Printing for the future: school yearbooks and magazines

A blast from the past

Memories fade and, as certain social media platforms, social media can disappear without a trace as well. But print stands the test of time, and there are few memories more precious than those from our school days. As a way of preserving them, yearbooks and school magazines remain vital to connecting past with present.

Of course, yearbooks and magazines – together with other educational collateral such as pamphlets and guides – must set a much higher standard of quality than ephemeral printed material. Embossing, professional typesetting, high colour accuracy, quality bindings, and more will help to enhance both their emotional impact and longevity.

To achieve this, outsourcing of their magazine production is seen by many schools as the only viable option. But the sales markups and long turnaround times of external print shops – especially during graduation periods and other peak times – can cause their own challenges.

Fortunately, the latest digital document production technology offers a compelling and economical alternative to premium print outsourcing. From design and layout to printing, binding and distribution, it can handle the full workflow of any educational publishing task with ease.

Faster, smarter workflow

The production of multi-page publications with both graphical and written content is never a simple process. Content planning, interviews, editing, proofreading and design must all be closely coordinated, often under a tight production schedule to satisfy a pre-agreed production date.

Anyone who has worked in high-volume magazine production knows the challenges of using manual or paper-based processes. Canon’s PRISMA workflow software solves this problem by digitising and automating every stage of document production, from job acquisition and processing to fulfilment.

A school magazine or yearbook can be the product of hundreds of digital files and images, drawn from dozens of sources. PRISMA verifies that they are all present and correctly formatted, with powerful previewing and change management features. In addition, specific operator views ensure that the all publishing activities – print, cutting, bindery, fulfillment, and more – are correctly scheduled and assigned, so operators can focus on their tasks without distraction.

Higher printing productivity

Digital book printing has become hugely popular as publishers and printers transition from offset to digital production. The Océ JetStream Wide series of large format printers is designed for productivity, offering a new larger print width that allows more books to be produced in less time and with less waste.

This is combined with a printing speed of up to 200 metres per minute and a print width of 29.5”, supporting the production of up to 4,040 A4 impressions per minute, or up to 130 million A4 prints per month. The wider format supports digital printing of 12- and 16-page book signatures, positioning digital production as a truly viable alternative to traditional offset printing.

Proven imaging technology

To meet the stringent quality demands of book and magazine publishing, the Océ JetStream Wide series features two digital full colour inkjet systems and three monochrome only inkjet systems for 30" web printing.

The 30” web utilises the field-proven Océ DigiDot inkjet technology to deliver high image quality across a full gamut of print jobs. It utilises a piezoelectric drop-on-demand technology with multilevel dot modulation – delivering dazzling image quality with smoother shades, crisper details, heightened dynamic range, and 1200 dpi perceived image quality.

The droplet size can be varied from just 7 to 12 pico litre, making the JetStream not only extremely economical in ink usage, but able to support a broad range of media from light-weight newspaper to heavy-weight glossy. Featuring best-in-class service life, the fast inkjet print heads are engineered for maximum up-time and reliability.

Whether it’s a yearbook, student magazine, or promotional pamphlet, print makes an impact on the reader that can’t be replicated on a screen. Canon’s on demand document production and printing solutions will let you streamline your processes and save money – without compromising on quality.