The sad tale of the demise of a successful print business

Boom to bust: What really happened to Sumo Visual The following article appeared in ProPrint magazine in February 2015. It illustrates what can happen when bad management gets its hands on previously a previously successful business.  Of the three high-profile eight-figure printing collapses of 2014, Sumo Visual Group, which was Australia’s biggest display graphics printer, […]

Adobe Photoshop turns 25 years old

Adobe Photoshop Turns Twenty-Five Thursday, February 19, 2015 Press release from the issuing company A Cultural Icon, Photoshop Shapes the Way We View the World SAN JOSE, Calif. – Adobe Photoshop, the imaging software that continues to redefine creativity in the digital age, turns 25 today. Photoshop touches virtually all the inspirational imagery that surrounds […]

Drupa to be held every three years

The massive international printing industry trade fair, Drupa, held in Dusseldorf, Germany, is to be held every three years. Not so long ago, it was every five years, then every four, and it has just been announced, now every three years. Just two years ago, major exhibitors were questioned about a move to every three […]

Google executive and co-founder of the internet Vint Cerf says you need to start printing everything out

IN a new article, a senior Google executive has suggested that the increasing practice of recording information only in digital form could turn the 21st century into a new dark age, which future historians will struggle to make sense of, because of the lack of written records. The executive, Vint Cerf, is encouraging us to put […]

The first project of the day (or how to work ON the business rather than IN the business)

Five years ago I sent out a newsletter with what has turned out to be the most helpful of all the ‘how to’ business tips I have ever found. I could not write blogs, newsletters, work on our web site and so on without having taken the advice below to heart and gradually, slowly, learnt […]

Avoid looking stupid when self publishing: don’t make common grammatical and usage errors

Avoid some of the more common mistakes, and make your work read more professionally. Here are some examples. When referring to a decade, don’t use an apostrophe as in 90’s, use ’90s. Use hyphens as dashes to hyphenate words (in-between), en rules between numbers (100–200) and em rules between words (different files — for instance). […]

Geon duds employees out of $18 million

I have already posted a blog on the demise of Geon, six months ago Australasia’s largest printer, now consigned to history. Click here for this most illuminating blog. A report from the administrators / liquidators for a creditors’ meeting on 26th June 2013 provides details of the company’s financial position, and it makes ugly reading. […]

Bad email habits you need to break

I came across this excellent, down to earth article this morning on PrintPlanet, one of the regular email newsletters I receive each day. I reckon it has some useful suggestions, so I quote it below in full. I hope you find it helpful. The author, Armya Inc, from Toronto, Canada, observes that whilst there is […]

Avoid looking stupid when self publishing: make sure you number your pages correctly!

An area of confusion we find amongst people who come to us for book printing concerns the correct way to number pages, particularly at the beginning of the book. This is in addition to putting the various parts of a book in the correct order. The following advice is taken from the “Style manual: for authors, […]