working to make life easier, more logical and less error-prone, for all printer users.